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I'm focused on applying Voice AI to large traditional industries, something I've been…
Articles by Krishna
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisThanks John Werner for writing a piece in Forbes on our panel discussing investing in AI companies. As I shared, the "last mile" is where I'm focused as a CEO and as an investor. You have to be *obsessed* about making AI work in the noisy, messy, chaotic real world. Presto Phoenix, Inc. REMUS Capital Boaz Fachler Rudina Seseri Heena Purohit https://lnkd.in/gGXMhkEZ
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Krishna K. Gupta reposted thisKrishna K. Gupta reposted thisToday, I'm excited to share that Avoca has raised over $125M across Seed to Series B at a $1B valuation, backed by Kleiner Perkins, Meritech, General Catalyst, Amplify, and other top Silicon Valley investors to build AI agents for the services economy. See our comments for the Fortune exclusive and our blog post. Having grown up answering phone calls as my part-time job in Michigan, it was very clear to me that AI was going to have an outsized impact on the services world. That experience led me to founding Avoca with my brilliant cofounder, Tyson Chen with one mission: build AI for the trillion-dollar services industry. The services economy never got its generation-defining software company. There was no Salesforce, no Github, no Databricks. And for good reason. Traditional software never provided enough value for a 30-person HVAC business that depends on a call center, a marketing agency, a team of great techs. The economics just didn't work. AI changes the math. For the first time, every contractor in America can have a concierge-grade revenue operation: every call answered, every customer followed up with, every marketing dollar tracked from ad click to dispatched job. We believe the most value will accrue at the application layer, where the real work happens. While frontier labs have cracked into the app layer for data-heavy use cases like coding, the battle for complex, workflow-driven industries has yet to be won. This is the first chapter of a generational company. The reason we are winning is because we have the best product and a world-class team which includes multiple former YC founders and engineers from MIT, Stanford, Google, Meta, and many other top institutions. If this resonates, come build with us. We're hiring across all roles. I’m deeply grateful to our customers for betting on us, and to our investors and partners for backing the vision from day one. Thank you to our investors for your support: Leigh Marie Braswell from Kleiner Perkins Vedant Suri and Hemant Taneja from General Catalyst Alex C. from Meritech Capital Dalton Caldwell and Diana Hu from Y Combinator Mike Dauber and Grace Ge from Amplify Partners Jishnu B. and Arjun Gandhi from Nexus Venture Partners Jack Altman from Alt Capital Gregory R. from BoxGroup And many other investors/friends including: Krishna (REMUS Capital), Ansaf (Latitude Capital), Nakul (Audacious Ventures), Ian and Andy(TCP), Cem and Burak (Formus Capital), Todd Breeden (Jefferies), Manraj (Vicus Ventures), Charley and friends (Pathlight Ventures), and helpful friends such as Sudhanshu Mishra
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisExcited for Voice AI leader Avoca to announce it's raised $125M from so many great firms (including our own). Killer MIT team (Apurva + Tyson), vision to see the opportunity in Voice AI for home services, and execution to become the market leader. REMUS Capital led the round out of YCombinator & we introduced / facilitated the partnership with their first big enterprise HVAC customer: Sila and Keith Chisholm (who is awesome!). Applying Voice AI in the heart of America is where I'm laser focused and am excited to see where Avoca goes! read more here: https://lnkd.in/gfWRW5nR Great work Cavin Mozarmi & John Tincoff Vedant Suri Hemant Taneja General Catalyst Leigh Marie Braswell Kleiner Perkins Meritech Capital Nexus Venture Partners Jack AltmanHow a chance encounter in Texas sparked a $1 billion Kleiner Perkins-backed AI startup | FortuneHow a chance encounter in Texas sparked a $1 billion Kleiner Perkins-backed AI startup | Fortune
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisIconic operator-led panel to a packed room at RLC for Presto on "Deploying Voice AI at America's Iconic Brands" thank you: Steve Smyth Rusty Bills Kevin Baartman Brian Cassidy Clark Browning Joe Artiste Caitlin T. Taylor McCrary
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisPresto will be at RLC. I have no clue what booth because we're not pitching demos or dinners. Come to our panel on Monday 1:15PM to hear 4 of our customers talk about drive thru Voice AI at the "last mile." Excited to see many of you! Presto Phoenix, Inc. Joe Clark Caitlin Taylor Informa Restaurant Leadership Conference
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Krishna K. Gupta reposted thisKrishna K. Gupta reposted thisA chatbot is ready to take your order for a Mint Oreo Blizzard with cheesecake pieces and caramel topping. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4exn3Ps Dairy Queen began a test with technology company Presto to bring a drive-through chatbot to a handful of its U.S. stores last year. This week, the restaurant chain is expanding the test to several dozen franchised locations out of its 3,000 U.S. and Canadian drive-throughs. The chain wants the bots to help speed up drive-through service times and encourage customers to add more food to their orders. During the initial test, Kevin Baartman, the company’s executive vice president of information technology, said the bots improved customer-satisfaction scores by double-digit percentages. The chatbots always read back orders to customers, whereas employees sometimes skipped the step. The order-taking bots are accurate about 90% of the time, according to Presto. Humans’ accuracy rate is much lower, when factoring in guest greetings, delivering the right upsell and entering the correct order, the company said. Bringing chatbots to the drive-through has been an early step in restaurants tinkering with artificial intelligence, and it has had mixed results for customers and brands.
