Nikkitha Shanker: From 3 years of UPSC prep to building a $2 million business

Nikkitha Shanker walked away from a profitable $2 million business; she then spent nearly a year experimenting before building SuperBryn. (Photo: X post)

Nikkitha Shanker spent three years preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Examination with the goal of becoming a civil servant. She eventually did not clear the examination, but the setback pushed her towards a career she had not originally planned.Today, Shanker is the co-founder and CEO of SuperBryn, an AI startup focused on improving the reliability of voice agents. The company has raised $1.2 million from Kalaari Capital and angel investors, according to Shanker's account. Her journey has included building an e-commerce technology company, stepping away from a profitable business and starting again from zero in artificial intelligence.

She spent three years preparing for UPSC

Born in Kerala and raised in the Middle East, Shanker initially wanted to enter the civil services.She spent three years preparing for UPSC. During the final year of her preparation, she joined a startup, an experience that changed her career plans.Instead of continuing towards a conventional government career, she became increasingly interested in startups and technology.That eventually led her to build her own company.

From UPSC preparation to a $2 million business

Shanker founded Shoppre, a cross-border e-commerce technology company. According to her account, the business grew to around $2 million in annual revenue and became profitable.

The company continued to scale, but Shanker eventually decided that she wanted to work in artificial intelligence.Rather than continuing to run a business she had already built, she stepped away from day-to-day operations. She said her team was able to run the company independently, allowing her to pursue another idea.It meant starting again from scratch.

How SuperBryn emerged from nearly a year of experimentation

Shanker and Dr Neethu Joy spent almost a year working through the early stages of building their next company.They experimented with different ideas before eventually developing SuperBryn.The startup focuses on what Shanker describes as the “reliability layer” for voice agents. Its technology is aimed at helping businesses make AI-powered voice systems more dependable when interacting with customers.The company has since raised $1.2 million from Kalaari and angel investors and works with companies in different markets.Shanker currently divides her time between Bengaluru and San Francisco while building the company.

A career shaped by several unexpected turns

Shanker's professional journey has moved through several very different ambitions.She began with a goal of becoming a civil servant, spent three years preparing for UPSC, entered the startup ecosystem, built an e-commerce company to significant scale and then left its operations to pursue AI.Her story also illustrates how a career does not necessarily follow the plan made at the beginning. The UPSC preparation did not lead to a civil service position, but the experience of changing direction eventually took her into entrepreneurship.Today, she writes about voice AI, enterprise technology, startups and the lessons she has learnt while building SuperBryn.Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly shared information and Nikkitha Shanker's account on X. TOI Education has not independently verified the company's financial, funding or business-related claims.