02 Jan 2026 Five-Oh-Ones to Watch 2026: Uday Akkaraju
By Phyllis Ormsby
Uday Akkaraju wasn’t looking for a profession when he founded BOND.AI. He was looking to solve problems. “I founded BOND.AI to work on two pillars that quietly govern every human life: money and health,” he said. “These systems affect how people sleep, decide, worry, hope and care for their families. My work is about bringing empathy, intelligence and responsibility into those systems, so they serve people instead of overwhelming them.”
Akkaraju said his company, co-founded with his wife, Madhavi, is using human-centered AI to make finance and healthcare work better. On the money side, his financial platform is powered by an “empathy engine” that helps consumers meet their financial needs and helps financial institutions engage with those consumers.
On the health side, the company offers a technology-driven longevity and wellness platform called 101+. After downloading the app and choosing a subscription plan, users can schedule a blood test at a recommended lab and get the results delivered straight to the app. More than 150 biomarkers provide a picture of a person’s health at a molecular and cellular health level. Future health risks can be addressed and a journey can be mapped out to fix the root problems.
“Uday has a mindset that is fundamentally different from most. He is constantly questioning assumptions and pushing beyond conventional limits,” said Jared Landrum, who works alongside Akkaraju at BOND.AI. “He always seems to be several steps ahead, not because he moves faster, but because he thinks deeper. Working with Uday means being challenged to grow, think bigger and focus on what truly matters.”
“I’ve always been drawn to the spaces where complexity meets consequence, where decisions ripple into real human lives,” Akkaraju said. “Finance and health sit at that intersection. Once you see how deeply they shape human dignity and opportunity, it becomes hard to look away.”
The Akkarajus have lived in Little Rock for more than six years. They have a son, Iri, 6, who is their daily reminder of the importance of the work they are doing. They support the Arkansas Children’s Foundation and UNICEF, particularly efforts that focus on children in crisis and in underserved regions, and said they have started their own foundation, AKKF, to advance research to reverse genetic diseases in children.
The couple moved here after living in California and New York and found something unexpected that Akkaraju called “ambition without noise and calm without stagnation.”
“Entrepreneurship carries constant pressure,” he said. “Arkansas balances that pressure with peace. People here are grounded, genuine and quietly resilient. Coming from major cities, I didn’t expect to find this kind of equilibrium, but it’s exactly what allows sustained, meaningful work.”
At the center of that work is Akkaraju’s desire to improve the lives of others. “Health is the foundation of everything,” he said. “If we are healthy and active, we can work, earn, love, give and lead. Without health, everything else becomes fragile. We’ve approached health reactively for too long. There is a real, science-backed possibility to live actively into our 80s, prevent chronic disease, and reduce dependence on medication. That’s the mission behind 101+. If you look at www.101.plus, you will know how to start rewriting your health.”
