Key Takeaways
- India’s first pure speech-to-speech AI model launches with real-time emotional intelligence
- Backed by prominent investors including Kunal Shah and Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund
- Outperforms established competitors in benchmark testing with sub-600ms latency
- Targeting 200-300% growth over next two fiscal years
Pixa AI has launched Luna, India’s first foundational speech-to-speech voice AI model that enables real-time, emotion-driven conversations without text conversion. The Jaipur-based startup’s technology represents a significant advancement in voice artificial intelligence.
Distinctive Architecture and Performance
Unlike existing Indian voice AI solutions like Gnani and Sarvam, Luna operates as a pure speech-to-speech system, bypassing text conversion layers. This unique architecture enables sub-600-millisecond end-to-end latency for near-instant responses.
Founder Sparsh Agrawal emphasized the emotional intelligence focus: “The future of voice AI isn’t automating call centres but developing artificial emotional intelligence. Humans relate to sarcasm, tone, and emotion.”
The model dynamically detects real-time tonal shifts—including anger, excitement, or calm—and adjusts its pace, tone, and delivery accordingly.
Competitive Benchmark Results
According to internal testing, Luna achieved impressive metrics:
- 5.24% on ASR-FLUERS tests
- 1.3% word error rate for text-to-speech accuracy
- 4.62 mean opinion score for voice quality
These results position Luna as outperforming several established competitors, including ElevenLabs.
Funding and Growth Strategy
The 25-year-old IIT-BHU alumnus founded Pixa AI in 2024 and has secured undisclosed seed funding from notable investors: Cred founder Kunal Shah, former Carlyle Asia Growth Partners MD Shankar Narayana, actor-investor Kunal Kapoor, and Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund.
Agrawal revealed ambitious growth targets: “We’re targeting around 200-300% growth over FY25 and FY26, driven by expanding deployments across education, entertainment, and enterprise voice AI applications.”
Market Applications and Expansion
Pixa AI is adopting an API-first approach, enabling developers and enterprises to integrate Luna across multiple verticals including education, gaming, and healthcare.
Current proof-of-concept pilots include:
- An Indian automobile manufacturer for AI-driven in-car entertainment
- A US-based wellness startup for interactive storytelling
The company has also attracted interest from customer service sectors seeking emotionally adaptive sales and support agents.
While Luna currently supports only English, multilingual capabilities including Indian languages are expected within two to three months.
Agrawal concluded with the company’s broader vision: “Our focus is building Luna into a global AI innovation emerging from India. Scaling to that level will naturally require strategic investments, and we are already in discussions with key partners and investors sharing this long-term vision.”
