Yamuna Kalyani defied stereotypes to build UniteAR, an augmented reality platform that empowers users to create interactive AR experiences for both personal and commercial use. This is her inspiring story.
As a young girl growing up in Kottayam, Yamuna Kalyani dreamed of wearing a white coat and stethoscope.
"When I was young, I wanted to become a doctor. I even cleared the entrance exam with a good rank," she tells Divya Nair/Rediff.
But when the time came, she chose engineering in order to fulfil her parents' wishes.
"My parents wanted me to complete the course in four years, find a good job with a decent salary and settle down," she says.
Yamuna, who graduated in information technology from the LBS Institute Of Technology For Women, Thiruvananthapuram, landed a corporate job soon after.
In six months, she realised she was meant for bigger things.
Taking the leap
Within a year of joining the IT industry, Yamuna quit her job to follow her entrepreneurial instincts. She co-founded her first start-up, iBoson Innovations, along with her friend Vishnu JP.
"There was no support or funding as there are fewer women entrepreneurs in tech. I was determined to break that mould," she says.
During a tech showcase, Yamuna noticed how real estate companies were using virtual reality (VR) for property presentations. That was her Eureka moment.
"It gave us the idea that we could build accessible immersive tech solutions using augmented reality (AR)," she remembers.
Although their first VR product didn't find commercial success, it opened the door to new possibilities. With guidance from her mentor Brijesh Madhavan, Yamuna and her team began exploring augmented reality.
The birth of UniteAR
In 2023, Yamuna and Vishnu launched UniteAR, an easy-to-use, no-code AR platform through which anyone create interactive, augmented experiences without much technical skills.
"UniteAR is like Canva (a graphic design tool) where anyone who has the app can create her/his own design," describes Yamuna.
"All you have to do is upload your image -- in 2D or 3D -- to the platform. The app then uses AI to generate an AR experience that can be used for personal or commercial purposes.
"The best part is it even works with low quality images. You can create your own Android app," Yamuna adds.
From education and marketing to real estate and entertainment, UniteAR is slowly transforming how people interact with digital content.
"Imagine a student scanning an image in a textbook and watching a 3D animation pop up. Or a newspaper ad turning into a product demo. That's the kind of experience we're enabling," she explains.
From bootstrapped to global
UniteAR was bootstrapped and gradually became profitable.
"We started with a 14-day free trial for the US audience. Ninety per cent of our clientele is based in the US, Europe and a few in Asia and Singapore," Yamuna says. "In India, the market is not ripe as people are not ready to pay for the service."
Headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, UniteAR's global reach is growing steadily, driven by the simplicity of its technology and the universal appeal of creativity.
Breaking barriers in tech
Yamuna's success is especially significant in an industry where women remain under-represented.
"As per NASSCOM data, there are very few Indian women entrepreneurs in the tech space. Most of the women who venture into entrepreneurship are mostly into food and retail businesses.
"According to me, women are equally talented in technology and some of them have great ideas and are quietly building such amazing technology. However, there is a lack of funding and mentorship."
Sharing her own experience, she adds candidly, "If there are two women running a start-up and looking for funding or an investor, it is going to be a challenge. However, if you have a male co-founder, it becomes easier."
For Yamuna and UniteAR, hiring skilled women professionals was another challenge.
"The expertise we were looking for were difficult to find. So we hired and trained them," she says.
Yamuna's message for aspiring entrepreneurs
"Entrepreneurship requires patience and perseverance. If you believe in something, you have to take the leap of faith. Once you start building and get the first 50 customers, people will start believing in you," she says.
Yamuna believes that the key to success in technology is curiosity and consistent learning.
"Learn to do your own research. If you want to grow in technology, you have to update yourself."
She also advises aspiring founders to gain experience before taking the plunge.
"Don't quit your job to start a business. Start building your product alongside your job. Get three to five years of work experience before you start something of your own. In my case, I worked for six months and I didn't have much experience or exposure."
AI -- threat or boon?
As someone working with AR and AI, Yamuna's perspective on the threat of AI is refreshingly grounded.
"If you remember, when computers came to India, we were all scared. But we learned to cope. With AI too, we need to learn to integrate and work with AI," she explains.
Yamuna sees AI as a catalyst for innovation rather than a threat to jobs.
"AI is like a mass data provider. It provides faster solutions based on information procured from various sources. I feel everyone must learn how to prompt AI, use it for different purposes and work with it hand in hand. But remember that AI can make errors. It’s not perfect."
Offering hope to distressed and anxious professionals, she says, "As long as AI can make mistakes, it cannot take away your job. Humans will always have that advantage over AI.
"We have seen PHP, Java. Now we have extended reality, machine learning. One should look at them as opportunities and endless possibilities. But if you are resistant to change, you will perish."
The future
From sacrificing personal dreams and dealing with rejection early in her career to building one of India's most accessible AR platforms, Yamuna Kalyani's journey is a shining example of courage, conviction and quiet determination."
The start-up UniteAR may have humble beginnings but its mission is ambitious: To make augmented reality accessible to everyone. And Yamuna -- a woman who dared to dream and rewrite what's possible for women in Indian tech -- proves that it can be done.
