A Journey That Began at Seven
Pranjali Awasthi’s path to entrepreneurship was paved long before she reached high school. Encouraged by her father—an engineer who championed computer science as a fundamental skill—Awasthi began coding at the age of seven. Growing up with an appreciation for building technology, she eventually relocated from India to Florida, where she gained access to advanced computer science education and research opportunities.
Her professional trajectory shifted significantly when she took on a research internship at Florida International University. It was here that she experienced firsthand the frustration of manually searching through vast amounts of academic data. Realizing the potential of large language models following the release of OpenAI’s GPT-3, she began developing a solution to automate data extraction.
Building Delv.AI: Solving Data Silos
Founded in 2022, Delv.AI is designed to address the challenges researchers face when navigating massive collections of documents. The platform serves as an end-to-end textual search tool that allows users to query, summarize, and extract structured information from research papers and documents efficiently. By connecting with cloud storage systems, the tool aims to reduce the time spent on manual document reviews, allowing researchers to focus on analysis rather than data retrieval.
- Search and analyze across multiple research documents simultaneously.
- Extract structured data directly from PDFs and other document formats.
- Integration with cloud storage to streamline research workflows.
- Export capabilities for data manipulation in CSV format.
Securing Support and Future Outlook
A pivotal moment in the growth of Delv.AI was Awasthi's acceptance into the startup accelerator HF0. The residency provided her with the mentorship and networking opportunities necessary to scale her business. This support helped her secure approximately $450,000 in early-stage funding from investors, including AngelList Quant Fund, On Deck, and Backend Capital, among other notable angel investors.
Celebrate small wins. When it comes to starting a business, even the smallest accomplishments should be celebrated! Build yourself up by acknowledging every win paving your path.
— Pranjali Awasthi