# Sonakshi Nathani

> Sonakshi Nathani is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Bik.ai and Manifest AI. A computer-science graduate of IIIT Hyderabad and former Microsoft software developer, she turned the order-taking confusion in her family's Raipur grocery business into Bikayi, raised a $10.8 million Series A, then rebuilt the company around conversational commerce and AI agents. She also founded Roaring Ladies of Ecommerce, a professional community for women in the industry.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Bik.ai and Manifest AI
- **Organizations:** Bik.ai, Manifest AI, Roaring Ladies of Ecommerce, Microsoft, Y Combinator
- **From:** Raipur, India
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
- **Known for:** Built Bikayi from a family-business problem into a Y Combinator S20 company., Raised a $10.8 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India in 2021 after a $2 million seed round in 2020., Led the company's transition from an SMB storefront product to BIK's enterprise conversational-commerce platform and Manifest AI.

## Career timeline

- **2015-2018** — Worked as a software developer at Microsoft.
- **2019** — Co-founded Bikayi with IIIT Hyderabad classmate Ashutosh Singla after observing order-management problems in her family's grocery business.
- **2020** — Bikayi joined Y Combinator's Summer 2020 batch and raised a $2 million seed round.
- **2021** — Bikayi raised a $10.8 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investors.
- **2022** — Bikayi rebranded as BIK and shifted from SMB storefronts toward conversational marketing for larger ecommerce brands.
- **2023** — The company introduced Manifest AI, an AI shopping assistant for ecommerce storefronts.
- **2024** — Nathani wrote that the rebuilt business had reached $1.5 million in annual recurring revenue after its pivot.
- **2024** — Founded Roaring Ladies of Ecommerce, a professional community for women in ecommerce.
- **2025-2026** — Positioned Bik.ai as an agentic AI CRM and expanded hiring and customer activity across the United States and India.

## Achievements

- Built Bikayi from a family-business problem into a Y Combinator S20 company.
- Raised a $10.8 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India in 2021 after a $2 million seed round in 2020.
- Led the company's transition from an SMB storefront product to BIK's enterprise conversational-commerce platform and Manifest AI.
- Reported reaching $1.5 million in annual recurring revenue within 18 months of the pivot.
- Founded Roaring Ladies of Ecommerce, which she reported grew to more than 700 executives within ten months.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Bik.ai continued promoting its agentic retail platform and customer events for ecommerce and D2C leaders.
- **2026-08** — BIK and Manifest AI published product updates covering campaign agents, structured handoffs, BigCommerce connections and REST API enrichment.
- **2026-08** — Nathani highlighted the first self-hosted New York gathering for Roaring Ladies of Ecommerce.
- **2025-10** — Nathani said Bik.ai and Manifest AI were hiring across the United States and India while building an agentic AI CRM for ecommerce.

## Links

- Website: https://bik.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonakshi-nathani
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/sonakshinathani

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sonakshi-nathani
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-26