Atlys Founder Mohak Nahta Transforms Visa Frustrations into $73 Million Travel-Tech Success Across India, the US, and Dubai

Dubai: Atlys, a digital visa platform processing over 700,000 visa applications annually, has opened a physical experience center in Dubai. This strategic move aims to enhance customer engagement by providing in-person assistance, catering to those who prefer expert guidance before making travel decisions.

Mohak Nahta, the 31-year-old Founder and CEO of Atlys, emphasizes that while the app facilitates a complete visa journey digitally, the center serves as a complementary resource. Nahta states, “Our app already enables travellers to complete their entire visa journey end to end, and that will continue to be at the heart of what we do. The centre complements it, giving customers another way to engage with Atlys, particularly those who value expert guidance before an important travel decision.”

This initiative marks a significant milestone in Nahta’s journey, which spans three continents, from his upbringing in India to his formative years in the U.S. technology sector, culminating in Dubai, a hub for international connectivity.

Curiosity Before Entrepreneurship

Before raising approximately $73 million from notable investors such as Peak XV Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Elevation Capital, and Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, Nahta cultivated a self-directed approach to problem-solving. Growing up in India, he was encouraged to explore his interests freely, a freedom that fostered his ability to learn independently.

“My family never pushed me into anything. I had full freedom, which in practice meant my interests changed every three months,” Nahta explains. This environment led him to Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Computer Science, gaining a rigorous foundation in problem-solving.

Nahta reflects on his education, stating, “CMU is rigorous, and it forces you to think from first principles. It gave me the technical foundation to build whatever I could imagine, but more importantly, it put me around people who were already building real things.”

A Personal Frustration Becomes a Business Idea

After graduating, Nahta joined Pinterest as a software engineer, where he was exposed to advanced product development. However, the idea for Atlys stemmed from a personal experience while planning a multi-country trip. Faced with cumbersome visa paperwork, he noticed the stark contrast between his challenges and the ease with which his American colleagues booked travel.

“Every country demanded nearly identical documents, yet the process remained repetitive, slow, and opaque,” he recalls. This inefficiency prompted him to create a solution that allowed users to upload documents once and become visa-ready for multiple countries.

What began as a side project quickly gained traction among friends, signaling a broader market need. Recognizing the demand, Nahta left Pinterest to focus on Atlys full-time.

Learning the Hard Way

Nahta’s entrepreneurial journey was not without setbacks. Prior to Atlys, he attempted to create a marketplace connecting travelers with products needing delivery overseas, a venture that ultimately failed. This experience taught him a crucial lesson about prioritizing product development.

“The reason stuck,” he notes. “I had focused on everything except the product itself.” To refine his product instincts, he sought mentorship from experienced leaders at Pinterest, learning the importance of deeply understanding user needs.

“Products live or die on how deeply you understand the person using them,” he asserts. This principle remains integral to Atlys’s operating philosophy: understand customers, learn quickly, and move fast.

Building Trust One Traveller at a Time

Launching a startup in a heavily regulated industry like visa processing posed unique challenges, particularly in establishing credibility. In the early days, Nahta prioritized direct engagement with travelers. When changes to visa regulations caused confusion, he took an unconventional approach by engaging directly with travelers at San Francisco International Airport.

“I stood at San Francisco International Airport wearing a T-shirt that read ‘Got Questions on Turkey e-Visa,'” he shares. While not scalable, this initiative provided valuable insights into travelers’ concerns.

Today, Atlys addresses these concerns through technology, focusing on two core issues in visa processing: uncertainty and trust. Nahta explains, “We use extensive data processing to predict timelines and success rates,” aiming to alleviate the anxiety often associated with international travel planning.

Trust is cultivated through transparency. “A new market owes you nothing, and trust has to be earned from zero,” he emphasizes. Atlys reinforces this trust by publicly sharing customer feedback, including critical reviews and subsequent improvements.

Why Dubai Matters

Following a $36 million Series C funding round, Atlys has intensified its focus on the UAE, now its largest market outside India. Nahta identifies Dubai as a unique environment for entrepreneurs, citing its ambition, diversity, and global reach.

“What makes Dubai interesting for entrepreneurs is the combination of ambition and execution,” he states. The city’s multicultural landscape is particularly advantageous for a business centered on international mobility, attracting expatriates from various backgrounds.

The new experience center aims to strengthen relationships with travelers, offering in-person guidance and document verification. “We expect it to act as a trust compounder,” Nahta notes, emphasizing that the confidence built at this initial touchpoint carries through to the digital experience.

Still Thinking Like an Engineer

Despite leading a global company, Nahta maintains an engineering mindset. “What changed when I became a founder? Nothing important. I still think like an engineer,” he asserts. His analytical approach now extends beyond software to encompass customer service and operational efficiency.

At Atlys, customer service issues are treated similarly to technical failures. “We treat bad customer service the way you’d treat a crashing app. You find the bug and patch it,” he explains. This engineering mindset is guiding Atlys into its next phase, integrating artificial intelligence throughout the travel journey.

Nahta’s advice to aspiring founders remains straightforward: “Don’t set out to be an entrepreneur. It’s the wrong framing. Find a problem that is annoying enough that you’d solve it for free, then build a solution that is so useful it would be a tragedy if it disappeared.”

For Nahta, that problem was the visa process. What began as a personal frustration has evolved into a global platform, illustrating that the future of digital travel services can sometimes start with a face-to-face conversation.

Source: www.emirates247.com

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Published on 2026-07-21 16:31:00 • By the Editorial Desk