Deepinder Goyal founded Eternal bets on privacy-first AI with dark.ai; can it become the company’s next growth engine? – Markets

Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, is set to enter the artificial intelligence (AI) space, marking a new chapter in its growth journey. Alongside its Q2 results on Wednesday, the company unveiled dark.ai, signalling the beginning of its foray into the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Brokerages have welcomed the move but have also urged caution, highlighting the need to assess the potential business and financial impact of Eternal’s new AI venture. While the launch marks a step towards exploring opportunities in the AI space, its financial contribution remains uncertain.

The AI-based platform is designed for founders, researchers, enterprises and government users. It offers end-to-end encryption and a user-controlled encrypted memory layer to ensure that conversations remain private.

The company says it will not be able to access user interactions. With a global launch targeted for 2026, dark.ai aims to address the growing demand for secure and confidential AI solutions.

Is dark.ai an opportunity for Eternal?

Brokerages, including MOSL, Emkay, Nuvama and DAM Capital, have welcomed Eternal’s launch of its new AI venture, dark.ai.

Nuvama believes the initiative could help Eternal prepare for the adoption of AI-led commerce. Meanwhile, MOSL views dark.ai as an early-stage investment targeting privacy-conscious power users. DAM Capital also acknowledged the venture’s potential, stating that dark.ai could present a significant opportunity.

Overall, brokerages believe that rising demand for secure AI solutions could create a niche opportunity for Eternal, although the venture’s potential impact remains to be assessed.

Concerns over dark.ai

While dark.ai has generated interest among various brokerage firms, investors remain cautious due to limited visibility into its business model, competitive positioning and investment requirements.

According to Jefferies, the market is still trying to understand the “what” and “how” of the platform, raising concerns about Eternal’s ability to establish a meaningful competitive edge in an increasingly crowded AI landscape. Analysts also flagged the possibility of significant spending on infrastructure, including GPUs, servers, networking and security, to support the offering.

Jefferies noted that dark.ai’s success could ultimately be a “binary outcome”, with adoption, independently verifiable privacy architecture, model-quality benchmarks and inference economics likely to determine whether it evolves into a meaningful platform.

The brokerage added that the near-term financial implications remain difficult to assess given the limited disclosures so far, although management has indicated that it will remain disciplined in its capital allocation.

Analysts also remain cautious due to limited visibility into the platform’s monetisation model, pricing strategy and cost structure.

Echoing the foreign brokerage Jefferies’ concerns, Emkay has maintained a neutral stance pending further details on the platform’s economics, while DAM Capital cautioned that the venture could require meaningful capital expenditure.

Brokerages broadly agree that user adoption, revenue generation and infrastructure costs will be key factors in determining whether dark.ai can evolve into a meaningful growth driver for Eternal.

Where could Eternal head from here?

The dark.ai announcement came alongside Eternal’s Q2 results, with most brokerages continuing to base their investment theses primarily on the company’s core food delivery and quick-commerce businesses.

Analysts currently view dark.ai as a potential source of long-term growth optionality rather than a near-term earnings driver.

Here’s what brokerages have to say:

Bottom line

While brokerages broadly welcome Eternal’s entry into privacy-focused AI, the Street is yet to assign meaningful value to dark.ai. The project’s ability to attract users, demonstrate its privacy architecture, establish model quality and develop a viable monetisation framework will likely determine whether it evolves into a meaningful growth driver or remains an experimental bet.

(Disclaimer: The above article is meant for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as any investment advice. ET NOW DIGITAL suggests its readers/audience to consult their financial advisors before making any money-related decisions.)