For many businesses, artificial intelligence still means a chatbot that answers questions, writes emails or summarises documents. Pune-based VaayuShop AI is trying to take that idea several steps further. The deeptech startup is building what it calls “AI co-workers”, specialised digital employees designed for sectors where decisions are operational, financial and time-sensitive.
Founded in 2022 by brothers Atul Mehra and Achal Mehra, VaayuShop AI is focused mainly on cleantech and fintech. Its larger bet is simple but ambitious: companies do not need generic AI tools alone. They need systems that can understand business goals, connect scattered internal data, evaluate options and help teams act faster.
Atul’s interest in AI came during his time in Germany, where he worked with companies linked to driverless car technology. Watching AI interpret roads, traffic and real-world conditions in real time made him think about its wider business use. If machines could support decision-making on high-speed autobahns, he believed similar intelligence could be built for companies dealing with loans, sales, energy products and customer decisions.
Achal, who has a BTech in computer science and had earlier been in the US, joined him in the venture. Before formally setting up VaayuShop AI, the brothers reached out to people online who were discussing startup ideas. One such connection led to investor introductions, giving the early venture its first push.
The company’s initial work was in finance. Atul and Achal began building AI-led systems that could help investors and lenders assess companies with lower lending risk. VaayuShop later tied up with NBFCs to support fully digital loan disbursals for small retailers. It also showcased its AI systems to large banks and automotive companies, particularly where dealers needed access to financing.
The startup’s central product idea has since evolved from lending support to AI co-workers. These are not positioned as simple answering machines. VaayuShop says its systems can take a business goal, break it into smaller operational tasks and work across functions such as marketing, hiring, logistics and finance.
For example, if a company sets a target such as increasing profit by 15 percent, the AI co-worker is designed to examine possible routes, generate strategies and compare projected outcomes. The company describes this as a move toward agentic AI, where systems do not merely respond to prompts but reason through choices within business constraints.
This is where VaayuShop sees a gap in the way companies currently use AI. Many teams already use tools such as ChatGPT, but generic models are often not connected to internal systems. They may not understand company-specific limits, financial targets or operational dependencies. VaayuShop’s pitch is that its AI co-worker can sit closer to the business, pulling together data from different systems and helping managers make faster cross-functional decisions.
In most companies, marketing, finance, sales and operations data often sit in separate tools. Human teams then spend time connecting those dots. VaayuShop’s approach is to create one intelligent layer that can read across these silos and assist with decisions.
The company first tested its product in the electric vehicle sector. One example shared by the founders involved a customer who was six feet tall and wanted to know which EV would suit him within his budget. A regular sales process may require checking catalogues or asking a supervisor. VaayuShop’s AI co-worker, named Kavya, was designed to answer such questions quickly.
The startup initially offered Kavya to dealers and manufacturers at ₹2 lakh per year. It began with three customers, then widened its focus to related sectors such as solar, sustainable e-commerce and broader cleantech.
Today, VaayuShop says around 80 percent of its business comes from cleantech, while finance remains a smaller but important area of focus.
The founders say they have built the company with a narrow, specialised strategy rather than chasing every possible AI use case. Atul describes cleantech as the company’s “beachhead”, a focused entry market from which it can expand into adjacent sectors.
VaayuShop has so far utilised ₹2.13 crore across three pre-seed rounds. Its investors include angels such as patent holders, senior professionals, NRIs and startup founders from India, the US, New Zealand and Germany.
The startup has also participated in the IDFC Leap to Unicorn Challenge, where it was selected among the top 100 startups. It was later featured in Forbes India’s Top 100 startup list. In 2023, the company filed a patent for a lending rate negotiator using multi-AI agents. In 2024, it launched its AI co-worker product, which the company says saw 23,000 car buyers interact with the AI in a short period.
VaayuShop operates with a team of seven. The founders now want to raise ₹18 crore to set up a team in San Jose and enter the US market. After that, the company plans to expand its India team and target Europe and Southeast Asia over the next two to three years.
The company also wants to build a Focused Research Organisation, or FRO, to support core AI research from India. The founders see this as aligned with India’s broader deeptech push, including research, development and innovation funding and the growing interest of venture capital firms in Indian deeptech.
VaayuShop is still early, and the market it is chasing is crowded with global AI companies, enterprise software giants and specialised agentic AI startups. But its focus on cleantech and lending-linked business operations gives it a sharper story than another generic AI assistant. Its challenge now will be to prove that AI co-workers can move from impressive demos to daily business infrastructure.
For Indian deeptech, that is the real test. The next phase of AI will not be won only by who can answer questions better. It may be won by companies that can quietly sit inside real businesses, understand messy data and help people make better decisions without slowing them down.
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