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisMy "launch video" for the Presto <> Dairy Queen AI partnership: I'm going to be criss-crossing the country this summer downing mint oreo Blizzards and cinnamon toast crunch dipped cones!
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisAnnouncing Presto's partnership with Dairy Queen today to power their drive-thrus with our Voice AI! We're expanding across 25+ states/provinces across the US and Canada; DQ is a challenging menu and one core part of our market leadership is our ability to handle that. The other is our focus on *taste* - literally and figuratively :) Kevin Mohit Michael Clark Lakshminarayanan Kat Travis Haaris Roger Bill Dominique Laura Daniel Nitin Luis Brian Vimal Robert & so many more! Just the beginning of a wonderful partnership 🙏🏻 REMUS Capital Link Ventures Alex Cohen Mati Staniszewski John Tincoff https://lnkd.in/gdjx9e6zExclusive | Next Time You Order a Dairy Queen Blizzard, You May Be Talking to AIExclusive | Next Time You Order a Dairy Queen Blizzard, You May Be Talking to AI
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Krishna K. Gupta shared thisAs part of our America 250 series, we wrote about the American genesis of the drive-thru and how John Galardi - founder of one of our customers Wienerschnitzel - was a key part of this history! The drive-thru transformed America in a uniquely American way, optimizing across access, speed, and quality in a way never possible before. Give it a read! 🌭 Presto Phoenix, Inc. Chris Cast Rusty Bills JR Galardi https://lnkd.in/gkCmejUvThe Drive-Thru Is an American Invention - and Infrastructure - PrestoThe Drive-Thru Is an American Invention - and Infrastructure - Presto
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisSubway is making a big change to its menu after 60 years (and you'll want to know about it) Subway® Introduces Its First-Ever Value Menu with 15 Entrees Under $5 Subway is setting the new standard with the debut of its first-ever value menu featuring 15 entrees under $5*. Arriving nationwide starting today, Subway's Fresh Value Menu offers guests what other on-the-go options have promised but never delivered: quality, variety, convenience and satisfying portions at an unmatched price. Freshly made, never fried – with most items boasting more than 20 grams of protein. No need to sacrifice to save on your next lunch or dinner. Headlining Subway's inaugural value menu are the all-new Deli Faves, four classic and fully customizable six-inch sandwiches for $3.99*, including Subway's BLT, Cold Cut Combo® and the new Spicy Pepperoni and Ham & Salami. Deli Faves join Protein Pockets for $3.99** and Subway's Sub of the Day featuring a different six-inch every day of the week for $4.99*. "Subway's Fresh Value Menu proves you don't have to choose between eating well and saving money," said David Skena, Chief Marketing Officer, North America. "Your wallet and stomach deserve freshly-baked bread, real protein and the perfect combination of sauces and hand-chopped veggies – all for under $5*." The new Fresh Value Menu includes: Deli Faves: a new collection of deli-inspired six-inch fully-customizable subs: * NEW Spicy Pepperoni: Aged pepperoni, Pepper Jack, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, red onions, jalapeños, creamy Sriracha * NEW Ham & Salami: Black Forest ham, Genoa salami, Italian-style Provolone, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, honey mustard * B.L.T.: Bacon, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, mayo * Cold Cut Combo®: Black Forest ham, Genoa salami, Bologna (all turkey-based), Italian-style Provolone, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, red onions, mayo Protein Pockets: A new grab-and-go option with more than 20g of protein that launched earlier this year, blending real protein, hand-chopped veggies and fan-favorite sauces into a soft tortilla wrap: * Baja Chicken: Grilled chicken, Monterey cheddar, smoky Baja Chipotle, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, jalapeños * Peppercorn Ranch Chicken: Grilled chicken, Monterey cheddar, zesty Peppercorn Ranch, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, pickles * Italian Trio: Black Forest ham, aged Pepperoni, Genoa salami, Monterey cheddar, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, garlic aioli * Turkey Ham: Oven-roasted turkey, Black Forest ham, Monterey cheddar, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, honey mustard Sub of the Day: A $4.99* featured six-inch sub every day of the week. Add chips and a drink for just $2 more*** to keep you fueled throughout the day: * Meatball Monday * Tuna Tuesday * Sweet Onion Teriyaki Wednesday * Turkey Thursday (My Favorite) * Forest Ham Friday * BMT Saturday: (My 2nd Favorite) * Spicy Italian Sunday https://lnkd.in/eyT8RwfJ
