This AI startup that helps stores catch shoplifters just bagged $1.5 million in pre-seed funding without using a pitch deck

• Nikhil Teja Kolli's startup MokSa.ai uses AI-enabled security cameras to curb theft and fraud.
• Since its launch a year ago, MokSa.ai has garnered over 70 customers and $240,000 in ARR.
• MokSa.ai has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding and aims to expand its operations.

When he was a college student in Kansas, Nikhil Teja Kolli worked a night shift at a convenience store on the edge of the Ozarks. One night, a man lingered inside the store until the other customers cleared out, then approached the counter with a gun stretched in Kolli's direction. The gunman swiped the cash in the drawer and left Kolli frozen. He felt helpless to stop it.

Eight months later, he would be held at gunpoint again.