In a bold move already generating strong interest across the Gulf’s finance circles, Appalla Saikiran, widely regarded as India’s youngest investment banker, today formally unveiled VEX HOUSE, the 30-day high-intensity execution sprint he describes as his personal brainchild. The announcement coincides with the official rebranding of his flagship platform from SCOPE to Sentova and marks Saikiran’s permanent relocation from India to Abu Dhabi.
Applications for Cohort 1 are now open.VEX HOUSE, operating from a dedicated residence in the UAE capital, is designed as an elite “execution room” rather than a conventional accelerator. Limited to just eight builders under the age of 30, the programme demands that every participant ship a real, measurable outcome within 30 days whether 1,000 active users, a signed mandate, or committed capital. Fully covered accommodation, workspace and daily
live-streamed accountability sessions at 22:00 GST are provided. There is no tuition and no equity taken from participants.“This is not another pitch-deck factory,” Saikiran said in a statement released this morning. “VEX HOUSE is the environment I wished I had when I started. Builders come here to ship, not to talk. Abu Dhabi gives us the speed, the capital density and the global stage. We are here to pull in the sharpest young talent in the UAE and across the region, and we intend to channel close to $150 million of new investment into the ventures and mandates that emerge from these rooms.”The $150 million figure represents a combination of committed and targeted capital that Sentova and its network of family offices, emerging managers and strategic partners aim to deploy or facilitate over the next 18 months through deals originating inside VEX HOUSE cohorts.
Early expressions of interest have already come from regional family offices and several first-time fund managers who view the sprint as a live pipeline of execution-ready
opportunities.Saikiran’s decision to base himself permanently in Abu Dhabi underscores a clear strategic shift. After building Sentova (formerly SCOPE) into a platform that connected thousands of startups with investors across India, the United States, Europe, Singapore and the Gulf, the founder concluded that the next phase required physical presence at the heart of the region’s capital markets. “India gave me the foundation,” he noted. “Abu Dhabi is where the next chapter gets written at full speed.”Applications for Cohort 1 are open with immediate effect.
The selection process prioritises demonstrated ability to ship over traditional résumés. Candidates must show a track record of real output, a defensible thesis, available bandwidth for the full 30 days, and comfort with public daily streaming. Only eight seats are available.
Responses to applications are expected within 72 hours.Industry observers describe the initiative as significant for two reasons. First, it places a proven young deal-maker with an extensive existing network directly inside the UAE’s rapidly expanding private-markets ecosystem. Second, the VEX HOUSE format — ultra-selective, publicly accountable and outcome-obsessed — is being watched as a potential new model for matching talent and capital in real time.Sentova, the newly rebranded entity, will continue to provide the broader investment-banking and advisory backbone, while VEX HOUSE functions as its high-velocity talent and deal-origination engine. Successful builders from the sprints are expected to receive preferential access to Sentova’s investor network and, in selected cases, direct capital support.“We are not here to collect résumés,” Saikiran added. “We are here to create a concentration of serious young operators who can move markets. The UAE already has the capital and ambition. VEX HOUSE is designed to supply the missing piece — the people who actually ship. Applications for Cohort 1 are open now.
If you are ready to deliver real results in 30 days, this is the room.” With only eight places available and a rigorous filter that values slope over pedigree, competition is expected to be intense. Market participants believe the combination of Saikiran’s track record, the rebranded Sentova platform, the permanent Abu Dhabi base, and the high-accountability format of VEX HOUSE could make the programme one of the more closely watched young-finance experiments in the region this year.
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