Chinmay Hegde’s career reads like a curriculum of enterprise security and product engineering. With over 25 years across R&D, cybersecurity and large-scale product development — including stints at global firms such as Symantec and McAfee — Hegde has now channeled that experience into Astrikos, a deep-tech company focused on transforming infrastructure operations with AI.
From strategist to founder
Hegde describes his transition into entrepreneurship as a gradual return to an early aspiration, enabled by decades of hands-on product work. “Working in product engineering, QA and security taught me how to build reliable technology at scale,” he says. Those lessons — building products that meet compliance and privacy requirements and designing for operational resilience — became the scaffolding for Astrikos.
Identifying a market gap
A decade ago, India’s ecosystem had relatively few homegrown product companies addressing core infrastructure problems at scale. Hegde saw an opening to bring global best practices back home: “There was a clear need for platforms that could make infrastructure both intelligent and secure.” Astrikos began as an expert consulting outfit and progressively evolved into a platform company around 2020–21. The pivot focused on productizing the team’s operational know-how into repeatable solutions.
Why the name Astrikos?
“Astrikos,” derived from the Greek for stellar or starry, signals the company’s ambition. Hegde explains the name reflects a desire to set high standards: to build top-tier products that are reliable, secure and globally competitive.
Product philosophy: security, compliance, ethical AI
Astrikos’ platform is built with security and privacy at its core. Hegde highlights extensive experience with cybersecurity and compliance regimes such as PCI DSS and HIPAA. That background informs the company’s approach to data handling and AI use: “We design for privacy and security first and apply ethical AI principles to ensure trust and compliance across geographies.”
Converting deep tech into business value
A recurring challenge for deep-tech founders is translating complex technical capabilities into clear business outcomes. Hegde stresses the importance of simple, demonstrable value propositions: “You must explain why the technology matters in operational terms — reduced downtime, faster incident resolution, lower mean time to repair.” He adds that internal alignment and continual customer engagement are essential to make sophisticated platforms adoptable.
Traction, validation and funding
Astrikos’ platform has seen real-world deployments and validation from global partners including Dell and Intel. The company bootstrapped until 2024, when it began raising institutional capital; it completed a PRE-Series A led by Gorilla Technology Group. Hegde frames the capital raise not simply as funding but as strategic alignment: “We looked for investors who add growth capabilities, not just capital.”
Branding through thought leadership
Brand-building for Astrikos has relied heavily on thought leadership and partnerships. The company conducts workshops, builds centers of excellence and collaborates with media to amplify its vision. Hegde believes recognition follows value delivery: awards and an honorary doctorate have helped raise Astrikos’ profile, but he emphasizes responsibility grows with visibility. “Recognition validates effort, but it also demands we deliver more,” he says.
What Astrikos seeks in partners and investors?
For Astrikos, strategic fit matters. Hegde is explicit: the right investors and partners should accelerate product adoption and open market channels. “We want partners who catalyze business growth and help us scale operationally,” he explains, noting that combined success — product, channel and customer outcomes — is the priority.
Why Astrikos matters for enterprise India
As enterprises digitize and infrastructure complexity rises, tools that unify operations, security and observability become essential. Astrikos aims to fill that space by offering AI-driven infrastructure operations engineered with enterprise-grade security and compliance in mind. For Indian and global enterprises seeking dependable, scalable platforms, Astrikos presents a proposition that blends deep technical pedigree with product-market focus.
Looking ahead
Hegde’s immediate focus is on scaling adoption through strategic partnerships and demonstrating measurable business outcomes at enterprise scale. With a validated platform, marquee partner endorsements, and strategic investment in place, Astrikos is positioning itself to be a notable entrant in the intelligent infrastructure operations space.
Interview By : Sejal Thakur
