Bolna nabs $6.3M from General Catalyst for its India-focused voice orchestration platform

Industry research and the rapid expansion of voice-model companies in India point to a nationwide rise in demand for voice-based AI solutions. Voice remains one of the most widely used communication channels for individuals and businesses in India, which is why companies are increasingly looking to voice AI to improve efficiency across customer support, sales, customer acquisition, recruitment, and employee training.

Spotting demand, however, is only part of the challenge. Convincing businesses to pay for these solutions is another. That question followed Bolna, a voice orchestration startup founded by Maitreya Wagh and Prateek Sachan, early in its journey. The company was rejected five times by Y Combinator before finally being accepted into the fall 2025 batch, with doubts centred on whether interest in voice AI could translate into sustainable revenue in the Indian enterprise market.

“When we were applying for Y Combinator, the feedback we got was, ‘great to see that you have a product that can create realistic voice agents, but Indian enterprises are not going to pay, and you are not going to make money out of this,’” Wagh told TechCrunch.

Bolna applied again with the same core idea for the fall batch. Still, this time it demonstrated that it had consistently generated more than $25,000 in monthly revenue for several months. At that stage, the company was offering $100 pilot programs that allowed customers to build and test voice agents. Since then, Bolna has increased the price of those pilots to $500.

The traction has continued to build. On Tuesday, the startup announced that it has raised a $6.3 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, Blume Ventures, Orange Collective, Pioneer Fund, Transpose Capital, and Eight Capital. Individual investors in the round include Aarthi Ramamurthy, Arpan Sheth, Sriwatsan Krishnan, Ravi Iyer, and Taro Fukuyama.

The product and its customers

Bolna is building what it describes as an orchestration layer — a platform designed to connect, manage, and coordinate multiple AI voice technologies — similar in concept to companies such as Vapi, LiveKit, and VoiceRun. What differentiates Bolna is its focus on tailoring these systems to the realities of voice interactions in India. That includes handling noisy environments, verifying callers using the Truecaller caller ID service, and managing conversations that frequently shift between multiple languages.

On the product side, Bolna has added features specifically designed for Indian users. These include speaking numerical values in English regardless of the primary language being used in the conversation, as well as supporting keypad-based inputs for longer or more complex responses.

Wagh said the company’s core differentiator lies in how easy it is for customers to build and deploy voice agents. Users can create agents simply by describing what they want, without needing deep technical knowledge of voice models or AI infrastructure, and then immediately start using them for live calls. According to the company, roughly 75% of its revenue currently comes from self-serve customers.

He also emphasised that Bolna’s role as an orchestration layer means it is not tied to a single underlying model. This allows enterprises to switch models easily as better options emerge.

“Our platform allows customers to switch models easily or even use different models for different locales to get the best out of them. An orchestration layer is necessary for enterprises to ensure they are getting the best models because one model can be better today and another one can be better tomorrow,” Wagh said.

Bolna’s customer base includes a mix of companies, including the car reselling platform Spinny, the on-demand house-help startup Snabbit, beverage brands, and dating apps. Most of these customers fall into the small- and midsize-business category and primarily use Bolna through its self-serve platform.

In parallel, the startup is actively pursuing large enterprise contracts. For these deals and more customised deployments, Bolna relies on a team of forward-deployed engineers — specialists who work closely with client teams, either on-site or in tightly integrated roles. The company has already signed two large enterprises as paying customers and currently has four additional enterprise clients in pilot programs. Bolna now employs nine forward-deployed engineers and is adding two to three new members to that team each month to support its enterprise expansion.

The company has reported consistent growth across both call volume and revenue. Bolna says it is now processing more than 200,000 calls per day and is approaching $700,000 in annual recurring revenue. While English and Hindi currently account for roughly 60% to 70% of total call volume, usage in other regional Indian languages is steadily increasing.

Akarsh Shrivastava, a member of the investment team at General Catalyst, said the firm was drawn to Bolna because of the flexibility built into its orchestration layer.

“Bolna allows you the freedom to choose any model and has a stack behind it to mould it according to your requirements. It’s a good option for people who want to own some part of the stack, want flexibility in model picking, and want to be able to maintain those products themselves,” Shrivastava said.