# Vivek Raghavan

Co-founder, Sarvam AI. TIME100 AI 2026, Innovators. He spent over a decade helping build Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric ID system, before setting out to build India its own AI. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/vivek-raghavan/))

- Education: PhD, Electrical and computer engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1993; MS, Electrical and computer engineering, Carnegie Mellon University; BTech, Electrical engineering, IIT Delhi, 1989 ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivek-raghavan-16005424), [indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- Career: Sarvam AI (Co-founder, 2023 to now); EkStep Foundation (Chief AI Evangelist, 2020–2023); Magma Design Automation (Vice President, Product Development and Managing Director India, 2004–2010); Synopsys; Avant! Corporation ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/vivek-raghavan/), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivek-raghavan-16005424), [indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/vivek-raghavan/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/vivek-raghavan

- Spent 20 years in chip design software, founding, running and selling two electronic design automation companies. ([indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- Worked as a volunteer on Aadhaar's technology platform, joining as the first ID was issued and staying until the billionth was generated. ([indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- Spent more than a decade building Aadhaar, now the world's largest biometric ID system. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/vivek-raghavan/))
- Was volunteer CTO for Team Indus, India's entry in the Google Lunar X-Prize to land a spacecraft on the moon. ([indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- Sat on the Supreme Court of India's AI committee that rolled out SUVAS, software that translates judgments into Indian languages. ([indiaspeakersbureau.in](https://www.indiaspeakersbureau.in/speakers/dr-vivek-raghavan/))
- Says Indians are "exporting our data and importing intelligence," like exporting cotton and importing cloth a century ago. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/vivek-raghavan/))