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisThrilled to support Matternet as it shapes the future of drone delivery.Krishna K. Gupta liked thisWe’re excited to announce that Sanjay Kotte has joined Matternet’s Board of Directors. From building global restaurant partnerships at DoorDash to driving commercial strategy at Robinhood, Sanjay has consistently helped companies scale at category-defining levels. With major initiatives underway in food, retail, and healthcare, and new collaborations forming with organizations such as SoftBank Robotics America, Sanjay’s perspective will help reinforce the strategic partnerships driving our next phase of growth. We’re excited to have him join us as we advance the future of automated logistics. https://lnkd.in/guZnRFBsMatternet Appoints Sanjay Kotte to Board of DirectorsMatternet Appoints Sanjay Kotte to Board of Directors
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisI'm joining ElevenLabs, together with the founding team of Papla Media, to continue our shared mission of advancing voice interfaces. Excited for what's ahead.
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisHeaded to Food On Demand next week? Join a lively discussion on "Meeting Consumers in the Moment: AI Discovery and the Future of Ordering" with DoorDash's Brian Tolkin and Google's Garrett Nicholson Wednesday May 6. On the Menu? AI is transforming how guests discover food and decide what to order, with searches becoming more conversational, and in real-time. This panel explores what that means for operators: how to structure AI-friendly menus and descriptions, optimize listings across platforms, and engage guests in the moment. As search evolves, the ordering journey changes, impacting what guests see and choose. Operators need to audit their digital presence and consider how to use the data effectively. Bonus! You'll experience #CocaCola within arm's reach of desire, as Coco bots wrapped in our latest campaign "And a Coke" roll up, refreshing attendees with ice-cold Coca-Cola beverages throughout the event. Melissa Fahs Josh Dubin #robotics #deliveryondemand #lastmiledelivery #AndaCoke #coke Thank you for the opportunity, Jared Pfeifer & Bernadette Heier. Really looking forward to the awesome-ness that is always #FODC. #FODC2026 See you in Dallas! Josh Gurley Dawn Reardon Barbara Poremba Rebecca Pearson, MBA Carolyn Reaves OBrien Bailey Rogers Eric Blumenthal #restaurants #restauranttechnology
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisExcited to share Tutor's Data Factory 1, a 100 robot semi-humanoid research farm and the largest robot data factory in the United States. Our first embodiment “Cassie” is deployed at industrial scale across the supply chain. We built DF1 to bootstrap fleet-scale learning for our "Sonny" industrial semi-humanoid embodiment, powered by our first end-to-end robot foundation model Ti0. Through DF1 and Ti0, our goal is to bootstrap the world’s first commercial humanoid deployment flywheel on the Sonny platform, unlocking compounding policy improvement and real-world value over time. For a high level overview, please see our blog post: https://lnkd.in/eiZc6J2W For more technical details, please see our extended technical report: https://lnkd.in/etZ4s6r9
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisAnnouncing our Series C led by Intrepid Growth Partners and GV (Google Ventures). A huge shout out to Ajay Agrawal Mark Shulgan Jessica Galli Anthony Philippakis Krishna Yeshwant Gaurav Singal, MD , we are so excited to work with you on our mission to accelerate drug development. To our board members - Lonne Jaffe Paul Huber Vishal Vasishth Charlie Cooney Peter Moran James McGill Marian Nakada, Ph.D. Prentice Stovall Lotus Mallbris Nan Li . Thank you for your guidance and patience even in the darkest of days, we appreciate you. So privileged to get to lead the team at Iterative Health, alongside Dana Feuchtbaum Bill Kayser Laura Mantell Dan Wang Julie Chang. It’s been a great ride touching so many lives. Onwards.Krishna K. Gupta liked thisIterative Health announced a $77 million Series C financing round led by Intrepid Growth Partners and GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Insight Partners, Obvious Ventures, EDBI Pte Ltd (arm of SG Growth Capital, the investment platform of EDB and Enterprise Singapore), and a prominent family office. Our high-performing, multispecialty clinical research network spans 100+ research sites across North America, Europe, India, and Australia embedded directly into clinical care. Unlike traditional networks, we place site success at the center of trial execution by combining centralized operations, expert staffing, proprietary AI, and deep clinical expertise to drive reliable results for sponsors and CROs. Our trial performance