India, March 17 -- How much of AI is hype? The question has been going around for a few years now. At least, in the context of Unikon.ai, the answer is now clear.

The startup, founded by Aakash Anand in 2024, started out looking to capitalise on the generative AI or GenAI boom, but now after months of burning cash, Unikon.ai is pivoting and will launch a D2C brand instead.

Yes, a startup that wanted to build an AI-powered networking platform is now one of the thousands of D2C brands dotting the market.

Backed by the likes of Nikhil Kamath, Peyush Bansal, Vishesh Khurana and a number of noted angel investors, Unikon.ai's failure shows just how difficult it is to actually build a product or platform that's centred around AI.

Anand, a se...