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Back builders, then build with them.
Sandbox backs pre-seed and seed SaaS & AI companies — and builds alongside them. These are the six convictions behind every cheque we write, and exactly how we decide.
SaaS & AI only₹50L – ₹2Cr first cheques
01 / Convictions
Six beliefs we act on.
Not wallpaper — every one of these changes how we source, decide and help.
T·01
Intelligence is getting cheap
Inference costs are falling ~10× a year. Every workflow priced around human attention — support, research, compliance, ops — is being re-priced around software. The largest companies of the next decade will sell outcomes, not seats or hours.
T·02
Verticals own the data
The richest problems sit in unglamorous industries — manufacturing, clinics, logistics, farms. Generic AI commoditizes fast; industry-specific workflow backed by proprietary operational data compounds.
T·03
Distribution is the moat
Models converge; trust, brand and embedded workflow don't. We back founders who already live inside their customer's world and can reach the first hundred users without paid acquisition.
T·04
Small teams outbuild giants
A five-person team with full-stack AI tooling now ships what took fifty people three years ago. Capital efficiency at pre-seed is at an all-time high — and judgement matters more than headcount ever did.
T·05
India builds for the world
World-class engineering at a third of Bay Area burn. Indian founders increasingly sell globally from day one. The next generation of vertical leaders will come from tier-2 cities — we're placing the bet in Rajkot.
T·06
Pre-seed is a skill, not a lottery
Speed, conviction and hands-on help change outcomes at the earliest stage. That's why we run programs and a studio alongside the fund — thesis in action, not thesis on a slide.
02 / Practice
How we invest.
Conviction is one thing — process is another. Here's the exact shape of a Sandbox deal, from first read to signed paper.
- Cheque size
- ₹50L – ₹2Cr lead; up to ₹3Cr at seed with trusted co-investors
- Stage
- Pre-seed & seed — pre-revenue is fine when the builder is exceptional
- Sector
- SaaS & AI only: vertical SaaS, agentic AI, dev tools, AI infrastructure
- Ownership
- Typically 8–15% when we lead; observer seat, founder-controlled board
- Decision speed
- First meeting → term sheet in 2–3 weeks. Always a real answer.
- Geography
- India-first, investing anywhere companies are building for global markets
- 01
A partner reads it — really
Day 0–2Every pitch gets a genuine read by a partner within days, not a screen by an intern with a checklist. If we ask you questions, we're already interested.
- 02
The working session
Day 3–7Ninety minutes, live. Your demo, your model, your plan for the first ten customers. We push on the hard parts — most founders tell us it's the most useful meeting of their raise.
- 03
Reference sprint
Week 2Three to five quick calls: customers or design partners, past colleagues, market operators. We move fast and tell you exactly what we heard.
- 04
Decision & paper
Week 2–3Partners meet, decide yes or no with reasons, and — when it's yes — you have a term sheet the same week. Standard, founder-friendly paperwork.
03 / The fine print
Terms, and what we pass on.
Founder-friendly by default — and honest about the no's.
What we pass on
- Consumer social and creator apps without a line of sight to revenue
- Crypto, web3 and gambling-adjacent products
- Capital-heavy hardware without a software-margin endgame
- Deep tech that needs more than 24 months before any product exists
- Side-projects whose founders won't be full-time within 90 days
What our terms look like
Paper
Simple instruments — SAFE / CCD-CCPS. No exotic clauses, no surprises.
Board
Observer seat when we lead. No control provisions at pre-seed, ever.
Pro-rata
We keep pro-rata in follow-ons; we also use our rolodex to fill your round.
Founder protections
No clawbacks, no pay-to-play, standard 4-year vesting expectations both ways.
Agree with us? Prove it with your startup.
We answer every serious pitch within two weeks — with reasons. No deck required; two minutes of Loom beats forty slides.