Every few years Ram Sukumar remakes Indium. AI is his best chance yet

Every few years, Ram Sukumar reimagines Indium, and machine learning is his latest opportunity. A successful Chennai businessman, Sukumar grew up in privilege, but left for BITS Pilani to study mechanical engineering, which profoundly shaped him. After earning a master's in industrial engineering and operations research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Sukumar realized the significance of data in decision-making, which laid the foundation for machine learning.

After working as a software developer in Boston, Sukumar returned to India and founded Indium in 1999. The company faced financial difficulties during the aftermath of 9/11 and Sukumar’s father's personal losses. Despite these challenges, Indium began specializing in software testing in 2004, eventually expanding internationally with a US-based subsidiary. They secured funding in 2007 from Ajit Isaac and Sarath Reddy, who preferred to receive bad news quickly and good news over time.

By 2012, Sukumar recognized that a pure-testing firm could only grow so large. He decided to venture into data and machine learning, forming Noah Data, a second company focused on these fields. While both companies attempted to compete, they eventually merged in 2018 due to declining business. The investors, now in their tenth year, saw the potential in Indium and Noah Data's complementary operations.