Agentic AI startups tap growing consumer demand for personalized support

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve from basic automation to autonomous decision-making, agentic AI that can perform complex tasks with little or no human intervention is rapidly gaining traction.

- S SHANTHI

Traditionally the domain of enterprise solutions, startups are now eyeing a new frontier: consumers.

Several companies that once focused purely on business-to-business (B2B) applications are now tapping into the burgeoning interest from everyday users, driven by rising digital adoption and demand for intuitive, voice-enabled, and personalized services. Last month, Bhavish Aggarwal's AI venture Krutrim launched Kruti, a consumer-focused agentic AI platform that enables users to book taxis, order food, pay bills, generate images, and conduct detailed research. With its action agents, research mode, and image generation capabilities offered for free, Kruti aims to bring AI autonomy into the hands of consumers.

Similarly, Fractal Analytics, a Mumbai-based AI startup known for its enterprise product Cogentiq, is making a foray into the B2C space. Fractal's consumer-facing agentic products such as Vaidya ai (a health assistant), Kalaido ai (a text-to-image generator in 17 Indian languages), and Marshallgoldsmith ai (a coaching platform) are all built atop the Cogentiq engine. These tools are not just extensions but serve as early signals of a deeper shift from corporate workflows to personal utility.