In the vibrant city of Jaipur, India, a place renowned as a global hub for gemstones and intricate jewelry craftsmanship, Nidhi Singhvi grew up immersed in a culture where gold jewelry is far more than mere adornment. It is a tangible symbol of family heritage, passed down through generations, and a fundamental component in assessing an individual’s financial standing and net worth. This deeply ingrained perspective, however, stood in stark contrast to Singhvi’s observations when she relocated to the United States approximately 14 years ago. "Jewelry was always done stupidly," Singhvi recounted to Entrepreneur, highlighting the significant markups associated with purchasing new pieces and the limited, often unfavorable, avenues like pawn shops or local jewelers for selling even slightly damaged items.

This stark difference in approach to what she considered a venerable asset class, "the OG asset class," as she describes gold, planted a seed that would later blossom into a transformative business venture. After earning her MBA from The Wharton School, Singhvi embarked on a career path that honed her financial acumen, initially focusing on currency investing at a hedge fund before building an options trading desk at a prominent crypto brokerage. Yet, the allure of the jewelry market and its inherent, often undervalued, potential never faded.

The turning point arrived in 2024 when Singhvi, alongside fellow Wharton graduate Navya Reddy, co-founded Sonalore. The company aimed to offer 18-karat gold jewelry with a compelling lifetime buyback guarantee, an initiative designed to inject a new level of confidence and liquidity into the jewelry market. However, it was not long before Sonalore’s customer base began to express a new, persistent need. Many clients, while possessing substantial collections of jewelry, lacked a clear understanding of its current market value. They approached Singhvi and Reddy with a simple yet profound question: could they help determine the worth of their cherished pieces?

"The way the customers pushed us was the revelation there," Singhvi elaborated. "They know it’s an investment. Ask any woman. She treats her jewelry differently than everything else. But what’s the value of it? For an asset to be a true asset, you need to know the value of it." This customer-driven insight illuminated a significant gap in the market – the lack of accessible, reliable valuation tools for personal gold holdings.

Co-founding Unvault: Harnessing AI to Unlock a $750 Billion Asset Class

Recognizing the immense, untapped potential in this unmet customer demand, Singhvi and Reddy swiftly pivoted their focus. In June 2025, they launched Unvault in Palo Alto, California. Unvault was conceived as a sophisticated financial platform dedicated to personal gold, aiming to unlock what they identified as a "$750 billion asset class hiding in plain sight." This ambitious vision was fueled by the understanding that a vast amount of wealth, held in the form of jewelry, was effectively dormant due to a lack of valuation and liquidity.

A key factor in Unvault’s rapid development was its early adoption of artificial intelligence. By October 2025, the co-founders had successfully leveraged AI to build the platform’s initial valuation app. Notably, the absence of external funding at this nascent stage proved to be a strategic advantage, compelling them to become "AI natives" and to "use everything that was available on the AI front." This resourcefulness allowed them to develop an innovative app that utilized customer-uploaded photos of their jewelry. Employing advanced volumetric data analysis, the app was designed to estimate the value of these pieces with remarkable accuracy.

"We used all our training from being in jewelry for a year already to make that assessment better," Singhvi explained. "Even though at that time we were using frontier [AI] models, we still used our layer of understanding of jewelry to give better results. And that took off." This blend of cutting-edge AI technology and deep industry expertise allowed Unvault to provide valuations that resonated with customers, establishing a foundation of trust and utility.

Responding to Customer Needs: The Evolution to a Selling Platform

The success of the valuation app quickly led to another critical customer request: the desire to sell their jewelry directly through the platform. Within the same month of Unvault’s launch, the company integrated a selling feature. Initially, items were sent to a PO Box in Palo Alto, a testament to the trust customers placed in the fledgling company. "People were shipping thousands of dollars of jewelry to us," Singhvi recalled, adding that she personally would collect the packages.

"We built Unvault for knowing the value and for tracking the value," Singhvi reiterated. "But the selling was a use case that customers gave it." This organic evolution underscored the importance of agility and responsiveness to market needs. Central to Unvault’s selling process has been an unwavering commitment to transparency. To keep customers fully informed, the company implemented a comprehensive video documentation system that captures every stage of the process, from the initial unboxing of jewelry to the precise gold testing using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine.

