IITian CEO alleges $3 million extortion attempt against AI startup Giga

Indian-origin entrepreneur Varun Vummadi, co-founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based AI startup Giga, has alleged that his company is facing an extortion attempt involving a demand for $3 million, according to posts shared by him on X.

Giga is being extorted for $3Million and we want to set the record straight. There have been a lot of false allegations about Giga on Twitter recently. They are being made by a small group of individuals that has illegally obtained confidential company information and is now… pic.twitter.com/sLiTuUuHez

— Varun Vummadi (@varunvummadi) December 26, 2025

Vummadi, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, stated that a small group of individuals had illegally obtained confidential internal company files and was seeking payment in cryptocurrency to prevent the release of information he described as manipulated and defamatory. He informed that the group had already published false and defamatory material on social media and was threatening to selectively extract snippets of internal data, distort them out of context and release them publicly with what he said would be false allegations unless the company transferred $3 million to an anonymous crypto account.

He also shared a screenshot of an email that he said was sent by the group, warning of wider disclosure if the demands were not met. Giga stated that it had notified law enforcement agencies and indicated that it planned to pursue legal action. In a statement, the company informed that the emails originated from an anonymous ProtonMail address and were part of what it described as an extortion and blackmail attempt. The company added that it had alerted authorities and would take further appropriate legal steps if the alleged illegal conduct continued.

Vummadi stated that the timing of the alleged extortion coincided with increased public attention following Giga’s $61 million Series A funding round announced in November 2025.

The extortion claim comes amid public allegations made by former employees, according to a Moneycontrol report. These include claims by former staff member Jared Steele, who alleged unethical practices at the startup, including falsification of revenue figures, bribery of Fortune 500 companies, enforcement of mandatory 12-hour work shifts and failure to deliver promised compensation. Steele described the workplace environment as toxic and stated that he resigned after one day.

Vummadi denied all the allegations made by former employees, stating that they were false and defamatory, and added that the data circulating online had been selectively misrepresented.