Two years ago, Varun Vummadi — an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur — turned down both a coveted PhD offer from Stanford University and a corporate job worth around ₹4 crore (≈US $525,000) to start his own venture. 

He co-founded Giga — an AI support automation startup based in San Francisco — along with fellow IIT Kharagpur alumna Esha Manideep, who herself declined a US $150,000 role at a top Indian high-frequency trading firm.

Founded in 2023, Giga builds enterprise-grade AI systems designed for real-time customer support, covering speech and chat across multiple languages and integrating with large companies. 
Now the company has raised US $61 million (≈₹ 500 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Redpoint Ventures. 

The founders’ bold decision to leave safe, high-paying offers behind has been widely lauded on social media, with comments like “Wow. Respect” and “Kudos” emerging as their old LinkedIn post resurfaced. 

Their story underlines how a risk-taking mindset and belief in innovation can pay off — even when stepping away from conventional success.