Fundamento AI, an emerging artificial intelligence startup, has announced the appointment of Dhiraj Kalra as its Chief Business Officer (CBO). Kalra, a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience across banking, insurance, and fintech sectors, previously held multiple leadership roles at Paisabazaar, including CBO, COO, and CHRO.
His appointment is set to bolster Fundamento AI's leadership team as the company scales its Agentic AI platform, which provides solutions for financial institutions in India and the United States. Fundamento, based in New Delhi, specializes in automating customer journeys for banks, lenders, and insurers across various touchpoints, including acquisition, onboarding, servicing, and collections.
The AI startup has already demonstrated significant growth, reporting over 10 million monthly customer interactions and a client base exceeding 50 financial services companies. The company recently launched its platform specifically for lenders in the US market, signaling its international ambitions.
Kalra's Extensive Experience to Drive Growth
At Paisabazaar, Kalra was instrumental in leading a team of over 3,500 customer-facing professionals, overseeing customer acquisition, servicing, and people transformation. His career also includes stints at Kotak, Aviva Life, and MakeMyTrip, bringing a wealth of diverse experience to his new role.
As CBO at Fundamento AI, Kalra will be responsible for spearheading business growth, forging strategic partnerships, driving enterprise expansion, and ensuring customer success. His expertise is expected to be crucial as the company accelerates its AI-led offerings for a rapidly evolving financial services sector.
Ankit Durga, Founder & CEO of Fundamento, emphasized the strategic importance of Kalra's addition. "Financial services has reached an inflection point. Dhiraj has spent decades building in this space and understands the realities of financial services better than most. His decision to join Fundamento validates our conviction that the future belongs to deeply embedded AI solutions capable of delivering measurable business outcomes," Durga stated.
AI's Role in Financial Services Transformation
Kalra himself highlighted the transformative potential of AI in his comments on the new role. "AI is no longer a technology conversation – it is a business transformation conversation, and the organizations that will lead the next decade will be those that embed AI deeply into every step of the customer journey," said Kalra.
He praised Fundamento's approach of combining AI capability with a deep understanding of BFSI customer behavior, pointing to the tangible outcomes already being achieved by their clients. This appointment reflects a broader industry trend where financial firms are increasingly investing in sophisticated AI systems that can manage end-to-end customer interactions and deliver measurable business results at scale.
Fundamento has positioned itself as a key player in the Agentic AI space for financial services, aiming to help organizations build AI-native customer operations that enhance business outcomes rather than merely automating workflows.