Build
We create and incubate companies, products and experiments — from software and AI-enabled tools to marketplaces, consumer concepts and businesses grounded in the physical world.
Venture building · London
We build what we believe should exist.
Rao Ventures builds businesses, partners with ambitious companies and explores opportunities where technology meets the real world.
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Our point of view
Good businesses begin with curiosity — and become real through clear thinking, craft and commercial discipline.
01 / What we do
Three ways we create value.
Advise
We work alongside ambitious founders and teams on the consequential questions: what to build, how to find fit, where technology creates leverage and how to turn products into durable growth.
Explore
We investigate unusual opportunities, partnerships and selective investments across technology and the real economy — following strong ideas wherever they lead.
02 / Ventures
Things we're building.
We develop ideas with the potential to become useful products, strong businesses and independent companies.
The work starts quietly: asking better questions, testing assumptions and looking for real demand. Selected ventures will be shared here when they are ready.
RV / 001In development
Venture
in progress
Exploring a real problemDetails to follow
03 / Experience & perspective
Deep in technology.
Open to the world.
Our perspective comes from building and scaling products across startups and global technology companies — and from a conviction that the most interesting opportunities rarely fit into a single category.
TechnologyAI-enabled productsFintechMarketplacesCommercePaymentsPlatforms & APIsGrowthReal-world businesses
04 / About
A company designed
to stay curious.
Rao Ventures is an independent venture building and advisory company based in London.
We believe the best companies pair imagination with precision: a meaningful problem, a product people value and an economic model built to last. We move between creating our own ventures and helping others navigate difficult moments of invention, growth and change.
Our remit is intentionally broad. Technology is a powerful tool, not the boundary — so we remain open to opportunities across commerce, marketplaces, real-world assets and industries still waiting to be reimagined.
The founder
Ashwin Rao
Founder & Director, Rao Ventures Ltd
Ashwin is an entrepreneur, builder and technology and product leader. He started Rao Ventures to create useful, enduring businesses — and to work with people pursuing ideas that deserve to exist.
His experience spans software engineering, product, growth, platforms and payments, with leadership roles at PayPal/Braintree and Checkout.com. Having worked across India, San Francisco and London, the Carnegie Mellon alumnus brings a global perspective and a broad interest in the places where technology, commerce and real-world industries meet.
Connect on LinkedIn05 / Contact
Have an interesting problem,
idea or opportunity? Let's talk.
hello@raoventures.co.uk
Based in London. Working internationally.