Turakhia self-funds Neo with $30M
Bhavin Turakhia is putting $30M of his own money into Neo, an AI-native enterprise platform combining projects, documents, and files, built AI-first.
Bhavin Turakhia is investing $30M of his own money in Neo, a single enterprise product that folds projects, documents, files, and an AI layer into one platform, TechCrunch reported July 1. The 46-year-old built and sold Directi and Radix and founded the banking software company Zeta; Neo is his fifth venture. It launched internally in April and rolls out to mid-sized technology, consulting, and professional services firms in the coming months, with a team of 45 expected to reach about 100 by year-end.
His argument for building from scratch is blunt:
If you want to build an iPhone, you can’t take the parts of a Nokia and somehow convert it into an iPhone.
The target is the retrofit pattern, where AI features get bolted onto suites whose data models predate them. Neo’s bet is that a platform designed around AI from day one can make the assistant a first-class layer over projects, files, and documents rather than a sidebar.
Self-funding at this scale is its own signal. No investor pressure means the product gets time to find its shape, but also no external validation of the thesis yet.
Anyone weighing an office-suite switch should hold it to the standard in how to choose AI tools for a small business, and the incumbents are not standing still. The deeper question, what an AI-first workflow actually buys you, runs through the solo operator’s AI stack.