Provision Labs, the San Francisco-based physical AI venture of Pronto founder Anjali Sardana, has acquired Mumbai-based hardware startup Basilisk Industries for an undisclosed sum. Sardana announced the deal in a LinkedIn post on 2 November 2026, saying Basilisk founder Shourya Watwani will join Provision as head of hardware.

The deal comes barely a week after Sardana launched Provision Labs to build the data layer for physical AI, and it gives the young company an in-house hardware team at a time when robotics developers are short of real-world training data.

What Provision Labs gets from the Basilisk acquisition

Basilisk Industries was founded by Watwani in 2023 and worked on perception technology, the sensors and models that help machines understand their surroundings. According to Sardana, the Basilisk team has already delivered three things for Provision within weeks of joining:

• A metric 3D hand-tracking model that captures how human hands move during real tasks
• A redesign of Provision’s perception hardware used to record that data
• The first version of a lightweight, high-fidelity tactile glove that records touch and grip

Watwani will lead hardware development and also work on Provision’s in-house post-processing models, which clean and label raw sensor recordings before they are used to train robots.

Why hardware matters for physical AI data

Physical AI refers to AI systems that perceive and act in the real world through robots and other machines. Unlike language models, which learn from text on the internet, these systems need large volumes of recordings of people doing real tasks, with accurate data on hand position, force and touch. Owning the capture hardware lets a data company control quality from the sensor to the finished dataset.

Provision describes itself as a data, evaluation and deployment layer for physical AI. It plans to source training data from professionals across sectors and help developers test and deploy their models. Its backers include Lachy Groom, General Catalyst, Bain Capital Ventures and Glade Brook Capital, though the funding amount has not been disclosed, Moneycontrol reported.

Hiring across San Francisco, Toronto and Bengaluru

Provision is also expanding its research and engineering teams in San Francisco, Toronto and Bengaluru, with roles in computer vision, perception and tactile data, environment reconstruction and hardware. The Bengaluru hiring adds to a growing base of Indian physical AI work, from Hyderabad’s Tensrai retrofitting factory machines for autonomy to IIT Kharagpur’s planned School of Physical AI.

Sardana continues to run Pronto, the instant household services platform. Pronto’s opt-in pilot, in which service professionals wore cameras while cleaning or folding laundry, drew questions on privacy and consent. Pronto has said customers had to opt in, that the pilot covered less than 0.01% of users and complied with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. The two companies have not publicly detailed any data-sharing arrangement.

What it means for India’s AI ecosystem

The deal shows Indian founders moving early into the data supply chain for robotics, a layer that sits below the models themselves. With states such as Uttar Pradesh planning dedicated robotics and AI parks, demand for well-labelled physical-world data is likely to grow, and so will scrutiny of how that data is collected.

Key takeaways

• Provision Labs has acquired Mumbai-based Basilisk Industries; the deal value is undisclosed.
• Basilisk founder Shourya Watwani becomes Provision’s head of hardware.
• The team has built a 3D hand-tracking model, new perception hardware and a tactile glove for physical AI data.

FAQ

Who owns Provision Labs?

Provision Labs was founded by Anjali Sardana, who also founded and runs Pronto. It is backed by Lachy Groom, General Catalyst, Bain Capital Ventures and Glade Brook Capital.

What did Basilisk Industries build?

Basilisk, founded in 2023 by Shourya Watwani, built perception technology that helps machines interpret their surroundings, including hand-tracking and touch-sensing hardware.

Featured image: Anjali Sardana, founder of Pronto and Provision Labs. Photo: Pronto / Economic Times

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