Tampa AI startup rebrands, plans to grow presence in South Florida while keeping local roots

Tampa-based AI firm XiByte, known for its business robot Maya, is rebranding as it grows its client base in Florida. 

XiByte, now rebranded as Maya Ai, is recognized in the marketplace for its core product Maya, an artificial intelligence-powered robot that is used as a virtual assistant to advise startup founders. The product analyzes a business idea, predicts the level of success and deploys operations. 

The Maya Ai robot and examples of how it can help businesses manage tasks and growth. Photo courtesy of CEO Sat Ramphal.

The company is headed by CEO Sat Ramphal and was co-founded along with his brothers, Sean and Shivam. 

“Our goal is to tap into Tampa a bit further and have a bigger presence in South Florida. It’s difficult in Tampa Bay because there are siloes from city to city and we want to tap into ecosystems in St. Pete and Sarasota, and talk with founders face-to-face,” Ramphal said. “We are thinking about moving more operations to South Florida, but we would still have a presence in Tampa. I was born and raised in Tampa, there will always be a presence here.”  

Ramphal changed the company name this past week to Maya Ai due to legal reasons and brand recognition. 

Maya Ai has offices in the Rivergate Tower in downtown Tampa and is a member of Embarc Collective.

The company has growing ties to the local educational systems, including the University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College. 

“We are working with the entrepreneurship department at USF and HCC so students can use it for business advice and consultation in real-time and that’s the first initial entry point,” Ramphal said. “The second part is the actual deployment, it would be a productivity assistant that helps predict what they need to do operationally, and connect entrepreneurs to the right vendor.” 

The company did try to facilitate a partnership with the University of Sydney, but Ramphal said the Covid-19 pandemic, tied with international barriers, caused it to fold. 

Bold moves ahead 

Maya Ai, which has been self-funded, participated in AI Ventures, an Australian tech incubator, earlier this year. The company set a goal to raise a pre-seed round of $600,000 for product completion and distribution. Ramphal said he is now planning to target a seed funding at $1.5 million. 

Maya Ai CEO Sat Ramphal.  

“Most of the investors in Florida are looking for companies that need Series A funding. I plan to go on tour in 60 days to close my funding round,” he said, listing destinations such as New York and Silicon Valley. 

Today the program is focused on legal, finance and marketing and the plan is to optimize Maya’s intelligence even further and to eventually license Maya in year three to venture capital groups, accelerators and incubators.