# Nitin Pachisia

> Nitin Pachisia is the Founding Partner of Unshackled Ventures, the only early-stage VC firm in the U.S. exclusively focused on immigrant founders. Born in India and having navigated the U.S. immigration system himself, he co-founded Unshackled in 2014 with Manan Mehta to solve a problem he lived: talented immigrant entrepreneurs trapped by visa rules that punished risk-taking. Unshackled's model is unlike any other fund - it directly employs founders as their visa sponsor, enabling them to legally leave corporate jobs and build startups. Across three funds totaling $55M+, he has backed 80+ companies whose founders come from 35+ countries, helped create 1,100+ jobs, and maintained a 100% success rate on immigration filings.

- **Role:** Founding Partner at Unshackled Ventures
- **Organizations:** Unshackled Ventures, Kno Inc. (former), Deloitte & Touche LLP (former), ABB Limited (former)
- **From:** India
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** Commerce, St. Margaret Sr. Sec. School, Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com), Finance & Accounting, University of Delhi, MBA, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
- **Known for:** Co-founded the only U.S. VC firm exclusively focused on immigrant founders, Backed 80+ companies across 35+ countries, Helped portfolio companies raise $700M+ in follow-on funding

## Career timeline

- **2003-2005** — Group Internal Auditor at ABB Limited
- **2005** — Immigrated to the United States
- **2005-2010** — Manager, Tech Startups Advisory at Deloitte & Touche LLP
- **2010-2012** — VP Finance & Controller at Kno, Inc. (ed-tech startup, later acquired by Intel)
- **2012** — Attempted to found his own experiential ecommerce startup; constrained by H-1B visa rules
- **2014** — Co-founded Unshackled Ventures with Manan Mehta; raised Fund I (~$3.5M-$5M)
- **2019** — Closed Fund II at $20M, backing 94 investors
- **2023** — Closed Fund III at $35M with 73% institutional backing; launched Eighteen150 program

## Achievements

- Co-founded the only U.S. VC firm exclusively focused on immigrant founders
- Backed 80+ companies across 35+ countries
- Helped portfolio companies raise $700M+ in follow-on funding
- 100% success rate across 230+ immigration filings in 13 visa categories
- 1,100+ jobs created by portfolio companies
- 72% of portfolio went on to raise follow-on from top-tier VCs
- Zero founders have returned to their home countries since inception (2014)
- Raised three funds totaling $55M+, with Fund III backed by Cambridge Associates, Emerson Collective, and Cendana
- Featured on NBC, NPR, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, TechCrunch, CNN
- Organized initiatives to clarify O-1 visa eligibility for immigrant entrepreneurs

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Unshackled invested in Phaseshift.tech, a fiberoptic equipment company
- **2023-06** — Closed Fund III at $35M with 73% institutional backing; launched Eighteen150 founder-in-residence program with $150K + 18 months runway for 10% equity

## Links

- Website: https://www.unshackledvc.com/team/nitin-pachisia
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/npachisia/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/immigreating

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nitin-pachisia
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-29