Some stories begin with the right investors. Some begin in startup hubs surrounded by mentors, MacBooks, and media buzz. But this story began with none of that.
This is the story of Santosh Kumar Thota, a 23-year-old founder from a Tier-3 college who started with nothing but conviction, clarity, and a calling to reimagine travel in India.
No fancy startup playbook. No technical co-founder. No business degree. And definitely no safety net.
All he had was a growing frustration. In a country as vast and vibrant as India, travel planning remained chaotic, disjointed, and painfully outdated. Tourists and locals alike wrestled with poor local discovery, scattered booking systems, language barriers, and a lack of personalization. Even in 2024, travellers had to juggle multiple apps and agents just to plan a simple trip.
Santosh did not come from the world of venture capital or incubators. He did not inherit a network. What he did inherit, however, was the deeply personal belief that even a student from a lesser-known college could build something global if they truly understood the problem.
That belief gave rise to Jatayuv AI.
He launched the venture just six months ago. No funding. No team. No prior experience building a product. He did not even know where to begin. All he knew was why. He believed that artificial general intelligence could solve real-life issues in tourism.
He believed India deserved better travel systems. And he believed he could build it.
The journey was not easy. Santosh had no startup community to fall back on. He had never written large-scale production code. There were days filled with uncertainty and nights full of self-doubt. But he kept moving. He learned. He built. He failed. Then he built again.
And today, Jatayuv AI is no longer just a dream.
It is a fast-growing team of thirty members including developers, designers, data scientists, marketers, and researchers. Most of them come from non-elite backgrounds. What binds them is not the prestige of their colleges, but the clarity of their mission. They are not defined by where they come from. They are defined by what they are building together.
Jatayuv AI is creating an end-to-end travel assistant powered by AGI.
A platform designed to make travel planning intelligent, personalized, and seamless. You enter your budget, interests, location, or travel dates. Within moments, it generates curated travel plans tailored just for you. It identifies the best hotels, transportation options, restaurants, and hidden local gems. All of it is intelligently stitched together through real-time APIs and advanced language understanding.
Most powerfully, it speaks to you in your native language. Whether you are a first-time traveller from Andhra Pradesh, a solo backpacker exploring Ladakh, or a family preparing for a temple visit in Tamil Nadu, Jatayuv AI understands your needs and adapts its guidance to your journey.
It feels human. It feels local. It feels built just for you.
What sets it apart is not just the product, but the people.
This is a startup where talent is judged by effort, not degrees. Where small-town coders get the same seat at the table as any Ivy League graduate. Where the belief is that India’s next unicorns will rise not from metros alone but from small rooms with big ambition.
What’s Next for Jatayuv AI?
The startup is preparing to launch pilots across over 100 Indian cities. They are working on deep integrations with local transport providers, hospitality systems, and regional tourism boards. A public beta release of the AGI assistant is in progress, and for the first time, Santosh is opening conversations with investors, advisors, and ecosystem partners.
But the core mission remains unchanged
To build something world-class, from scratch, without compromise.
Santosh’s story is not just about a startup. It is about proving that dreams don’t need a zip code. That founders can emerge from forgotten colleges and still create revolutionary products. That the next big thing in Indian travel might just come from a one-bedroom home in a Tier-3 town, not a corporate suite in Bangalore.
He built Jatayuv AI to remind every overlooked dreamer that you don’t need permission to start. You just need purpose.
And that purpose?
It is now rewriting how India travels.
Wission’s Take
In a world full of pitch decks and pivot points, Santosh Kumar Thota’s journey brings us back to the root of all innovation necessity, grit, and pure intention.
He didn’t wait for ideal conditions. He created them.
He didn’t wait for someone to open doors. He built his own.
Jatayuv AI is not just an AI start-up in travel-Tech. It is a powerful signal from Bharat’s underestimated talent pool. A reminder that India’s future is not just in its unicorns, but in its underdogs.
And at Wission, that’s exactly the kind of story we live to tell.
If you’re a builder, a believer, or someone quietly shaping something extraordinary
We’re watching. And, We’re With You.
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