What a venture studio is, and why we built one.

A venture studio does not just fund companies. It helps build them.

Venture building · Technology · Capital
ARCOT
Built around founders
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The studio exists to take on one of the hardest early-stage risks for a founder: getting the technology built right.

What we are
Arcot Ventures, the full-stack venture studio and investment arm of Arcot Group, invests tech credits that founders use to have their product built at Arcitech.

Arcitech is the engineering company in our portfolio. Alongside the technology investment, we support founders through launch, in exchange for equity.

The founder leads the company. We make sure the technology underneath it is right.

Offices in New York, Dubai, and Mumbai.

The origin

We lived the exact problem every founder brings us.

Sonny Arcot came to Mumbai to build a product and hired two software companies.

Both walked away when it got hard.

So he hired his own engineers and built it himself. That team became Arcitech, and Arcitech became the engine of the studio.

From engineering team to venture studio
The principle
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“Spend your energy on the solution, not the excuse.”
Sonny Arcot, Founder and CEO
How the studio works

One company. Multiple capabilities.

A venture studio brings together the capabilities a founder would otherwise have to assemble independently.

Technology
Capital
Product
Network
VENTURE
STUDIO

Answers, by who's asking.

Different people come to Arcot Ventures with different questions. Here are the answers that matter most.

For founders
How much do you invest in my company?

A substantial tech-credit investment at the seed stage, plus support through launch. The credits pay for your build at Arcitech. Structure is agreed privately.

What do you take?

Equity, in exchange for the tech credits that build your product at Arcitech and the support through launch. Terms are discussed privately.

Is my idea safe with you?

Yes. NDA before we hear it, your company, your lead. Client work at Arcitech is client-owned, full stop.

Can Arcitech charge whatever it wants and burn my credits?

No, and the process is built to make that impossible. You negotiate your rate with Arcitech directly, before the credits exist. The credits apply to that locked rate, at partner pricing below market. And our equity means wasting your credits wastes our own investment.

Would in-house engineers be cheaper?

The data says the opposite. A single bad hire costs at least 30 percent of first-year salary (US Department of Labor) and 50 to 200 percent of annual salary in full (SHRM). 74 percent of employers admit to wrong hires. Tech roles take 52 days on average to fill, AI specialists 89. A founding team of five is that gamble taken five times before a line of code ships.

Will you build my competitor?

No. One company per problem in the portfolio.

Do you compete with my investors?

No. We co-invest with them. Capital and build are different investments in the same company.

What stage do you join?

Early. The build is the point.

For investors putting cash into the portfolio
How do I invest in AI?

Two honest options. Back one company you are confident about, or spread across several to manage your exposure. Know this going in: early-stage tech investing is high risk, nine out of ten startups fail, and the rare winner is what pays for the rest. Both paths start the same way: apply.

Do I invest in tech credits?

No. Tech credits are how we invest in a company's build. You invest cash. Your cash and our credits end up in the same company, which is the point.

Can I put money in today?

No. You apply, we review, and approved investors are invited round by round. We look for smart money: investors whose network, customers, or expertise raise a company's odds, not only its balance.

Doesn't the studio profit from build fees even if a company fails?

No. Credits are our investment, not our revenue, and the build is priced at partner rates below market. Our return comes from the equity, which is worth nothing if the company fails. A studio that gouged its own portfolio would be eating its own returns.

For VCs and funds co-investing with us
How do we work together?

Two ways. Bring us into your round and we join with tech credits, or send us a founder you believe in and we build with them.

What goes into the round from your side?

The build. We invest tech credits redeemed at Arcitech, so the round's cash goes to growth instead of hiring experiments.