By Shankar Rokka

At first glance, it may seem unbelievable to many: a 16-year-old Nepali boy travels to the world's most powerful country, the United States, becomes a self-taught software engineer, and goes on to secure funding and grants that no other Nepali has ever achieved. Yet, this is not fiction-it’s a true story.

Sunir Kishan Manandhar was born on Chaitra 14, 2061 B.S. (March 27, 2005) in Jhochhen, Ward No. 23 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. In 2077 B.S. (2020 A.D.), while studying A-Level at Global International College in Baneshwar, he got the opportunity to attend a U.S. university for swimming and language training. Selected through a competitive process, he traveled to the U.S. in 2078 B.S. (2021 A.D.). Today, he is the founder of Meridian, a company focused on developing autonomous vehicles for port automation.

Sunir initially faced hardships upon arriving in the U.S. “Some days I survived on just water and bananas. I slept in a garage and started working there too,” he recalls. Over time, through self-learning, he became a software engineer. During this phase, while working alone on vehicle design, he met Alex Dantas, founder of Circuit Launch. After listening to Sunir’s story and assessing his skills, Dantas decided to support him and offered him free access to Circuit Launch-a globally acclaimed collaborative workspace for robotics, hardware, and mechatronics innovation, located in Oakland, California. This space is a hub for startups and inventors working with cutting-edge physical technologies.

From there, Sunir’s exceptional talent earned him grants, fellowships, and global support from some of the world’s top programs-milestones no other Nepali had achieved until now. One of his first grants was the Bugle Fund-a micro-grant program that awards $100 to $500 to ambitious youths solving major problems using scrappy and creative solutions.

Later, he received the Magnificent Grant, a prestigious fellowship of $30,000 awarded to only 10 exceptional youth under 25 globally each year, selected from thousands of applicants. So far, only 20 people in the world have received this honor, and Sunir is the first Nepali and the first Asian to win it. His efforts to automate American shipping ports using autonomous vehicle technology earned him this fellowship.

He also secured the Emergent Ventures grant, which supports bold, visionary thinkers working on zero-to-one ideas with high potential for societal impact. With an acceptance rate of just 5%, it’s one of the most selective innovation-focused global grant programs. He received $12,000 from this fund to develop drones for high-resolution 3D mapping of shipping ports and to cover his living expenses while working full-time on the project. He is the second Nepali to receive this grant.

Additionally, Sunir received support from Boost VC, a leading deep-tech investment firm that backs breakthrough technologies requiring significant scientific or engineering innovation.

He also secured funding from 1517 Fund Medici, a venture capital firm founded by the original creators of the Thiel Fellowship. This firm supports young founders, dropouts, and rebel scientists working on difficult, meaningful problems. With their grant, Sunir was able to build a more advanced autonomous vehicle testing platform. He recalls, “At that time, I was exploring the use of self-driving technology in agriculture. With the help of a $1,000 grant, I improved my experiments with autonomous systems and designed a larger and faster vehicle.”

Another prestigious program he joined was the On Deck Founder Fellowship (ODF). This platform supports exceptional founders in starting and scaling innovative companies by providing access to mentors, peers, and potential investors. “My journey in the On Deck community is considered a testament to courage and determination. I introduced myself at an ODF founder residence and expressed interest in the program. Impressed by my compelling startup story and bold vision, the founder invited me to join the fellowship,” Sunir proudly shares. “Since joining, I’ve benefited greatly from the resources and network.”

In recent times Sunir was selected into the prestigious Edge Esmeralda residency program by Long Journey VC. During this residency, he has the opportunity to be mentored by Andrew Frame, the founder of Citizen, and Sean Fanning, the co-founder of Napster. At its peak, Napster had around 80 million users and revolutionized the music industry by pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing. Citizen, on the other hand, has raised significant funding, totalling $144 million, highlighting its influence as a leading real-time safety platform. Long Journey VC has been incredibly supportive, providing him with invaluable resources and connections throughout this journey.

Sunir built Cargo Ping during the Edge Esmeralda residency-a real-time container tracking tool that alerts importers instantly when their shipments are delayed, rerouted, or arrive at the port. He led the full product and engineering effort, turning the idea into a working tool with real-world utility. This work lays the software and data foundation for fully autonomous ports, providing the real-time visibility and infrastructure intelligence needed to enable autonomous vehicle operations in complex industrial environments. It is a critical first step toward Meridian’s larger vision of fully automating American ports.

Currently, Sunir is not only the founder of Meridian, but he also plays a crucial role in defending the company from external threats. He is developing an autonomous drone system for 3D mapping of shipping ports. This system will act as the "brain" for the autonomous vehicles he is building-ranging from forklifts to rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) and ship-to-shore (STS) cranes. Prior to this, Sunir had already developed a self-driving test platform and built autonomous vehicles as prototypes.