Serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia is placing a $30 million personal bet on a new venture called Neo, an enterprise work platform built from the ground up for the generative AI era. The 46-year-old founder of Directi, Radix, Titan, and banking software firm Zeta is bootstrapping the company himself, arguing that legacy workplace software cannot be effectively retrofitted with AI chatbots. He told TechCrunch that the technology shift is significant enough to justify a complete rebuild of workplace software from scratch.
Why an AI-Native Architecture Matters for Workplace Software
Turakhia’s central thesis is that incumbents face a structural disadvantage. Products designed before generative AI became mainstream were architected around human-driven workflows. Adding an AI layer to these existing systems, he argues, results in a poor user experience where artificial intelligence feels like a bolted-on assistant rather than an integrated participant. “If you want to build an iPhone, you can’t take the parts of a Nokia and somehow convert it into an iPhone,” he said.
Neo, by contrast, was designed from the ground up for AI. The platform is model-agnostic, meaning enterprises can switch between different large language models—such as those from OpenAI, Anthropic, or others—without being locked into a single provider. This flexibility is a key differentiator in a market where vendor lock-in remains a significant concern for enterprise buyers.
The Neo Platform: Project Management, Documents, and AI as a Co-Worker
Launched internally in April 2025, Neo combines project management, documents, file storage, and AI into a single, unified product. The goal is to make artificial intelligence an active participant in daily work rather than a separate tool employees must consciously turn to. This means AI is embedded into the core workflow—suggesting next steps on a project, drafting document content based on meeting notes, and proactively surfacing relevant files.
The company plans to begin rolling out the software to mid-sized businesses in the coming months, initially targeting knowledge workers in technology, consulting, and professional services firms. These sectors are early adopters of AI-driven productivity tools and represent a natural starting point for a platform that aims to redefine how work gets done.
The Competitive Landscape for Enterprise AI
Turakhia’s $30 million bet comes at a time when the enterprise AI market is arguably at its most competitive. Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce are aggressively embedding AI across their workplace software suites. At the same time, a wave of startups from major AI labs like Anthropic and OpenAI to productivity companies like Notion and Superhuman are racing to reshape how businesses use artificial intelligence in their daily workflow.
Despite this crowded field, Turakhia argues that enterprise software has never been a winner-takes-all market. He believes that even a small share of global enterprise AI spending represents a sizable opportunity. “Even if we end up with 2% to 5% market share, that’s larger than anything I’ve built so far,” he said.
How AI Accelerated Neo’s Development
Neo’s initial platform was built in just three months, a timeline Turakhia estimates would have taken over a year with a much larger engineering team in the pre-generative AI era. The company extensively used AI tools in the development process itself, from code generation to testing and documentation. This rapid development cycle is a testament to how AI can accelerate software creation, and it also serves as a proof of concept for the kind of productivity gains Neo aims to deliver to its own customers.
Currently based in Bengaluru, the startup employs about 45 people, including 18 engineers. Turakhia told TechCrunch that he expects the team to grow to around 100 employees by the end of the year, with most new hires focused on AI and software engineering.
What This Means for Enterprise AI Adoption
Turakhia is not alone in betting his own capital on an AI-native enterprise startup. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya recently launched enterprise AI coding venture 8090 with his own funds before raising a $135 million funding round. This trend underscores a growing belief among seasoned tech investors and founders that the generative AI shift requires building new software from the ground up rather than trying to modernize legacy systems.
The key question for Neo is whether it can differentiate itself enough to capture meaningful market share against entrenched players with massive distribution advantages. The company’s model-agnostic approach and AI-first architecture are strong selling points, but execution in a hyper-competitive market will be everything.
Who Should Consider Neo Now
For mid-sized businesses in technology, consulting, and professional services that are evaluating enterprise AI platforms, Neo represents a compelling alternative to retrofitted legacy suites. The platform’s focus on making AI an active participant in daily workflows—rather than a separate assistant—addresses a real pain point for knowledge workers who currently toggle between multiple tools.
The software is still in early rollout, so organizations interested in trying it should monitor the company’s public launch plans in the coming months. For now, Neo provides a clear example of the direction enterprise productivity tools are heading: integrated, AI-native, and designed for a world where artificial intelligence is a core component of every task, not an afterthought.
