Pronto founder's AI venture acquires Mumbai startup to develop robotics hardware
Acquiring a specialist hardware team could help Provision Labs bring these capabilities together and speed up product development.
Provision Labs, an artificial intelligence venture founded by Pronto founder Anjali Sardana, has acquired Mumbai-based hardware startup Basilisk Industries for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition, announced on November 2, brings Basilisk's hardware expertise into Provision Labs as the latter develops technology for training and deploying AI systems that interact with the physical world.
Building technology for robots
Basilisk Industries was founded in 2023 by Shourya Watwani and worked on perception technology, which enables machines to interpret their surroundings using sensors and software.
Watwani has joined Provision Labs as head of hardware. His team has already developed a three-dimensional hand-tracking model, redesigned the company's perception hardware and produced an early version of a lightweight tactile glove, according to reports.
Such gloves can record touch-related information that cameras alone cannot capture. This type of data can help developers train robots to handle objects and perform physical tasks.
Provision Labs, headquartered in San Francisco, works on data collection, evaluation and deployment infrastructure for physical AI. Its technology is aimed at systems that need to perceive and interact with real-world environments rather than simply process text or images.
Why the acquisition matters
Robotics developers need more than powerful AI models. They also require sensors, hardware and real-world data to teach machines how to move, respond to their surroundings and handle objects.
Acquiring a specialist hardware team could help Provision Labs bring these capabilities together and speed up product development.
The deal also highlights a growing connection between AI software and hardware startups. As companies work towards deploying AI in factories, warehouses and other physical environments, access to specialised engineering talent and equipment is becoming increasingly important.
The challenge for Provision Labs will be to turn its combined capabilities into reliable products that robotics developers are willing to adopt commercially.
