Unshackled Ventures- VC firm investing in immigrant entrepreneurs

Manan Mehta is the founding partner of Unshackled ventures. We cover the thesis behind funding immigrant entrepreneurs- more specifically about their process for funding startups and how they help them with their visa issues.


- A high conviction "friends and family" investor that removes immigration hurdles & gives you a network to succeed faster.

-- Connecting the unconnected and supporting the startups with capital and customers

- Quick decision process and communication with founders even if they decide not to invest.

- Focus on customer (entrepreneur) service

- Questions they try to look for answers- Why you? Why now? Why this?

- Looking for an adversity muscle that gives them confidence that an entrepreneur can persist and win

- Incumbent industry insiders are mostly biased about new technologies. Founders & investors need to steer through such experts and persist.

- 170 immigration filings across 13 immigration categories (OPT to Green card filings)

- Things they consider: Fastest pathway for an entrepreneur to work and as long as they want.

- Unshackled takes care of the immigration filings at no cost to the founders- it is an investment they make in them.

- For every dollar they invested, their portfolio companies raised 27x on average

- Pre-seed is founder-problem fit; seed is problem-market fit; Series A is Product-market fit and beyond that is go-to-market fit

- We underwrite people and not businesses

- Learn about the Unshackled university fellowship program; EIR/Round table program

- Application for University Venture Fellows Program- https://airtable.com/shrlrPthK3IwY1NDC