"So it will tell you exactly, it’s 17.34-karat gold," Singhvi detailed. "Then we will give you a complete breakdown. So it’s not one number for a bunch of your jewelry items. It’ll be a number for every single item, and then the fees are broken down as well." This granular approach to valuation and fee structure ensures that customers have a complete understanding of the transaction, fostering confidence and building long-term loyalty.

Navigating Silicon Valley’s High Expectations: The Pursuit of Trillion-Dollar Valuations

Despite the demonstrable customer traction and the clear market need Unvault was addressing, the journey to securing investment from Silicon Valley venture capitalists presented its own set of challenges. The prevailing investor mindset, often focused on backing "trillion-dollar companies," led to skepticism about the scalability of a business centered on personal jewelry. "Everyone wants to back a trillion-dollar company," Singhvi observed. "They want to back Anthropic, and I understand it. If I am making that decision, I want to do that as well. So there’s definitely some of that. They’re like, ‘Oh, gold jewelry, can you be $1 trillion?’"

One investor, for instance, expressed doubt about the market size by suggesting that women don’t wear much jewelry, citing his wife’s modest collection of earrings, a ring, and a bracelet. Singhvi countered this by pointing out the significant value inherent even in such a limited collection, estimating it to be "a few thousand dollars right there." She further emphasized the historical and cultural significance of jewelry, stating, "Women do have jewelry. Jewelry predates agriculture. It has taken a lot of different forms, but there is an industry that is working, and you are a participant in it whether you like it or not."

The narrative of investor skepticism is a common one for companies operating in less "disruptive" or traditionally VC-favored sectors. However, Singhvi remained confident, understanding that a strong market signal, driven by genuine customer demand, would eventually capture investor attention. Unvault’s early success was precisely this signal. "VCs are very good at [smelling] customer traction," Singhvi asserted. "Everyone that partnered with us [did so] once we started getting customer traction, once they started seeing that curve go up."

Demonstrating Traction: A Data-Driven Path to Funding

Unvault’s commitment to showcasing tangible results proved instrumental in its fundraising efforts. The company’s growth trajectory was impressive: it saw its first $1 million of assets tracked in just 27 days. This momentum continued, with the platform crossing the $2 million milestone in a mere five days. By the time Unvault actively began its fundraising rounds, it had already logged an impressive $5 million in assets.

This clear demonstration of customer engagement and asset growth provided the compelling data that Silicon Valley investors look for. Unvault most recently secured early-stage capital in June 2026, though the specific amount raised has not yet been disclosed. To date, the company has facilitated the unlocking of over $150 million in assets for its users, a significant achievement that validates its business model and market impact.

The Indispensable Role of Customer Feedback in Unvault’s Growth

From its inception, Nidhi Singhvi and Navya Reddy have placed a premium on soliciting and integrating customer feedback at every stage of Unvault’s development. This commitment to listening to their user base has been a cornerstone of their strategy, providing invaluable insights and driving continuous improvement. In a creative initiative to capture opinions, the company even placed "golden eggs" in Dolores Park, San Francisco, as an unconventional yet effective way to spark conversations and gather user input.

This continuous feedback loop not only bolsters the team’s confidence in their product offering but also ensures that Unvault remains agile and responsive to evolving customer needs. Currently, users are expressing interest in features that would allow them to track inherited assets and expand the platform’s scope beyond jewelry to encompass other valuable collectibles such as silverware. This aligns with broader economic trends, as Bloomberg reported that older generations are projected to pass down $93 trillion in assets to their heirs over the next two decades, highlighting the significant potential for Unvault’s expansion.

Singhvi eagerly anticipates the development of Unvault’s inheritance tracking feature, reinforcing her belief in the power of customer-centric innovation. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is unequivocal: "Whatever way you can get customer feedback, and customer feedback at some scale, is great. That will just help building the product, help you be a better founder, and then also help you raise money eventually." This philosophy underscores the fundamental principle that understanding and serving the customer is not just good business practice, but a critical driver of success, innovation, and financial growth. Unvault’s journey is a testament to how a deep understanding of cultural values, combined with technological innovation and an unwavering focus on customer needs, can transform a seemingly traditional market into a dynamic and valuable asset class.