— from the team behind Skava & Swell

A workshop for things that don't exist yet.

Erewhon Labs is a small experimental incubator for application layer AI. We believe in exploring new ideas by building them. Many ideas will fail, some may become their own startups.

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Or: read what we're after · see what we're working on

cluster · A 001 / 010 Erewhon cluster mark
— THESIS

Explore with curiosity. Build with purpose.

Erewhon was a remarkably prescient novel written by Samuel Butler in the 19th century, which talked about the risks of people becoming slaves to technology. We are inspired by the creativity of its ideas, its sense of exploration, and the importance of making sure that we build technology that values people's time and freedom.

i.

Give people time

AI and agentic software have great potential to do things automatically in the background on behalf of the user, freeing up more of their time.

ii.

Respect their intelligence

AI code-gen means it is now possible to create more niche and customized experiences for every user — no more one-size-fits-all.

iii.

Make them fall in love

The real metric for success is not MAU or DAU, but I Love U. If the user is not in love with the product, then you must go back to the drawing board.

— IDEAS

What we're curious about.

We are open to all types of ideas — from financial tools to social apps. We are letting our curiosity lead the way, even into unfamiliar domains. Here are a few things we are currently working on.

testing

NoQPls

Saving people time when they make appointments for in-person local services. Currently in a limited trial in South India. 

Visit website →
canceled

Blurb it

The world does not need more AI slop.

Coming soon
building

A pile of books

Exploring fun and easy ways to share the books you have been reading with fellow readers.

Coming soon
building

Commodity markets tool

Using RL training techniques for insights into commodity markets.

Coming soon
open

Your idea here

We are exploring models where we can help people try out their own ideas quickly by working with us. Stay tuned. 

Coming soon
— PEOPLE

The team behind Skava & Swell.

Two decades of experience building e-commerce and social platforms, working with both enterprise and consumer user bases.


The founders, Arish Ali and Sudha Varadarajan, are serial entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley. They previously built Skava, an e-commerce platform that was acquired in 2015 and continues to live and grow to this day; and Swell, a consumer social audio platform that was much loved by its small but dedicated user base till it was shut down in 2025. The Erewhon Labs team includes many of the key engineers from these past ventures.


Recent innovations (circa Dec 2025) in AI technology have transformed what it means to build software. We are exploring this brave new world with the glee of a 5-year-old with a fresh pile of Lego bricks. But we are also staying grounded and avoiding the hype, only trusting technology that we can effectively use ourselves. At heart, we remain a team of eternally curious builders who love nothing better than creating great products.

— MAILING LIST

Stay curious.

Sign up to our mailing list to get early access to our prototypes and products, and occasional notes from the team.

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