Grants backer
ElevenLabs
Backed
Why this matters
Audio-first AI infrastructure grant. Backing OpenCrew’s voice and agent stack.
SecuredMarch 2026
Build in public
Where we are.
Updated May 2026
We’re heads-down on v1. Waitlist is growing, ElevenLabs backed us, and we’re talking to a handful of pre-seed investors. If you’re reading this, that’s us being transparent about what’s real and what’s still ahead.
Live ledger
As of May 2026founders waiting
324
Grants backer
ElevenLabs
round open
Pre-seed
building
v1
The round
Round status
Pre-seed
Open
Taking meetings
Target raise
$1M
Pre-seed · open
Backed by
Roadmap
Where we’ve been, where we are, where we’re going.
ShippedIn motionAhead
Late 2025Shipped
Bought opencrewai.com at 2am
Said "OK we’re doing this." Plan: TBD.
Jan 2026Shipped
First waitlist signup
Patient zero. A stranger from the internet said yes.
Feb 2026Shipped
Brand identity locked
Theo. The orb. The green.
Mar 2026Shipped
ElevenLabs Grant secured
They believed first.
Apr 2026Shipped
300th founder on the waitlist
The thesis has weight.
May 2026Shipped
V2 landing page shipped
You are reading it.
← You are hereMay 2026
May 2026In motion
Pre-seed round open
In conversations.
May 2026In motion
V1 product in active build
The autonomous business loop, end to end.
Q3 2026Ahead
Closed beta
First 50 founders inside.
Q4 2026Ahead
Public launch
Anyone can hire their AI co-founder.
Q1 2027Ahead
First paying customers
Pricing live. Real money, real businesses.
Q2 2027Ahead
First fully autonomous business
A real founder logs off. The business keeps running.
Why now
“AI will run your business” was a slogan for a decade. Now it’s a buildable system.
Three things finally happened at the same time. The AI got good enough to do the work, not just suggest it. The tools fragmented into hundreds of agents that don’t coordinate. And a generation of founders showed up who’d rather build a system than manage a team.
OpenCrew is the layer that turns those pieces into one company.
The team
01 · The founder
Solo · since 2025
K
Kartik
IIT Madras·ML at Visa·Cluely
“I build systems that run without me.” That’s how Kartik describes himself. IIT Madras Data Science, ML research at Visa and Cluely, and a small portfolio of businesses he already runs solo without a team. OpenCrew is the productization of how he already operates.
02 · AI co-founder
OnlineTheo
The orb
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