VAIA, one of India’s leading investment and sustainability advisory firms announces the launch of Vaia Agentic AI Residency which aims to support aspiring tech talent with an equity-free fully paid mentorship programme for budding AI startups, builders or operators.
The ‘Vaia Agentic AI Residency’ is a fully-funded, 9-week immersive residency tailored for the nation’s most ambitious AI builders. This program is designed to foster a new wave of agentic AI builders and engineers capable of transforming industries and putting India firmly on the global AI innovation map.
The first phase is one of a kind intensive program that selects up to 8 highly talented builders and immerses them in a collaborative, distraction-free environment. Participants live together in a fully furnished residence and receive comprehensive support, including accommodation, meals, and generous credits for cloud and AI services, removing all barriers to creativity and experimentation. In a first of its kind initiative, the program charges no fee and takes zero equity in participants’ ventures, ensuring builders full creative freedom
Throughout the residency, operators or builders will benefit from:
- Weekly 1:1 mentorship and fireside chats with world-class AI entrepreneurs, mentors, and technical experts.
- Regular demo days to showcase progress, gain feedback, and maintain momentum through peer accountability.
- A strong emphasis on peer learning, with collaborative workshops and lasting professional connections.
- A robust support system, including access to technical resources and computing resources
Talking about the initiative, Shruthi Cauvery, Founder and Managing Partner, VAIA, said “I don’t think there is a dearth of capital for (good) AI startups in the country. However, access to the right mentorship and tools remains a massive challenge. If you are a new builder or just a talented engineer you just want to build your product, get strategic mentorship and launch it live. In the first phase we will mentor 8 talented AI engineers, builders or operators and gradually expand this number over the next 2 years. After the residency ends, builders can continue to build with us or choose to build on their own and rely on the connections they have built during the residency.”
The residency will also provide access to VAIA’s own proprietary LLM, VAIA GPT which has been already deployed for leading funds and companies and has led to a 70% reduction in manual tasks. The LLM eliminates document-heavy workflows in investment management: automatically generating investment memos, responding to due diligence queries, and continuously monitoring key portfolio metrics. By streamlining operations across private equity, venture capital, and banking, the LLM agent frees teams to focus on strategic decisions while ensuring compliance and rigorous risk monitoring.
The Vaia Agentic AI Residency aligns with India’s broader ambitions to become an international leader in technology and innovation. By cultivating an environment where top-tier talent can rapidly prototype, iterate, and launch real-world solutions, Vaia is directly contributing to the strength and vibrancy of India’s AI startup ecosystem.
