Vitraag
Collective

The short version

A working thesis, condensed. The full deck has the rest.

Mission: back India-for-India companies from Maharashtra outward — companies that win Indian customers first and are built to go global — using 20+ years of US software security and enterprise experience, deep healthcare domain access, and a Bay Area go-to-market bridge. Impact-first, returns-aware: durable jobs in tier-2 India, founders reaching US markets through us, and enough returns to make the model self-sustaining by Fund II.

Why now: India's sovereign AI stack is open-source and state-funded, angel tax is gone, tier-2 talent is underpriced and under-mentored, and new compliance regimes (DPDP, RBI AI mandates) are creating demand Indian startups aren't yet serving with products. Four doors just opened at once.

Three lanes, one thesis: AI Security is the flagship — India's AI security market today is consulting firms, not products, and that's exactly the gap our security background is built for. AI for Bharat is the impact lane — vernacular AI in healthcare, agri, and MSME, but only with a real data or distribution moat, never a thin wrapper. AI infra tooling is the returns lane — picks-and-shovels for the neocloud buildout.

Deal Zero — secure, vernacular derm-AI for tier-2 Maharashtra — is where every advantage stacks: clinical network, security craft, open Indian models, and a US teledermatology expansion path. It's the deal we'll either find or build ourselves.

Alongside the checks: the Kumbh Residency, a signature AI + Security program for 8–15 exceptional Maharashtra engineers a year, feeding both the studio and the ecosystem.