1 April 2025, Australia: Two South Asian Australian entrepreneurs have landed the ultimate payday for new startup Uncleify and Auntyfy, raising $100 million from a consortium of uncle and aunty investors. 

Co-Founders Raj Chitraanandashetty and Rashtri Singh-Patel, who originally arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka and India, found life in Australia challenging. 

“We came here to this country, and we made only a few friends,” says Raj. “It was a lonely time.” 

“We thought friends were the way to find our sense of what we’d lost. But we realised we were wrong. That’s not the real problem.” 

“We were surrounded by Aussie Gen Z’s and ABCDs, who couldn’t afford to buy houses, who dressed in flannels or beige or black, who kept searching for their woke ikigai or some other new thing, on diets with disgusting kale, and feeling ‘empowered by vibes,” says Rashtri.

“It turned my stomach. I called it out. I got cancelled,” says Rashtri. 

“Then I cancelled someone back - and I loved it,” she confesses.

“I realised what we really missed was our cancel kings and queens - our uncles and aunties,” Rashtri says.  

“We realised we wanted them instead of our friends,” reflects Raj, a former software engineer.

“Since we couldn't bring our uncles and aunties to Australia, we decided to turn our friends into our uncles and aunties.” 

“I realised I had quite a few friends that were already showing signs of becoming uncles and aunties, and we created a really addictive app that made that transformation permanent,” adds Rashtri. 

YAAS is the future of startups 

Uncleify and Auntfy are beachheading a new category of startups called YAAS, ‘yearning as a service.’ The Uncleify and Auntyfy apps showcase viral videos, games and offer real-world crypto #unclecoin and #auntybag tokens as incentives to keep playing or unlocking new features. 

“We see huge potential in the YAAS category,” says Vinisha R, investor. 

The SAARI team found the app includes an addictive “speak properly” catch phrase trainer that very quickly has you spending hours on it. It rewards typical uncle and aunty behaviour landen with heavy criticism. After using the app for 48 hours, we felt drawn to marriage ideals, owning property and even wearing tough chappals. 

Uncleify users quickly begin to display overt uncle-like behaviour: stained clothes, uber-traditional attitudes, gold chains, and belligerent rants about ‘too many taxes, idiot drivers and the lack of focus on education.’ 

Male Aussie-born South Asian users have been heard saying: “Shattup about privilege and inequality. I sold karela on the street to make it to Australia. You need to work harder!” 

The twin apps recommend selected 80s Hindi music tracks, with a new edge. Using sound uncovering techniques, SAARI’s team was able to learn these tracks have been laced with subliminal messages like “I am right to be an aunty,” “Put on a polo: you are the best uncle” and “It’s ok to judge everyone” and "She has no shame!"

“Being an aunty is a sign of respect. Instead of resisting, I just gave in; and I’ve never looked back,” says Co-Founder Rashtri. 

Auntyify users have been hanging in tight groups and becoming instantly more tuned-in to community gossip. 

“It’s like I just developed a sixth-sense,” says user Shweta, who gave up her promising accounting degree to play the app all day and optimise her Shaadi.com and other matchmaking profiles. 

Aunty and Uncle Investors Rally Their Support

Uncleify and Auntyfy’s $100 million raise was led by Ram U and Seema A from Maurti Capital, with additional funds from Vinisha R from Brown Aunty Angels, Sharukh at Ambassador Vehicle Finance, Jai, Samir and Haris from Bros Fund and Hema, Sonya, Aish and Priya from Dripping Gold Jewelry Partners. 

Maurti Capital were silent investors in the global hit Indian Matchmaker, and both Bros Fund and Dropping Gold Jewelry Partners are hidden backers of shaadi.com and virtually every other South Asian matchmaking app. 

“Ram Uncle and I see true generational leaders in Raj and Rashtri,” said Mauruti’s Seema Aunty. 

“Too long this youthful generation has been veering away from their roots. Now, as they embrace their uncleness and auntyness, we welcome them back to success.” 

“The market for this startup is huge,” says Ram Uncle. “I am excited to have a new network of uncles to invest with.”

Backlash Among Progressives

Devna, Harshadeep and Rahi, three Gen-Z social progressives, say Uncleify and Auntyfy buys into the sad desire for brown Boomers to clone themselves. 

“It’s not the future we’re seeing here; it’s an attempt to control and gaslight new ideas,” says Devna, an instructor at Green Ayurveda Happy Joy Spiritual Yoga. 

“I love  my uncles and aunties, but we came here to Australia to be free,” says Harshadeep.  

“Now I see Auntyfy users following me in nightclubs and snapping photos of my outfits,” decries Harshadeep. 

“Uncleify is dangerous for your health,” says Devna. “It actually tells you to stay home and yell orders at people; to do no physical activity and to basically be an asshole.” 

“Even Shahrukh Khan got to the gym and got abs in his 50s,” says Rahi, a climate justice activist, Rhodes scholar and aspiring Labor party member.  

“It’s also dangerous for the planet,” says Rahi.

“I caught my friend using the app while he was putting a plastic milk bottle in his rubbish bin instead of his recycling bin. His recycling bin was empty! And he kept saying this weird mantra, ‘Cheaper. Investment. Property. Big Bank Account baby!’”

Uncleify and Auntyfy have a perfect rating on every app store. But critics say this is because algorithms and AI agents are being deployed to boost the credibility of these products. 

“Can we really believe no one has found a flaw in the apps - they’re only 3 weeks old!” exclaims Devna. 

“No one at my Greenpeace meeting was talking about them. How are they so popular?” 

But Uncleify and Auntify’s founders believe their way is the future, and they’re not only making inroads among millions of individual users but have begun working at the organisational level. 

We have just signed dozens of new corporate clients,” says Co-Founder Raj Chitraanandashetty. “They have seen a huge 36% boost in productivity from their new uncleified and auntyfied workforce.” 

“We will be scaling Uncleify and Auntyfy globally,” says Co-Founder Rashtri. “I see a world of uncles and aunties.” 

“And that world makes me happy.” 

“Almost as happy as when my daughter gets married.” 

SAARI has confirmed that Rashtri has no children. 

Uncleify and Auntyfy are availabe at every good app store. 

Happy April Fools Day from the SAARI team!