We're a Venture Studio co-building B2B AI companies
from India to $10M ARR, profitably!

We primarily co-execute on GTM and AI to get our portfolio companies to $10M ARR in a profitable and capital-efficient way!
Hands-on Studio
We're in the trenches with you, every day. Co-building is our primary value-add.
Early Stage B2B Founder
Needs both strategic and executional support to achieve full potential.
Traditional Accelerator
Constrained by scale, high-level advisory is the key value-add
Apply
Building B2B AI? Let's talk
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About the founder

Building Almabase to now building 

100 Almabases from India for the World

Portfolio Companies in our life-time, and we want to deep dive into scaling each one of them! Unlike Traditional Accelerators, we want to work with a limited set of 100 Portfolio Companies in our life-time, and we want to deep dive into scaling each one of them! Unlike Traditional Accelerators,

we want to work with a limited set of 100 Portfolio Companies in our life-time, and we want to deep dive into scaling each one of them!we want to work with a limited set of 100 Portfolio Companies in our life-time, and we want to deep dive into scaling each one of them!

Read our full thesis on Shifu Ventures.

Sri Maneru
Co-Founder & CEO
our thesis

We envision to invest in 100 companies in our lifetime, not in one cohort

Unlike traditional accelerators that onboard dozens or even hundreds of companies each cohort, we focus on just a few—because we go super deep, co-building with you.
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our thesis

We envision co-building 100 companies in our lifetime, not in one 3-month cohort

Unlike traditional accelerators that onboard dozens or even hundreds of companies per cohort, we focus on just a few—because we go super deep while co-building with you.
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80+ companies
CO-BUILD WITH US
Eagerly scouting for our 4th company 🔎
OUR FOCUS

We're a lean team with specific strengths, hence a super niche focus!

We don't specialise in D2C or B2C. Even in B2B, we are not super experienced with PLG motion. We don't have experience guiding founders moonlighting on ideas! We stick to our strengths :)

B2B

You are a B2B startup, not B2BC or B2C or D2C

AI

AI will become critical to your offering & internal efficacy

India -> World

You are building from India for the world

Inside Sales

ACV is at least $10K; you are not serving SMBs

Post Revenue

You are working full-time with at least few paying customers
selection criteria
AI powered IP law firm
AI powered Production House
AI powered Virtual CFO firm

Because we’re a Hands-on Studio, we have a super niche focus

Unlike traditional accelerators that onboard companies across multiple sectors, geographies, etc. —we're focused. As a Hands-on Studio, we leverage our strengths, working only in the niches where we excel.

1.
B2B: We work with companies using a B2B model, leveraging our expertise in scaling them effectively.
2.
From India, to the world: We aim to build companies with global potential, led by Indian founders.
3.
Post Revenue: We partner with companies that have already generated revenue, between $100K - $500K ARR.
4.
Services.AI: We specialize in helping AI-powered services scale their GTM strategies and enhance their AI infrastructure.
5.
Inside Sales Led: Our strength lies in scaling companies with an inside sales model, rather than those driven by a PLG approach.
6.
Selling to Startups: We have a particular interest in companies targeting startups as their customer base.
VALUE ADD

Co-building is our primary value-add. Especially in GTM & AI

We also help with other areas of company building—capital, hiring, customer success, compliance, etc. However, GTM and AI are where we go really deep!
GTM
AI
Fundraising
Hiring
Customer Success
Finance & Compliance
Few examples of how we’ve helped our Portfolio Companies
Wrote the first 100+ outbound emails  for Photon Legal
Cold called to 200 prospects to build the script
Helping Photon Legal hire its first SDR  to scale Outbound.

GTM

From ICP analysis to positioning/messaging to demand generation to sales conversion

AI

From ideation to user research to co-building
CAPITAL
HIRING
OPS, CS, FINANCE
LET'S TALK
Want to know how we can help you?
terms

All our stakeholders are invested and incentivised to help you grow revenue

No program fees. No referral fees. No retainership. We are not a program, affiliate, or agency. We are invested in you until the exit, and we make money when you make money.
Monthly Royalty from 100 PortCos
Dividend Payouts
to Stakeholders
our INVESTORS

B2B founders and operators you can count on to grow your revenue!

