Astra AI Shuts Down Just Months After Backing from Perplexity AI Founder
Hegde cited internal disagreements with fellow co-founder Ranjan Rajagopalan over the startup’s growth pace.
Enterprise AI startup Astra, which aimed to automate non-customer-facing sales tasks, has officially shut down operations. The announcement came from co-founder and CEO Supreet Hegde via a heartfelt LinkedIn post, just four months after the company secured funding from Perplexity AI founder Aravind Srinivas.
Hegde cited internal disagreements with fellow co-founder Ranjan Rajagopalan over the startup’s growth pace as the primary reason behind the closure. Despite early success—including signing two major clients with no direct competitors—Astra struggled with the long sales cycles of large enterprises and concerns over data access to sensitive tools like Salesforce and Slack.
“The current surge of interest and confusion surrounding AI agents added yet another layer of complexity,” Hegde wrote, adding that clients were often unsure how to evaluate or trust such tools.
The startup’s shutdown marks a sobering reminder of the volatility in the AI SaaS landscape, where hype doesn’t always translate to sustainable traction. Hegde expressed gratitude toward Astra’s team, investors, and mentors, calling the experience “far surpassing what any business school could offer.”
Interestingly, according to his LinkedIn bio, Rajagopalan is already working on his next startup (currently stealth).
Earlier this year, Hyderabad-based GenAI enterprise startup subtl.ai also announced its shutdown after failing to raise follow-on funding, despite securing $200,000 (₹1.8 crore) in initial angel investment.
Co-founder and CEO Vishnu Ramesh broke the news on LinkedIn: “TL;DR: we have started shutting down Subtl.ai.” He reflected candidly: “It's completely on me, I failed my team and investors more than they failed me for sure.”
