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Bharat Krushi Seva

Bharat Krushi Seva, is on a mission to drive the mass adoption of Digital Agriculture by helping farmers make more informed decisions and focus on precision farming. Bharat Krushi Seva’s tech-based advisory helps farmers to reduce their total production cost and increase their quality yield. Bharat Krushi Seva’s automated weather alerting system keeps farmers informed about the changing weather conditions and delivers - farm-specific, crop-specific and crop-stage-specific actionable recommendations to farmers to reduce the loss in yield. Their local level supply chain network of retailers and dealers helps farmers to get the delivery on time when then they need Agri Inputs at their doorstep. This gives farmers an option to choose amongst the renowned quality brands and make Agri inputs available within 24 hours and reduce the probability of damage due to diseases.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra

Sector: Agriculture

Website: https://www.bharatkrushiseva.com/

Quote

'At Bharat Krushi Seva, we are building a Technology - led phygital Business model for Indian farmers providing them direct access to Agri Value chain services, Our Technology platform helps farmers make more informed decisions and focus on growing quality yield with lower production cost.' ~ Sharayu Lande (Founder & CEO) & Hemant Dhole Patil (Founder & COO)

About the Entrepreneurs

Sharayu Lande: (Founder & CEO)

Sharayu is a passionate entrepreneur with close to a decade of experience in the Domain of Technology & Data Analytics. She has worked in various positions like Project Manager, Technical Consultant, and Sr. Infrastructure Engineer with companies like Mphasis, Amdocs, and Velocity. Sharayu envisions making the lives of farmers easier and self-dependent. She believes that technology can make a huge difference in the lives of farmers. She belongs to a farming background and understands the grievances of the farmers. With the intention to uplift the lives of farmers with the help of technology, she along with her enthusiastic team started Bharat Krushi Seva

Hemant Dhole Patil (Founder & COO)

Hemant is a passionate farmer with a background in Computer Engineering & more than a decade of experience in technology. Previously he has worked as a Technology Specialist & Technical Consultant with Amdocs & HSBC. He envisions utilizing his technology experience towards sustainable Agriculture. He believes that when the right personalized crop advisory is offered to farmers with access to the right agri input at the right time; farmers can definitely save in the total production cost and increase the quality yield.

The Impact

Social Impact

Positively impacted families of 2L + farmers across Maharashtra
Delivered 5k+ products at the doorstep
Ensured adoption of customised advisory by 10k+ farmers

Environmental Impact

Using the Suggestions given by Bharat Krushi Seva – farmers are able to save their total expenditure cost by 30-40 %.
There is an increase in the Total yield by 20-30 % of optimal quality and nutritional value with minimal use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Ekatvam Innovations

Ekatvam is working in the agri-water tech space aiming at providing data-centric water management solutions to village communities and key decision-makers

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Thane

Sector: Agriculture

Website: https://ekatvaminnovations.com/

About the Entrepreneurs

Rishabh heads the business and innovation at Ekatvam Innovation. He holds a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology.
Piyush heads management at Ekatvam innovations. He holds a bachelor’s in Production Engineering at K.K.Wagh Institute of Technology.

The Solution

Water, one of the most crucial natural resources on the planet is becoming increasingly scarce. Unregulated groundwater extraction and lack of participatory water resource management are prime factors for this crisis. This has resulted in more than 10,000 Indian villages going into groundwater overexploitation stage and affecting millions of farmers. Ekatvam aims to equip the village community with digital and non-digital tools that can provide them with visibility on the water condition of their villages and simulate multiple corrective scenarios that could improve it. Our business strategy is to target the B2B and B2G market, where our potential customers would be the initiatives led by NGOs or CSRs and the ones led by the government. Today there is a huge gap in data for environmental decision making in these initiatives. These make the intervention unsustainable and harmful to the environment. Through our innovation named MIDAS, we aim at bridging this very gap.

