Tanmai Gopal: Pioneering Tech Simplicity with Hasura, India’s First Open-Source Unicorn

In 2013, Tanmai Gopal embarked on a mission to tackle a problem that had long frustrated him. As an alumnus of IIT Madras, holding a dual degree in computer science, he sought to address the challenges faced by developers and engineers in building applications. Gopal’s belief was that technological progress should simplify, not complicate, the application development process. He was determined to create a venture that could make a significant impact on this front. Choosing to forgo the conventional campus placements, Gopal founded 34 Cross, a product development and consulting firm, in 2013. His primary goal was to resolve the complex issues he had identified in application development.

In the same year, Rajoshi Ghosh was on her own journey of self-discovery. Armed with a degree in computational biology from the National University of Singapore, her early career involved research, including creating biodiesel from green algae. However, she soon realized that she yearned for a more immediate impact. After a year of teaching programming to aspiring entrepreneurs and students in Ghana, West Africa, Ghosh sensed that her true calling lay within the startup ecosystem. Her path led her to a meeting with Tanmai Gopal in Chennai, where 34 Cross found its co-founder in Ghosh. Four years down the road, in 2017, 34 Cross faced severe financial challenges, casting a shadow over its future. Gopal, who initially believed they could operate without venture capital, began to reconsider. There were days when the startup struggled to make payroll for its employees, and the situation appeared bleak.

One pivotal issue was the time constraints imposed by their consulting business. While 34 Cross was simultaneously engaged in creating tools to validate ideas for developers, this dual focus proved to be unsustainable. Ghosh convened an emergency meeting and proposed the idea of securing venture capital. This decision marked the end of 34 Cross and the birth of Hasura, a platform with the mission to simplify developer access to data. Hasura’s journey was far from straightforward, largely due to the founders’ prior roles as consultants. As a consulting firm, 34 Cross was not only building tools but also devoting substantial time to client projects. It was evident that Hasura needed both time and financial resources to develop its own product.

Although Hasura faced challenges when pitching its concept to venture capitalists, it wasn’t the only hurdle. Some investors struggled to grasp the distinction between Software as a Service (SaaS) and an open-source venture, while others questioned the startup’s product-market fit. However, Hasura’s fortunes took a turn when it caught the attention of Sameer Brij Verma, Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners. Impressed by the team and their vision, Verma introduced the co-founders to Abhinav Asthana, the founder of Postman, a prominent Application Programming Interface (API) platform. Verma decided to back Hasura, providing seed funding of $1.2 million in November 2017.

In February 2022, Hasura achieved the remarkable milestone of becoming India’s first open-source unicorn, with a valuation of $1 billion. The startup raised $100 million in a Series-C funding round, with the participation of several existing investors, including Nexus Venture Partners. The name “Hasura” carries profound meaning, reflecting its potential to ward off challenges. With an open-source background, Hasura overcame the primary hurdle of project-market fit. It gained recognition and love from developers as it went viral. The subsequent challenge was to develop a commercial version of the product that users would be willing to pay for.

Hasura’s impressive journey has included multiple stages: project-market fit, product-market fit, and go-to-market (GTM) scaling. The company transitioned from offering free solutions to building a commercial product and is now focusing on scaling its go-to-market strategy. Hasura’s unique name encapsulates its journey, characterized by flexibility, stubbornness, and the tenacity to confront and overcome challenges. For Tanmai Gopal and his team, achieving unicorn status is a significant milestone, but their mission continues. Their mantra is simple: execute, execute, and execute.