Our investors will not push you to build a unicorn, they see clear merit in first building capital-efficient & profitable B2B businesses! 

Karthik Ramamoorthy

Founder, Investor & LP

Bootstrapped and successfully exited Leeyo to Zuora; now an active investor and LP.

Helps startups with strategy, enterprise GTM, and organizational building.

Harshit Agarwal

MD, Appknox

Built a bootstrapped, profitable SaaS company to multi-million in ARR.

Brings deep expertise in Sales and Finance to support B2B startups.

Amit Koshal

Founder & CEO, Photon Legal

Building an AI-powered legal firm to multi-million in ARR.

Offers deep expertise in navigating Legal, IP, and Compliance for B2B Startups.

Shenbhaga Pandian Pandi

Founder, Quantumics.AI

Built multiple AI-first services companies in the UK.

Helps startups maximize the potential of GenAI and UK GTM.

Sayyaparaju Sunil

VP of Engineering, Aerospike

Built and managed high-performing engineering teams with deep technical expertise.

Supports B2B startups with engineering leadership and deep tech innovation.

USA
Founder,
Investor & LP
INDIA
Bootstrapped SaaS
Founder
CANADA
Services Founder & Legal Expert
UK
Service Founder & AI Expert
india
Engineering Leader& Investor
USA
AI Leader
& Investor
india
iOS Developer
USA
Engineering Expert
india
Engineering Expert
USA
Product Manager
india
Engineering Operator
BUILD WITH US
We would love to know what you're up to!
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Answering some FAQ's here, but we are always open to talking B2B founders :) Please feel free to reach out! 

1. What kind of companies we are looking for

Given that we co-build companies instead of advising them like traditional accelerators, we don't have the luxury to be very generic. We have rigid contraints - B2B, From India for the World, AI being a critical part of the offering, Inside Sales (ACV is >$10K) and Post Revenue! 

2. Within B2B, do you have any specific preference? 

We don't understand HardWare or Manufacturing or Robotics. Even in AI, we don't have the expertise to supper deep-tech startups - say you are building a foundational LLM, YC is your best bet! 

For now, we are looking for Services.AI companies or Vertical AI companies!

3. Who might not be a good fit for Shifu?

- B2C or D2C or B2B2C. We don't understand this! 
- You serve SMB's, charge for example $100K per month). We are not good at PLG
- You are moonlighting on an idea or pre-revenue!
‍- You are selling from India for India. One of our key value add is GTM to USA! 

4. What will be the selection process?

Since we only pick 4-5 startups a year, we have be to super picky. We take around 3 months, do few pilots so that we both can make a confident decision! We don't have any structured selection process and we don't run cohorts like traditional accelerator, so you can reach out to us anytime during the year! 

5. Where are you based out of?

We are split between Bangalore and Bay Area. We are looking for startups where majority team in India (not necessarily Bangalore)! 

1. What kind of companies we are looking for?

Given that we co-build companies instead of advising them like traditional accelerators, we don't have the luxury of being very generic. We have rigid constraints: B2B, from India for the world, with AI as a critical part of the offering, inside sales (ACV > $10K), and post-revenue!

2. Within B2B, do you have any specific preference? 

We don't work with hardware, manufacturing, or robotics. We are interested in B2B AI. Even within that, we don't have the expertise to support deep-tech startups—if you are building a foundational LLM, YC is your best bet!

For now, we are looking for Services.AI companies or Vertical AI companies.

3. Who might not be a good fit for Shifu?

- B2C, D2C, or B2B2C. We don’t specialise in either of them.
- You serve SMBs, and your ACV is less than $5,000. We don't specialised in PLG either.
- You are moonlighting on an idea or pre-revenue.
- You are selling from India to India. One of our key value-adds is GTM to the USA!

4. What will be the selection process?

Since we only pick 4-5 startups a year, we have to be super picky. If there is sufficient interest on either side, we take around 3 months and do a few pilots so that we can both make a confident decision! We don't have any structured selection process, and we don’t run cohorts like traditional accelerators, so you can reach out to us anytime during the year!

5. Where are you based out of?

You can operate from anywhere in India. We are based in Bangalore and the SF Bay Area.

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