The Impact

Groundwater is a shared resource thus it is highly important that water management is community-led activity. This requires a considerable amount of behavioural change to be brought about in the community. Ekatvam’s platform solves for this by showcasing various simulations and scenarios aimed at aiding its NGO partners to bring about ‘Jan Andolan’ in the villages. Currently, Ekatvam is aiding 4 such NGOs in 50 villages across Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. At the village level, and has provided visibility to almost 800+ farmers on the water condition of their villages.

More than 40 farmers have now started to monitor their wells on a weekly basis.
40 seasonal water meetings have been conducted in the village which has led to improvement in the irrigation practices like drip and mulching.
Approximately 216 farmers have adopted these practices in Gujarat alone — saving 15 cr litres of water as of February.

Aana crop Solutions Private Limited

Aana Crop Solutions is a 2-year-old young start-up, working in the ag-tech domain with an aim to improve the Rice growers' standard of living by way of increasing their return on investment. Their target segment being Rice farms, Aana tries to provide end to end solutions in the long run, across the rice value chain. However, in the short term, their current offerings are based on the unaddressed problems which our Rice grower is boiling with. Currently, the shortage of labour and scarcity of rice transplanter machines are the major problems faced by our Rice growers. Thorough study and market research showed us that there is a strong road-block for Rice transplantation mechanization. The top reason is quality Rice nursery seedlings, which are used for mechanical transplantation. In the current scenario, the roadblock is due to poor quality nursery seedlings. After three years of research & consecutive trials, Aana has succeeded in developing a prototype, which is a workable model for a superior Rice nursery mat, and also exactly suitable for mechanical transplantation under Indian conditions, especially in the South Indian wetland conditions. Aana calls this technology "BAMINI TECHNOLOGY"- a soilless medium in which Paddy seedlings can be grown.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Thanjavur

Sector: Agriculture

Website: https://aanacropsolutions.com/

About the Entrepreneurs

Jayanivas

Jayanivas is an agricultural graduate with a postgraduate diploma in business administration supported with little more than a decade of commercial agriculture industry experience, especially in Agri inputs and rice farm mechanization. Being the founder, his brainchild “BAMINI” technology and SAKTI Biz Model are core strategies for Aana to leverage the Rice farm potential with global food security during this critical period of unprecedented climatic reactions and global tensions.

Surraen & Karthick

Both of them are Co-founders who supported the ideas in the initial stages to the pilot stages. They are part of the Jayanivas family circle and have deep-rooted Rice agriculture experience as a farm owner and entrepreneur. They are graduates of Fashion and Management Science respectively and have about a decade of experience in professional careers. Their extended patience, strong belief and unconditional support helped to launch a perfect fit for future Rice growing communities.

The Solution

BAMINI technology is a proprietary technology developed by team Aana to raise Rice nurseries with more vigour and potency. The BAMINI technique uses a proprietary media called B-Gold which leverages the water usage in the nursery stage. The savings of water in transplanted Rice nursery is accounted for almost 85% using this BAMINI technique.* (studies are still undergoing)

The Impact

More than 150 Rice farms use this technology.
More than 1000 acres were covered using Aana’s business model.

Occipital Technologies

Occipital Technologies (Agrograde) works on standardizing quality in fresh produce by automating quality assessment and sorting. They leverage AI through mobile applications and sorting machines to assess the quality of fruits and vegetables to take informed actions at every node of the supply chain.

Agrograde works on standardizing quality in fresh produce by automating quality assessment and sorting. They leverage AI through mobile applications and sorting machines to assess the quality of fruits and vegetables to take informed actions at every node of the supply chain. Agrograde aims at increasing the efficiency of post-harvest activities, improving the marketability of the produce, and reducing food loss.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Nashik

Sector: Agritech

Website: https://agrograde.com/

Quote

“Quality in fresh produce has always been subjective in nature thus leading rise to multiple loopholes and inefficiencies which ultimately affect everyone in the value chain. At Agrograde, we are working on solving these problems at scale while making technology accessible to everyone.” Kshitij Thakur

About the Entrepreneurs

Kshitij Thakur is a mechanical engineer with a background in industrial automation. Prior to Agrograde, Kshitij had co-founded Cyzem, a tech start-up that used computer vision to assist online shoppers in finding the perfect fit in clothing and footwear.

