Velt: Redefining Collaboration for the Web
The modern internet has evolved into the largest workspace in history. People are building, researching, learning, and connecting across borders every single day. Yet, despite its ubiquity, the web was originally designed for individual use, not for seamless teamwork. While tools such as Google Docs and Figma have pioneered the idea of “multiplayer” collaboration, most of the web still operates as if every user is on a solo voyage.
This gap creates inefficiencies. Teams today spend more than half of their work hours simply on coordination and communication rather than actual creation. Emails, meetings, and status updates consume energy that could otherwise be invested in innovation and delivery. Velt was founded to solve this imbalance. The startup’s mission is to make the web more collaborative by embedding powerful, ready-to-use collaboration features into products at lightning speed.
How did Velt begin its journey?
Founded in 2020 and accelerated through Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 batch, Velt has its roots in San Francisco but its vision spans the globe. The company was born from a belief that “nothing great was ever built alone.” Rakesh Goyal, the co-founder and CEO, brought with him nearly a decade of product leadership at Google, where he helped launch augmented reality features in Google Search and Maps. Together with a team of ex-Googlers, he set out to transform how collaboration works across the web.
What sets Velt apart from others is not only its mission but also its commitment to simplifying complexity. Instead of forcing companies to build real-time collaboration infrastructure from scratch—a task that can take years and millions of dollars—Velt provides SDKs and plugins that can be integrated within minutes. This accelerates innovation and gives teams immediate multiplayer capabilities.
Why is collaboration critical in today’s digital era?
The rise of remote and hybrid work has changed the nature of collaboration forever. Distributed teams are no longer an exception but the norm. In such environments, coordination becomes harder, especially when digital tools are not built to support teamwork.
Collaboration is no longer a “nice-to-have”—it’s the foundation of productivity. Every product, whether an internal workflow tool or a customer-facing platform, benefits from features such as commenting, presence indicators, real-time editing, and shared dashboards. Velt recognizes that when collaboration is baked into the fabric of a product, users spend less time on logistics and more time creating.
By enabling organizations to cut down logistical overhead by up to 90%, Velt envisions a future where distance no longer matters, and creativity flows seamlessly.
What products has Velt built to enable collaboration?
Velt offers multiple solutions tailored to modern digital workflows.
- Velt Collaboration SDK: A JavaScript SDK that allows developers to embed powerful collaboration features—real-time editing, presence tracking, and comments—directly into their products. This SDK drastically reduces the time it takes to ship collaboration tools, thereby improving user growth and engagement.
- Superflow: A JavaScript plugin designed for product, marketing, and design teams. Superflow enables users to comment and collaborate directly on live websites. Teams can iterate and ship new experiences up to 10 times faster, minimizing friction in product development cycles.
- Multiplayer Editing Toolkit for React Flow: A purpose-built plugin for React Flow that brings multiplayer editing to AI workflow builders. It offers Figma-style commenting, Slack-like huddles, presence indicators, and real-time merges with conflict resolution—all without requiring teams to construct their own backend infrastructure.
These tools showcase Velt’s philosophy: empower builders with collaboration features that are not only fast to implement but also sophisticated and scalable.
How does Velt’s technology work behind the scenes?
Velt’s infrastructure handles the heavy lifting so developers don’t have to. Its solutions include:
- Ultra-low latency backend for real-time responsiveness
- CRDT-based conflict resolution (via Yjs) to handle simultaneous edits smoothly
- Offline support so work continues uninterrupted
- Presence indicators that display who is viewing or editing a document in real time
- Slack-style huddles and Figma-style comments to replicate familiar collaboration patterns
- Custom encryption for added data security
This combination of features means teams can focus on delivering value instead of worrying about building the underlying infrastructure. In short, Velt makes collaboration scalable and secure.
Who are the people behind Velt?
At the heart of Velt is its team of 15, composed of experienced technologists and innovators. Many of them are former Googlers who have built and launched products at scale.
Co-founder Rakesh Goyal, with his extensive background at Google, brings both technical and strategic expertise. He led initiatives that brought augmented reality to millions of users through Maps and Search. His vision for Velt is rooted in the belief that collaboration will define the next wave of web innovation.
Beyond technology, the team embraces a culture of openness and creativity. Rakesh himself enjoys camping and stargazing, passions that reflect his broader curiosity about building meaningful experiences.
How is Velt different from other collaboration startups?
Many startups focus on building their own collaboration apps. Velt takes a different route—it empowers other companies to embed collaboration features directly into their existing products. Instead of competing with tools like Google Docs or Figma, Velt acts as the infrastructure layer that enables any app to become collaborative.
This approach makes Velt’s value proposition unique: companies don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Whether it’s a workflow platform, an educational tool, or an AI builder, Velt provides the building blocks to make collaboration feel native and effortless.
What impact does Velt hope to achieve?
Velt’s ultimate mission is ambitious yet clear: to make the web collaborative by default. It aims to transform the internet from a network of isolated experiences into one giant team workspace.
If Velt succeeds, the impact could be transformative:
- For teams: Less time wasted on coordination, more time spent building and innovating.
- For businesses: Faster product cycles, higher engagement, and improved user retention.
- For the world: A shift toward creativity and problem-solving, where physical distance or platform limitations no longer act as barriers.
The dream is to make collaboration so seamless that it becomes invisible—a natural part of every online interaction.
What does the future hold for Velt?
Velt is actively shaping the future of multiplayer experiences for the web. As AI agents and workflow builders gain momentum, its tools for React Flow stand to become increasingly relevant. With secure, real-time, multiplayer editing features available out-of-the-box, developers can build agent-driven, collaborative workflows faster than ever before.
Looking ahead, Velt envisions a world where collaboration is not tied to a handful of apps but is present in every tool we use online. Whether working with colleagues across the globe, building AI-powered platforms, or co-designing digital products, Velt will provide the invisible infrastructure that makes it all possible.
Why should the world pay attention to Velt now?
The timing couldn’t be more critical. Remote work has reshaped industries, AI is transforming workflows, and digital products are being adopted at unprecedented rates. In this environment, collaboration has become the backbone of innovation.
Velt offers the right technology at the right time—modular, fast, secure, and intuitive. By empowering teams to collaborate without friction, Velt is setting the stage for the next era of digital productivity.