Hyderabad-born entrepreneur Vishnu Chundi is on a mission to simplify inheritance planning for millions of Indian families. An alumnus of Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, the 39-year-old studied engineering and physics at BITS Pilani, pursued nanotechnology at Cambridge University with Distinction, and later earned an MBA from the London Business School and Berkeley Haas.
In 2022, Chundi founded AasaanWill, India’s first digital-first estate planning platform, after a personal tragedy underscored the scale of the problem. “When my uncle passed away without a Will, our family went through disputes and confusion,” he recalls. “That’s when I realised this is a much larger issue across India. There is over $60 billion of unclaimed wealth (across fixed deposits, mutual funds, insurance policies etc., excluding real estate) and 12 million pending inheritance-related cases in the country.”
AasaanWill makes writing a Will straightforward. Users log on to aasaanwill.com, answer simple questions about their family, assets, and wishes, and receive an AI-assisted draft. “Our legal team then reviews every draft for accuracy and compliance. The final physical copy of the Will is delivered to the customer, and we also help with registration at the local sub-registrar office anywhere in India,” Chundi explains.
Simplifying estate planning
How is it different from hiring a lawyer? Time and effort, says Chundi. The online platform eliminates multiple meetings and weeks of back-and-forth. Calling Wills “an ancient way of safeguarding one’s legacy,” he notes: “We’ve moved from kings passing on the baton to their sons on deathbeds to using technology to make it easy. We are all mortal. While most Indians focus on wealth creation and management, they often ignore wealth transfer.”
The venture has already attracted strong backing. AasaanWill has raised a few million dollars from investors including Tim Draper (Elon Musk’s early backer), Techstars, BITS Pilani alumni, and senior CXOs. Since launch, it has served over 25,000 families across 120 Indian cities and has begun supporting Non-Resident Indians in five continents. The company has also expanded its services to include legal heir certificates, gift deeds, and powers of attorney.
Yet, cultural attitudes remain a challenge. “Indians generally avoid thinking about mortality, so they tend to postpone writing a Will,” says Chundi. “But the opportunity is massive. As India generates wealth rapidly, smooth intergenerational transfer is becoming essential. Building AasaanWill (a T-Hub supported company) out of Hyderabad has been especially meaningful, as the city is both deeply rooted in tradition and forward-looking in technology.”
AasaanWill, at its core, is an attempt to blend tradition with technology to address a critical, yet under-discussed, aspect of financial planning.