Rakesh Barai is an Instrumentation and Controls engineer with a strong background in hardware products. Rakesh has handled design, development and production for products ranging from IoT devices to special purpose machines for multiple start-ups.

The Challenge

India witnesses nearly 4.6-15.9% wastage of fruits and vegetables annually. The quality and safety standards are outdated in comparison to the evolving technology across the world. This has influenced the export sector of the country with increasing rejection rates due to failure of meeting international standards. Businesses are constantly looking for solutions to mitigate post-harvest wastage and inventory risk while dealing with agricultural produce.

The Solution

The solution comprises a device in portable form factor, accessible through a smartphone via app or software. Their proprietary algorithms predict important parameters like sweetness, fats, proteins, acidity, moisture, time to ripeness and total shelf life non-invasively.

Additionally, a dashboard is available for actionable insights and better decision making. Their solutions are currently applicable to the agricultural sector and can be expanded to thedairy, meat, and seafood industries.

ONganic

ONganic works directly with organic small holder certified grower groups in East & North East India through seed to shelf model. ONganic's vision is a better livelihood for farmers, health & wellness for consumers, and a sustainable planet and provides complete traceability across its value chain.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Kolkata

Sector: Agriculture

Website: http://onganic.in/

Quote

ONganic’s vision is to develop organic, sustainable, resilient and self-reliant communities in rural India and demonstrate that organic farming is a sustainable profession for smallholder farmers

About the entrepreneur

Ekta Jaju is the Founder and CEO at ONganic Foods. She is extremely passionate about Organic Farming, and its impact on small holder farmers in India.

Previously she had Co-Founded Switch ON and ONergy Solar. Ekta has strong experience in the areas of Sustainable Energy and Agriculture and consulted with several national and international organisations including UN Women, GIZ. Ekta has been awarded Un Ltd India fellowship, CSA Fellowship from Packard foundation, DASRA and BYCL fellowships.

Ekta has specialized in Entrepreneurship Development from Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and direction from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

The solution

ONganic provides integrated and holistic solutions – hand-holding farmers right from sowing upto market access. ONganic farmers enjoy benefits of reduced costs, premium prices, buy back in addition to improved soil quality, biodiversity, access to healthy organic food. ONganic also supports farmer’s collective in setting up and managing organic input supply chain and provides weather and crop advisory.

Currently, ONganic works with 5000+ farmers in West Bengal and has helped enhance their incomes upto 2 times. ONganic farmers grow premium varieties of organic specialty rice- black rice, red rice, brown rice, aromatic rice, with high international demand.

The Impact

No of organic farmers supported – 5000+
No of farmers trained for organic practices and brought under Organic India certification – 1000
No of farmers brought under NPOP, EU, USDA certification – 500
No of farmers converted to organic – 100+
Increase in incomes – upto 2 times
No of farmers whose produce was exported to Europe – 66
No of landraces conserved and under organic production – 10+

myHarvest Farms

A farm to home platform improving farmer livelihoods and making safe, healthy food accessible.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Chennai

Sector: Retail, Market Linkages

Website: https://myharvestfarms.com/

Quote

A happy life demands a healthy body. We are what we eat & how we live. Therefore Go Organic, Prefer Local & Get Close to Nature.

