New angel fund aims to help Silicon Valley immigrant founders raise startup money

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Nitin Pachislia (left) and Manan Mehta launched Unshackled Fund to help immigrant founders in the U.S. on H1B visas raise money legally and get their startups off the ground. They plan to employ the teams they back at locations in San Francisco and Palo Alto.

Cromwell Schubarth

Senior Technology Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal

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Immigrant startup founders in the U.S. face a Catch-22 in fundraising that a new Silicon Valley angel fund and accelerator is tackling.

Tech workers here on H-1B visas are barred from raising funds unless they are working for a certified employer or their company meets certain minimum funding levels already. Raising money for a startup while working full time for a company can be tricky, if not completely forbidden by that employer.

Unshackled Fund, founded by Nitin Pachisia and Manan Mehta, plans to employ the founders itself and provide them with work space in San Francisco or in Palo Alto.

Pachisia and Mehta have raised $3.5 million in funding from a starry list of Silicon Valley investors, including AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, along with money from top startup investment funds including 500 Startups and First Round Capital.

It's not a lot of money, but Pachisia and Mehta say it will be enough to get between 20 and 25 entrepreneurs off the ground, providing them with a steady paycheck and health benefits while connecting them to the prestigious mentors in its investment group.

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Cromwell Schubarth is the Senior Technology Reporter at the Silicon Valley Business Journal.