Why we backed Ground: an AI operating system for managing teams
Iqbal, the founder of Ground (formerly Driftly), spent five years in senior operating roles at two of the most talked-about startups around. He was Head of Supply Chain and Expansion at Airlift, which raised $120M in venture capital, and then led operations at Metal, a startup backed by Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz. Across both, he kept hitting the same wall: managers and team leads losing hours every week to tracking progress and chasing updates, instead of solving the actual problems.
So he built the fix. Ground is an AI operating system for managing teams. Its agents do the tracking for a manager, pulling progress and updates from the tools where work already happens, then proposing the next action to approve with a single click. Hours of chasing updates become minutes of decisions. The manager keeps the judgment; the agents do the legwork.
"In every high-growth team, I kept seeing the same pattern. Managers and team leads lose hours just collecting information and tracking progress. Ground fixes that." Iqbal, founder and CEO
The early signal is real. Ground is already live with paying teams across North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, it has just signed its first enterprise contract, and revenue is compounding month over month as existing teams add more managers and seats. And it has all come through warm relationships and an inbound waitlist, with nothing spent on acquiring a single customer.
There is one more signal worth noting. The people who built Airlift are backing him: its founders, Usman Gul and Ahmed Ayub, are angel investors in Ground.
→ Watch Ground’s 60-second pitch
Demo Day is one week away, and Iqbal is one of the five founders pitching. Come and watch him live in Singapore on July 15 and online on July 23.
COME SEE COHORT 13 PITCH
🇸🇬 In person, Singapore, Wednesday July 15
Join us in Singapore for an exclusive, in-person experience where investors, ecosystem leaders, and partners gather to meet eight high-growth startups solving critical problems across South and Southeast Asia.
💻 Virtual, Thursday July 23
Accelerating Asia is hosting a virtual edition of Cohort 13 Demo Day live for our global community of investors, founders, and partners. This is your chance to experience the pitches, meet the founders, and explore investment opportunities.
Invest with us
These five startups join a portfolio of over 100 companies in the Accelerating Asia Ventures family. These five, including many already in the portfolio, are at various stages of fundraising right now. You can choose to invest in one, or in all of them through the Fund.
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* Carta Q4 2025 VC Fund Performance. US benchmarks used as Asian fund comparables remain limited.
About Accelerating Asia Ventures
Accelerating Asia Ventures is an independent accelerator and venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups across Southeast and South Asia. Founded by operators, the organisation is committed to supporting founders with capital, credibility, and a long-term community.
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