Eternal to launch privacy-focused AI platform Dark.ai globally in 2026

Eternal Limited, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, plans to launch its privacy-focused artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Dark.ai, globally by the end of 2026, as the company looks to expand beyond its core food delivery and quick commerce businesses.

Eternal Limited, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, plans to launch its privacy-focused artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Dark.ai, globally by the end of 2026, as the company looks to expand beyond its core food delivery and quick commerce businesses. The announcement came in Eternal's shareholders' letter for the second quarter of FY27, released on Wednesday alongside its financial results.

Eternal founder and Vice Chairman Deepinder Goyal said the platform is being developed to address growing concerns over the privacy of conversations and sensitive information shared with AI assistants. "Dark uses fine-tuned frontier open-weight models, running inside our own infrastructure. End-to-end encryption. We cannot read your conversations, even if we are forced to," Goyal said in the shareholders' letter.

The platform will allow users to retain conversation history through an encrypted memory system that they control. Explaining the target market, Goyal said, "Dark is built for power users – founders, researchers, scientists, enterprises and governments – who want to keep their thoughts private, because privacy is essential for competitiveness."

The company has been testing the platform internally for several months. "Dark will launch globally, hopefully within 2026," Goyal said.

The move marks Eternal's entry into the AI assistant market, where the company is seeking to differentiate its offering through privacy and data protection. Meanwhile, Eternal reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 125 crore for the July-September quarter of FY27, compared with Rs 65 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, registering a year-on-year increase of about 92 per cent.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 24,138 crore from Rs 13,590 crore a year earlier, reflecting growth of about 78 per cent. According to the company's quarterly shareholders' letter, consolidated adjusted revenue increased 76 per cent year-on-year to Rs 24,621 crore, while adjusted EBITDA rose 197 per cent to Rs 666 crore.

The company attributed part of the sharp revenue growth to Blinkit's shift towards an inventory-led business model. Blinkit's net order value grew 79.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 20,940 crore, while its adjusted EBITDA turned positive at Rs 184 crore against a loss of Rs 156 crore in the year-ago period.

In the food delivery business, Zomato’s net order value increased 21.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs 11,445 crore, with adjusted EBITDA reaching Rs 627 crore. (ANI)