About

I'm Sujayath.

I build companies, back founders, and write poems. This is where those threads meet.

I started in a village school in Tamil Nadu — the kind of place where ambition was something that happened to other people. Yet I placed third in the state in English at twelve and posted near-perfect marks in Physics, Chemistry, and Math. Got into ISB on a scholarship with just two years of experience. In 2005, I joined Amazon India as its first Product Manager — a blank canvas, no playbook. By 30, I was one of the youngest senior business leaders at Visa. I learned I could win inside large machines. Then I left to find out if I could build new ones.

I founded Voonik and won the Bloomberg Pitch Show in 2014. Raised $40 Million funding led by Sequoia. Earned elite conviction and the right to attempt something ambitious at scale. When Voonik turned rough, I chose continuity over pride — merged with ShopUp and walked into Bangladesh without knowing the language or culture. I found my footing the only way I know: by doing the work. As ShopUp's co-founder and COO, I helped steer through Covid, pivoted from apparel to FMCG, and helped raise $200M from Valar, Prosus, and Sequoia — staying execution-first throughout.

In 2025, I helped with the ShopUp–Sary merger that created Silq. Today, Silq processes $2.5B in annualized GTV across 4 million verified transactions, turning informal commerce into traceable, financeable infrastructure. I'm now focused on making Silq AI-native — not as a trend, but as an operating system rewrite where speed, risk discipline, and leverage become the default.

In parallel, I've made 25 angel investments — backing founders earlier than most people dare.

I write about startups and product strategy because I wish someone had said these things plainly when I was starting out.

I also write poems. The Tamil ones are about love and longing. The English ones are about grit, identity, and the stubbornness of hope.

Find me on X (Twitter).