Bhavin Turakhia bets $30M on Neo, an AI Office alternative

Bhavin Turakhia is investing $30 million of his own money to build Neo, a new enterprise work platform that combines project management, documents, file storage and AI. Launched internally in April, Neo is being positioned as a ground-up rebuild of workplace software rather than an add-on chatbot layer.

What is Neo and who is building it?

Neo is an AI-first workplace product created by Bhavin Turakhia, 46, who is funding the effort with $30 million of personal capital. The platform, which launched for internal use in April, bundles project management, documents and file storage with AI features and is designed to be model-agnostic so enterprises can switch between AI models. Neo’s initial platform was built in three months, Turakhia said, and the company currently employs about 45 people, including 18 engineers, with plans to grow to around 100 employees by the end of the year.

Turakhia has a history of founding enterprise companies, including Directi, Radix, Titan and banking software firm Zeta, and he has largely backed those companies with his own funds before bringing in outside investors. He says AI was used extensively in Neo’s development, work he estimates would have taken more than a year with a much larger engineering team before generative AI.

The startup plans to begin rolling out the software to mid-sized businesses in the coming months, initially targeting knowledge workers in technology, consulting and professional services firms. Turakhia argues incumbents face a structural disadvantage when adding AI to products designed before generative AI, and Neo’s architecture is intended to treat AI as an active participant in day-to-day work rather than a separate assistant.

Why does this matter?

Neo’s approach tests whether rebuilding workplace software around generative AI produces a materially different product and business opportunity than retrofitting legacy suites. Turakhia frames the problem bluntly: "If you want to build an iPhone, you can’t take the parts of a Nokia and somehow convert it into an iPhone." He also frames the market opportunity quantitatively, saying, "Even if we end up with 2% to 5% market share, that’s larger than anything I’ve built so far."

Enterprise AI is already a crowded field. Microsoft, Google and Salesforce are embedding AI across their workplace products, and labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI and productivity companies like Notion and Superhuman are racing to reshape business workflows. Neo’s model-agnostic stance and its decision to be bootstrapped with founder capital signal a bet that a smaller, focused entrant can capture a slice of enterprise AI spending without immediate external funding.

What to watch

Watch Neo’s customer rollout to mid-sized firms in the coming months and whether its model-agnostic claim translates into practical flexibility for IT buyers. Also monitor hiring: Neo expects to expand from about 45 employees to around 100 by the end of the year, with most new hires focused on AI and software engineering. A clear early indicator of traction will be signed deployments among knowledge-work customers in technology, consulting or professional services.