Hi there! I am Soumitra, based in SF and a venture investor, operator, and founder in the US-India corridor for ~15 years now.
Professional arc ➡ VC @ IDG Ventures/ Chiratae, Director – Global Expansion @ Alibaba Group, Founder & CEO @ Workomo, Operator-Angel in 25+ startups over the last decade.
Investment track record ➡ Paytm (IPO), Newgen (IPO), Uniphore (Unicorn), Xpressbees (Unicorn), OpenSea (Unicorn), Phenom (Unicorn), Yulu (Series B), and LetsVenture (Series B).
I am also an active blogger and podcaster at “An Operator’s Blog”.
Investment Thesis
I write $50-100k checks into early-stage startups and make decisions quickly.
I follow a 3-pronged, US-India cross-border investment strategy:
- “Global Indian” founders – (a) based in India and building for the world, and (b) Indian diaspora in the US
- “Non-incremental” startups – high likelihood of strong competitive differentiation and category leadership
- “Grit” as the key founder characteristic
I invest in both US and India-based legal entities.
Sectors
Operators Studio only invests in technology startups. Focus sectors include:
- AI – enterprise, consumer
- Deeptech – health, education, space, defense, climate, energy, agriculture, life sciences
- ‘Cross-border’ Consumer Internet – fintech, edutech, commerce, marketplaces
Supporting Founders
Post-investment, my mission is to be the “hardest working investor on the cap table”. I actively support portfolio founders in finding product-market-fit, US go-to-market, and raising follow-on rounds from the best investors both in Silicon Valley and India.
During this partnership, I typically end up becoming a “Whatsappable Confidant” that the Founder can lean on while working through ongoing operating challenges, as well as making decisions at strategic inflection points of the company.
The Fund is backed by world-class founders, operators, and investors in the US-India corridor. They help support and evangelize the portfolio companies.
TLDR: When Operators Studio backs you, you get immediately plugged into an athletic community of the highest-quality operating expertise and relationships that I have painstakingly nurtured over the last 15 years.
Portfolio
 | HQ: San Francisco Enterprise AI AI-powered delivery intelligence for modern food brands Co-investors: Base10, Afore |
 | HQ: New York Healthcare AI Automating provider-patient interactions for specialty care with Safe AI Co-investors: Together Fund |
 | HQ: Bangalore Fintech Cross-border B2B payments platform (India<>World) Co-investors: Elevation Capital |
 | HQ: SF Bay Area Deeptech Smart sleeping solutions for babies & kids Co-investors: CRV, Footwork |
 | HQ: New York Healthcare AI AI-driven virtual care platform for Cardiology, Nephrology and Pulmonology Co-investors: Arali Ventures |
 | HQ: Bangalore Consumer AI AI-powered English learning app Co-investors: Lightspeed, Shunwei |
 | HQ: Pune Enterprise AI Drone autonomy software platform Co-investors: Lavni Ventures, DeVC |
 | HQ: SF Bay Area Enterprise AI AI SDR for Inbound Co-investors: Village Global |
 | HQ: SF Bay Area Enterprise AI AI agents for delivering full-stack automated ad agency services Co-investors: Wing, South Park Commons |
 | HQ: SF Bay Area Enterprise AI AI-powered System of Intelligence for go-to-market teams Co-investors: Undisclosed |
 | HQ: Bangalore Enterprise AI Enterprise platform for connected machines Co-investors: YourNest |
 | HQ: San Francisco Healthcare AI Specialized AI for complex behavioral health Co-investors: Counterpart, GreyMatter |
 | HQ: Toronto/ SF Bay Area Deeptech Retrofit solution to make existing trucks autonomous for point-to-point logistics Co-investors: Twin Ventures, DeVC |
 | HQ: Bangalore Deeptech STEM Roblox from India for the world Co-investors: Inflection Point Ventures |
 | HQ: Gurgaon Deeptech Detection and interception of small aerial threats Co-investors: General Catalyst, AUM Ventures |
 | HQ: Bangalore/ SF Bay Area Enterprise AI Helps gaming publishers deploy their monetization strategy with speed & scale Co-investors: BITKRAFT, South Park Commons |
 | HQ: Bangalore Gaming Gaming universe for Gen Z gamers Co-investors: PeerCapital, Picus Capital, Athera |
 | HQ: SF Bay Area Enterprise AI AI-native design platform Co-investors: Multiple Tier 1 VCs |
 | HQ: Bangalore Deeptech Robotic workflows for the space economy, starting with life-extension services of GEO satellites Co-investors: Deeptech VC |
 | HQ: Pune Deeptech Advanced space propulsion systems for commercial payloads Co-investors: JITO, LetsVenture |
 | HQ: San Francisco Deeptech Waymo for excavators Co-investors: YCombinator, Blast |
 | HQ: Bangalore Fintech Helping global employees unlock wealth from their US-based equity compensation Co-investors: Antler India |
 | HQ: San Francisco Healthcare AI AI voice for speech & language therapy Co-investors: Angels |
 | HQ: Gurgaon Deeptech Next-gen EV taxis with swappable batteries Co-investors: IIMA Ventures |
 | HQ: Atlanta AR/VR Operating system for XR in classrooms Co-investors: Sierra Ventures, Inventus/SV Quad |