Software development · India, for international clients
Software development from India, for teams in the US, UK and Europe.
Catalyst Labs is a software and AI engineering studio in Chennai, India. We build custom software, web and mobile applications, SaaS products and AI automation for international clients, with a written scope and a fixed price before any work starts.
Working with an overseas studio should not mean losing visibility. You talk directly to the engineers building your system, you see working software on a staging URL every week, and you own the code once it ships.
- Based in
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Registered
- Micro Enterprise, Udyam
- Scope
- Fixed and written before any code
- Reply
- Within one working day
01 · What we build
Practices most relevant here.
- 05SaaS & MVP DevelopmentFrom a concept to something real users can pay for.
- Product scoping and architecture
- Multi-tenant foundations
- Subscriptions and billing
- 02Custom SoftwareSystems shaped to how the business actually runs.
- Internal operations platforms
- Admin and back-office tools
- Role-based access control
- 01AI & AutomationAgents and workflows that do the repetitive work.
- AI agents with tool access
- Retrieval over your own documents
- Workflow + trigger automation
- 03Web ApplicationsFast, accessible products people can actually use.
- Product and marketing front-ends
- Dashboards and customer portals
- Design systems and components
02 · How we work
No surprises between the proposal and the product.
You agree a fixed scope in writing, see the real product every week, and own it when it ships. Here is how a project runs from first conversation to launch.
Direct access, no account manager
You speak to the people building the system. Calls run 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM IST every day, which overlaps with the UK, Europe and the US East Coast morning.
Fixed scope, written first
A discovery step produces a problem definition, scope, success criteria and a fixed proposal, so cost and timeline are agreed before building starts.
Verifiable, not just claimed
Live client sites, recorded engineering numbers on the Works page, and a government-registered business whose number you can check.
Clear ownership and handover
Code ownership transfers to you after production deployment and the bug-fix period, and the work is documented throughout so you or anyone you choose can maintain it.
Discover
Days 1–5
We sit with the business before we open an editor: how work moves today, where it stalls, who touches it, and what a fix is actually worth. Most projects change shape here - usually getting smaller and sharper.
You receive
- Problem definition
- Workflow map
- Scope and success criteria
- Fixed proposal
Architect
Week 1–2
The system gets designed before it gets built: data model, integrations, where AI genuinely earns its place, and what happens when a dependency fails. Decisions are written down with their trade-offs.
You receive
- System architecture
- Data model
- Integration plan
- Technical decisions log
Design
Week 2–3
Interface design driven by the workflow, not by a template. We design the states people actually hit - empty, loading, error, permission-denied - because that's where software is won or lost.
You receive
- Design system
- Key screen flows
- Interactive prototype
- Accessibility standard
Build
Week 3 onward
Engineering in short cycles against a working deployment. You see the real product every week, on a staging URL, and can redirect while redirecting is still cheap.
You receive
- Weekly working builds
- Staging environment
- Test coverage
- Documentation
Launch & Improve
Ongoing
Launch is a checkpoint, not the finish. Instrumentation goes in with the release, so the next iteration is decided from usage rather than opinion - and someone is on the other end when something breaks.
You receive
- Production deployment
- Monitoring and alerting
- Handover and training
- Iteration roadmap
03 · Work
Built and in production.
Payments risk · Production
SafeMerchant
A fraud scoring API for UPI merchant onboarding, serving live model inference from Mumbai.
0.908 ROC AUC, measured on the deployed service
Quantitative trading · Production
Ark Angel
A statistical arbitrage research and execution stack, from signal research through to order routing.
102 automated tests passing
Fashion e-commerce · Live
INEGO
The online store for INEGO, a clothing brand, with a virtual try-on so shoppers can try products before buying.
₹5 lakh+ revenue (brand-reported)
04 · FAQ
Straight answers.
How do you work across time zones?
Calls are available 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM IST every day, and you can book a 30-minute slot online. Day-to-day work happens in writing, with a working build to review every week.
How is pricing set?
Per project, against agreed deliverables, after discovery. We can quote in US dollars, pounds, euros or rupees. The price is fixed in the written proposal before building starts.
Is my code and data safe?
An NDA is available before you share detail. Ownership transfers to you after production deployment and the bug-fix period, and the work is documented throughout.
What does a first project look like?
Usually a discovery stage that produces a problem definition, scope and fixed proposal, followed by a build in stages with a working demo at each one.
Do you work with early-stage startups?
Yes. SaaS and MVP builds are one of our core practices, scoped so the first version is something real users can pay for.
Also see: Software Development Company in Chennai · AI Automation Company in Chennai, India
Have a project in mind? Tell us about it.
Describe what you are trying to build, automate or improve. We will tell you what it would take, and whether we are the right team.
Or choose how to talk
After you send
- We read itA person reads every enquiry. There is no filter in front of it.
- A reply in one working dayUsually with a question or two about the problem, before anything else.
- A call, then a written proposalIf there is a project here: a written scope, a fixed proposal and a start date.
Recent results
mithun@catalystlabs.co.in · +91 96770 80327 · Chennai, India