Tech Entrepreneur Bets $30M on AI Rival to Microsoft Office
Synopsis
Serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia has invested $30 million of his own money into Neo, a new enterprise software venture aiming to build AI-native workplace tools designed to compete with traditional productivity suites.
Serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia has poured $30 million of his personal capital into launching Neo, a new business software company aimed at building AI-native workplace applications.
The venture is entering a booming space where businesses are seeking software that brings collaboration, automation, and AI together, rather than having them in separate workplace applications.
Turakhia’s latest venture was built out in India by an engineering team based out of Bengaluru, and has been testing with Turakhia’s businesses, including fintech company Zeta, ahead of its upcoming closed beta release targeting mid-sized companies and knowledge workers across technology, consulting, and professional services.
Building Workplace Software Around AI
Neo’s platform includes Friday, an AI assistant that integrates with more than 1,000 business applications; Tasket for project management; Studio for collaborative documents and knowledge sharing; and Drive for file management and collaboration.
It says that these products are designed to function as one workspace so employees can create documents, manage projects, find information, and automate tasks without juggling different applications.
The company claims it built the first iteration of Neo in about three months using AI-powered software development. The team has around 18 engineers and intends to ramp up to about 45 by year-end.
Enterprise AI Spending Continues to Grow
Neo is tapping into a market in which enterprises are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence, with global AI spending predicted to jump 76% year-over-year to $644 billion in 2025, according to Gartner.
Spending in the enterprise will largely focus on software, cloud infrastructure and AI-enhanced business applications. Enterprises' usage of generative AI has also significantly grown in recent months, the 2025 edition of the Stanford AI Index Report highlights, and businesses are deploying the technology in software development, customer service, workspace productivity, and internally.
North America leads in terms of enterprise AI investment, with European and Asia-Pacific regions (including Australia, Japan, and Singapore) also seeing growth in enterprise adoption.
Latest Venture Adds to Entrepreneur's Portfolio
Neo marks the entrepreneur’s fifth tech-led venture, joining Directi, Radix, Titan, and Zeta. In 2014, Turakhia sold his Directi web businesses for $160 million, and Zeta is now worth close to $2 billion after raising new capital.
Unlike a growing number of AI companies which have already tapped investors before launching products, Neo is being self-funded by Turakhia through his own capital.
It has not said whether it plans to raise outside capital and is looking to onboard customers through a phased rollout after it exits the closed beta.
Source: TechCrunch
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Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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