IIT dream to AI reality: 19 year old, Quits IIT Path to build ₹28 Cr AI startup
19-year-old Mumbai-born Dhravya Shah has turned heads in Silicon Valley after his AI startup, Supermemory, secured $3 million in seed funding from Google executives.
- Oct 5, 2026,
- Updated Oct 5, 2026 12:53 PM IST
Nineteen-year-old Mumbai native Dhravya Shah has turned heads in Silicon Valley after leaving his B.Tech programme at IIT Bombay to build Supermemory, an AI startup that has raised $3 million (around ₹28 crore) in seed funding.
Shah’s journey began while he was preparing for the IIT entrance exam, when he started building a small AI tool as a side project. The income from that early work helped him move to the United States, where he later secured an O-1 visa, a category reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability” in fields such as technology and business.
After relocating, Shah builds and launches a new product every week for 40 consecutive weeks. One of those weekly experiments eventually became Supermemory, the startup that would attract investors linked to Google, OpenAI and Cloudflare.
What Supermemory Does
Supermemory is an AI memory system designed to solve a key limitation in current AI applications: most treat each interaction in isolation, with little ability to carry information forward. The startup’s technology lets AI-powered apps work with emails, files, chats, PDFs and other documents and retain that information across interactions.
Supermemory gives AI systems a form of long-term memory, enabling them to remember user context and data over time instead of starting from scratch with every query.
DO CHECKOUT: 22-year-old who dropped out in his final semester claims he earns nearly ₹5 lakh a month, says IIT is 'just a tag'
Funding and Backing
Supermemory has raised about $3 million (around ₹28 crore) in seed funding. Investors include individuals associated with major technology firms such as Google, OpenAI and Cloudflare, with naming senior figures like Google AI’s Jeff Dean and DeepMind’s Logan Kilpatrick among the backers. The round was led by Susa Ventures, Browder Capital and SF1.vc.
A Different Path from IIT
Shah as an IIT Bombay dropout, his own profile has at times disputed that he formally attended the institute, even as he is widely known for having left an IIT path to pursue entrepreneurship. Either way, his trajectory stands out: before turning 20, he had launched more than 15 open-source projects, sold two companies and built a solo-founded AI startup valued in the millions.
ALSO READ: Class 12, ₹2 lakh salary for dad: Meet Kerala’s teenage AI entrepreneur
Nineteen-year-old Mumbai native Dhravya Shah has turned heads in Silicon Valley after leaving his B.Tech programme at IIT Bombay to build Supermemory, an AI startup that has raised $3 million (around ₹28 crore) in seed funding.
Shah’s journey began while he was preparing for the IIT entrance exam, when he started building a small AI tool as a side project. The income from that early work helped him move to the United States, where he later secured an O-1 visa, a category reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability” in fields such as technology and business.
After relocating, Shah builds and launches a new product every week for 40 consecutive weeks. One of those weekly experiments eventually became Supermemory, the startup that would attract investors linked to Google, OpenAI and Cloudflare.
What Supermemory Does
Supermemory is an AI memory system designed to solve a key limitation in current AI applications: most treat each interaction in isolation, with little ability to carry information forward. The startup’s technology lets AI-powered apps work with emails, files, chats, PDFs and other documents and retain that information across interactions.
Supermemory gives AI systems a form of long-term memory, enabling them to remember user context and data over time instead of starting from scratch with every query.
DO CHECKOUT: 22-year-old who dropped out in his final semester claims he earns nearly ₹5 lakh a month, says IIT is 'just a tag'
Funding and Backing
Supermemory has raised about $3 million (around ₹28 crore) in seed funding. Investors include individuals associated with major technology firms such as Google, OpenAI and Cloudflare, with naming senior figures like Google AI’s Jeff Dean and DeepMind’s Logan Kilpatrick among the backers. The round was led by Susa Ventures, Browder Capital and SF1.vc.
A Different Path from IIT
Shah as an IIT Bombay dropout, his own profile has at times disputed that he formally attended the institute, even as he is widely known for having left an IIT path to pursue entrepreneurship. Either way, his trajectory stands out: before turning 20, he had launched more than 15 open-source projects, sold two companies and built a solo-founded AI startup valued in the millions.
ALSO READ: Class 12, ₹2 lakh salary for dad: Meet Kerala’s teenage AI entrepreneur