speaks for itself: 2x faster site activation, up to 3 months shorter startup timelines, and 3x higher patient enrollment rates compared to industry benchmarks. The new funding will support expansion into new therapeutic areas beyond GI, hepatology, obesity, cardiology and deepen geographical growth. Jonathan Ng, Founder and CEO, shared: “Every delay in a clinical trial is a delay for patients whose outcomes depend on faster access to innovation. By keeping our physician partners and their patients at the center of our model, we’ve built a system that delivers high-performance site execution at scale. We are excited to bring greater scale to our model in a variety of new therapeutic areas together.” As part of the financing, Ajay Agrawal, Co-Founder and Partner at Intrepid Growth Partners, will join Iterative Health's Board of Directors. Anthony Philippakis, General Partner at GV (Google Ventures), will join as a board observer. We are grateful for the support of our investors and partners as we continue to scale a model designed to accelerate clinical research and improve patient outcomes worldwide. Read the full press release to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gWYPUBag
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisWhen I first started Bluejay, I never imagined I'd end up in Chattanooga, Tennessee let alone twice. But here we are, and I'm genuinely glad. Project Voice never disappoints. This year, beyond reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new ones, I also got the chance to speak on a panel about Enterprise AI Governance and Compliance Best Practices — sharing the stage with Matthew Muldoon, Bob Gilbert, Josh Patterson, and Jessica E. Davis. It was great to share some of Bluejay's perspectives on the importance of eval driven development as companies deploy voice and chat AI agents into production. Getting to discuss over a year of hard-won lessons while learning from folks like Adam Cheyer, Emerson Sklar, Francois Peltier, Kristin Darby, and others in the room is exactly the kind of experience that reminds me why I'm building in this space. Thanks to Bradley Metrock for putting it all together. See you for round three next year.
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Krishna K. Gupta reacted on thisKrishna K. Gupta reacted on thisIt is with the deepest sadness that I share that my incredible husband, Blair Baldwin, died in his sleep due to a cardiac event on Monday, April 27th. Blair was a brilliant human who radiated humor, joy, and love. In addition to his incredible personal and professional accomplishments, Blair was an amazing father to our three daughters and the absolute love of my life. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 9th, at 10am at St. James Church in Woodstock, Vermont. https://lnkd.in/e4Q68P32Blair Fahnestock Baldwin | 1979 - 2026 | Online-Tribute.comBlair Fahnestock Baldwin | 1979 - 2026 | Online-Tribute.com
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Krishna K. Gupta liked thisKrishna K. Gupta liked thisCongrats to Avoca on raising over $125M across Seed to Series B at a $1B valuation, a huge milestone for Apurva Shrivastava, Tyson Chen and the whole team 🦄 Avoca is building AI agents that handle the front office for service businesses: answering inbound leads in seconds, booking jobs into CRMs, and following up across calls, SMS, email, and chat. They’ve gone from YC W23 to 800+ customers, and are on track to book $1B in jobs through the platform this year. Pioneer Fund was proud to be an early seed investor, and we’re excited to support an incredible team leveraging AI to have an outsized impact on the services industry.
Experience & Education
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Presto
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Honors & Awards
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Forbes 30 under 30
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http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fhgl45hjeg/neil-chheda-28-and-krishna-gupta-27/
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Siemens Westinghouse Competition Finalist
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Selected as top 30 national finalist in one of the country's most prestigious science research competitions for physical chemistry work done at the University of Chicago
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USA Mathematics Olympiad Finalist
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Selected multiple times as national finalist for the USA Mathematics Olympiad (USAMO), including the intensive summer training program in Lincoln, Nebraska that selected the top 50 in the country.
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English
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