A Venture Studio co-building AI-first B2B
startups to scale profitably to $10M ARR faster

Our expert team of operators co-execute alongside you—on everything from product to recruitment and sales—to improve your odds of success.
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’re only co-building 100 startups in our lifetime,
not in a cohort

We run short, focused cohorts—sharp execution sprints that accelerate founders to $10M ARR, profitably, faster than ever.
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80+ companies
CO-BUILD WITH US
Eagerly scouting for our next 4 startups 🔎
OUR FOCUS

We're a lean team with specific strengths
and a niche focus

We are picky about the PortCos we work with and stick to our expertise to fuel your growth.

AI First

Companies built with AI at their core, not as an afterthought.

B2B

We only back B2B companies, doubling down on the segment we know best.

Indians -> World

Whether a founder is in Bangalore or San Francisco, we back Indians taking their companies global.

Mid-Market Focus

The sweet spot we know best: selling to mid-market US startups with $25K–$250K ACVs.

Post Revenue

Not just ideas, but traction - we partner when companies hit $50K–$250K ARR.
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

We don’t mentor from the sidelines—we run execution sprints across your core functions

From finding your first customers to building your AI-first product, fundraising, or hiring your key team members—we’re hands-on with you through sharp execution sprints.
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.

AI

From ideation to user research to co-building

GTM

From ICP analysis to positioning/messaging to demand generation to sales conversion
CAPITAL
HIRING
OPS, CS, FINANCE
LET'S TALK
Want to know how we can help you?
terms

All our stakeholders are incentivised to focus on one goal—your revenue growth

No program fees. No retainers. We’re invested till you make an
exit—so, we make money only when you do.
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 FAQs here, but we are always open to talking to 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?

In 2026, we’re backing a new class of companies: Outcome-as-a-Service. The days of manpower-heavy agencies are ending. With AI as leverage, what once required 1,000 people can now be achieved by 20. These are not service shops; they’re AI-first agencies — collapsing the gap between services and products, delivering outcomes directly, and building proprietary IP along the way.We believe the next billion-dollar companies won’t look like traditional SaaS. They’ll start as AI-first agencies, proving value by delivering outcomes, and scale into platforms. That’s where we’re placing our bets.

2. Which verticals are we betting on within Outcome-as-a-Service?

We’re backing six AI-first agencies that deliver outcomes directly.

- AI Tooling Agency → Automates workflows and builds custom AI systems as internal IP.
‍
- AI Finance Agency → Streamlines bookkeeping, FP&A, compliance, and tax with AI.

- AI Hiring Agency → Sources, screens, and assesses top talent 70% faster.

- AI Outbound Agency → Personalizes and automates outbound sales at scale.

- AI Marketing Agency → Runs full-stack marketing optimized by AI.

- AI Engineering Services Agency → Delivers end-to-end AI product development.

3. Are you funding, along with co-building?

Yes. We fund through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), where we invest alongside our global network of investors, founders, and operators. We lead these SPVs to back the startups we co-build, bringing both capital and context. Because we are deeply involved day-to-day, we make high-conviction bets($100K - $1M), and we also do follow-on funding for companies that show strong traction.

4. 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.

5. 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 both sides, we take 3 months and do a pilot with you 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.

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