A Stripe Atlas alternative that handles the Indian side.

Stripe Atlas, Doola and Firstbase are legitimate services. They file your Delaware or Wyoming entity, get the EIN, draft basic bylaws or operating agreement, and introduce you to Mercury for banking. For roughly USD 500 total, they handle the US-side mechanics in 2-4 weeks.

If you are a solo bootstrapped founder with no Indian corporate entity putting capital in, no planned fundraise, and no intent to flip anything — Atlas is defensible. The service does what it says.

Atlas has no visibility into the Indian side of your structure. It does not handle:

• FEMA ODI filing — required within 30 days of your Indian company sending capital to the US entity. Non-filing is a FEMA violation that compounds at every fundraise diligence.
• Annual Performance Report to RBI (every year the US entity is held by an Indian company).
• Transfer pricing documentation and Form 3CEB — required if your Indian co. and US co. have any intercompany transactions.
• 83(b) election filing for founder stock. Atlas often forgets. Missing the 30-day window costs founders five- and six-figure tax bills at exit.
• Form 5472 — US LLC owned by a foreign person must file this annually with a pro-forma Form 1120. USD 25,000 penalty for missed filings.
• Delaware franchise tax election — Atlas doesn't advise on Authorized Shares vs Assumed Par Value Method, so most startups default to the Authorized Shares method and get hit with ~$85,000 bills.
• Flip structuring — if you have an existing Indian company and need to flip it to a Delaware parent for US VC, Atlas does not touch this.
• Fundraise diligence pack — what investors ask for during due diligence on your Indian/US combined structure.

Atlas: USD 500 upfront. Clean on day 1. Gap grows every month after.

CA-led mandate: INR 65,000-140,000 (USD 800-1,700) upfront depending on package. Covers both sides end-to-end.

Realistic 12-month cost comparison for a seed-stage Indian founder going US:

• Atlas path: $500 formation + eventual $800 to fix FEMA ODI retroactively + $500 to file missed 83(b) if it's even possible + $2,000-$5,000 to prepare the fundraise diligence pack from scratch + $84,000 overcharge on Delaware franchise if you file the wrong method one year. Realistic 12-month total if things go wrong: USD 3,000-10,000+. Best case if nothing goes wrong: USD 500.
• CA-led path: INR 1.4L (~USD 1,700) all-in Year 1. Everything handled. Diligence-ready from day 1.

The break-even is pretty obvious once FEMA ODI is on the table. If your Indian company is funding the US entity, CA-led wins. If not, Atlas is fine.

Use Stripe Atlas / Doola / Firstbase if: you are a solo founder, no Indian corporate entity putting capital in, no fundraise planned in next 18 months, happy to self-manage ongoing US compliance (franchise tax, Form 1120 or Form 5472, BOI reporting). Budget: USD 500 upfront + USD 1,000-2,000/year ongoing compliance you handle yourself.

Use a CA-led mandate if: you have an Indian company putting capital into the US entity, OR you plan to raise from US VCs in the next 12 months, OR you want to flip an existing Indian startup to Delaware, OR you want someone who takes responsibility for both sides of the cross-border structure. Budget: INR 65,000-350,000 upfront depending on scope, INR 50,000-150,000/year ongoing.

Use nothing (yet): if you don't yet know whether you need a US entity. We'll do a 20-minute call for free and tell you honestly.