Two IIT Kharagpur graduates, Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep, faced racist trolling soon after announcing their startup Giga’s $61 million funding. The San Francisco-based company builds voice AI technology capable of handling real-time conversations for large enterprises.
In a video shared on X, the founders revealed that Giga already works with DoorDash and plans to scale across Fortune 100 companies. Instead of celebrating the milestone, some users mocked their appearance, accents, and presentation style. One user even wrote, “If you raise $61M maybe hire attractive people for the demo.”
After being blocked by Varun, the same user compared his old and new photos to continue the trolling. However, many people came forward in support of the duo. One comment read, “When people can’t compete in brilliance, they attack appearance.” Another supporter said, “They have an attractive product, that’s all that matters.”
Founded in 2023, Giga develops AI that can speak and chat simultaneously, manage multiple languages, and integrate with enterprise systems. Varun earlier declined a Stanford PhD and a $525,000 quant job, while Esha turned down a $150,000 HFT offer to pursue their dream.
