16-year-old AI founder has her startup valued at $12 million and is skipping college

A 16-year-old AI founder has raised $450,000 for her tech start-up.

Whilst most high schoolers are looking to get out of extra credit, Pranjali Awasthi has been dreaming about how her AI could make search engines better.

Now, the teen is even skipping college to ensure her tech changes the world.

Ironically though, it took an unprecedented global event for the 16-year-old to realise her ambition.

During the pandemic, the then-high schooler was forced to study virtually which ultimately allowed her to intern at Florida Internal University.

Working up to 20 hours a week in the research labs, Awasthi was tasked with extracting data and writing literature reviews – which is how she hit upon her grounding-breaking idea.

X/@raidingAI / Twitter

Though she’d only spent a short time interning, she realised how difficult it was to find what you are looking for via search engines.

Wondering whether AI could offer a solution, the teen went on to found Delv.AI – which uses machine learning to extract data.

A year later, she attended Hack Week in Miami and met investors from Back End Capital who were eager to help her expand her idea.

In exchange for a small part of her future company, the teen was invited to join a 12-week residency, HFO, to hone her tech skills.

The real-life sandbox worked and in 2021, she debuted a beta version of Delv.AI online.

Since then, the 16-year-old has gained multiple backers and raised over $450,000 (£367.6k) for her start-up.

With experts now valuing her firm at around $12 million (£9.8m), it’s not surprising that Awasthi feels that school is not for her.

Unlike most high schoolers, the tech teen has opted to skip the classroom altogether and completed her GED online in 2023.

X/@raidingAI / Twitter

She is also forgoing a typical college experience as she focuses on her company, which recently hired its first engineer last year.

Choosing tech over textbooks hasn’t been easy though, with the teenager taking on the bulk of HR and operations.

In addition, she had to convince her parents who were understandably concerned about their daughter's education.

She told Insider that whilst they ‘compromised’ on her finishing school, they’ve had to accept that Awasthi will not be applying to college anytime soon.

“My parents are Indian, so academics are a priority for them….[but] I have a lot of responsibility on my plate and passion for what I'm building,” she explained.

As her firm rapidly grows, we can’t help but wonder if Awasthi is the next AI billionaire!