UNLIKE most start-up founders whose connections stem from colleges or accelerators, NextBillion.ai’s Ajay Bulusu and Gaurav Bubna started out as colleagues at one of Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab. NextBillion.ai, born in 2020, operates in the niche area of geospatial technology. Its proprietary platform customises geolocation data for business needs. “We focus on three-four segments—transport, logistics, field and smart cities,” says Ajay. Focus geographies are U.S. and Asia. The company is now building application interfaces such as Route Optimisation API, Distance Matrix And Directions API (to calculate ETA), Geo-Fencing API (to mark boundaries), among others. NextBillion.ai has raised $35 million till date and has 75 employees. It operates in six countries and counts Mirae Asset Capital, Light Speed Ventures, Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge) as leading investors. — Rukmini Rao