About the entrepreneur

The founders Stalin and Archana believe that everyone deserves real, nutritious food that is chemical-free and naturally grown. They studied together at CEG, Anna University, and became life partners soon after. Growing a terrace garden helped them connect closer to nature & good food. Both quit their corporate jobs 5 years ago to become farmers driven by a passion to live a sustainable life. During this journey, they understood the challenges faced by farmers the hard way. After 3 years of creating a model farm, traveling to many villages & interacting with many farmers, they got convinced that there is a better way to produce food, simplify the supply chain & also improve farmer income.

Archana is a recognized TEDx Speaker, Acumen Fellow, and a graduate of the IIMB-Goldman Sachs 10000 women program.

The solution

myHarvest farms is creating a community that connects rural farmers growing food 100% naturally with families that are looking for trusted, safe and fresh vegetables, fruits and groceries. All their 100+ products are chemical-free and curated to encourage local, seasonal, and healthy eating. The supply chain is simple from farm to home and urban families get to enjoy fresh farm produce regularly straight from farmers and can visit farms too.

Farmers joining myHarvest get end-to-end assistance from deciding what to grow, how to grow, harvests and reaching end consumers. myHarvest guarantees fair pricing, on-time payments, advocacy, training, and predictable incomes. The venture is on a mission to create healthier families, happier farmers, and a better future for all.

The Impact

Since August 2018, myHarvest Farms has created a community of over 100 farmers and 3200 families.

Grown over 300 tons of vegetables & fruits (naturally 100% chemical-free)
Increase in income of farmers
Reduced Farm Input Costs by over 70%
60% of income from customers is given to farmers
Improved soil quality & a safe farm environment
Enabled over 3000 families to eat healthy through the year
Uninterrupted delivery service even during lockdown

CULTYVATE

Cultyvate helps farmers cultivating banana, grape, pomegranate, paddy and sugarcane crops to increase profit and save upto 50% water by providing AI and IoT based farm and crop specific irrigation advisory and solutions

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Agriculture; Precision Irrigation, Precision Fertigation Solutions

Website: www.borecharger.com

Quote

“Revolutionising the precision irrigation and fertigation using IoT and AI to enable sustainable farming for our farmers, where they can grow more using less water, inputs and labour” - Mallesh Tigali

About the Entrepreneurs

Mallesh Tigali founded Farm2fork Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in 2016, with a vision to provide data analytics based intelligence to farmers using IoT and AI at an affordable cost and make farming more sustainable.

Prior to this, he founded Purna Organics Pvt. Ltd. where high density organic terrace gardening was promoted across India. Mallesh is an Industrial Production Engineer with 20+ years of IT experience.

The Challenge

Lack of precise water and nutrient requirements, that are very specific to the crop type and soil type, combined with weather variations makes it difficult for farmers to understand precise watering needs for the crop. Even when the farmer is able to understand, he/she is faced with the challenge of not having power supply during day time and not having the requisite labor during night time.

The Solution

Soil moisture sensor driven system where the system will understand the water demand based on the crop, soil , age of the crop and daily weather conditions. The sensor will check the availability of power and turn the pump ‘on’ or ‘off’ and manage the water demand for different blocks without any manual intervention.

KRITSNAM

Kritsnam aims to empower nations with data-driven water resource management solutions. Their focus is on sustainable use of freshwater in agriculture, industrial and domestic consumption.

Kritsnam develops data-driven water resource management solutions. Their focus is on sustainable use of freshwater in agriculture, industrial and for domestic consumption.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Kanpur

Sector: Agriculture

Website: www.kritsnam.in

Quote

“We aim to empower our farmers and double the canal irrigation efficiency in 5 years” - Sri Harsha Karumanchi

About the Entrepreneurs

Sri Harsha Karumanchi, Prudhvi Sagar & Vinay Chataraju alumni of IIT Kanpur lead Kritsnam Technologies. The venture started as an extension of Sri Harsha’s M.Tech thesis. Kritsnam has evolved to be one of the few companies in the world working on deep tech for water management.

The Challenge

54% of India faces high water stress every year. With 85% of the freshwater going into agriculture, there is a dire need for scientific water management for both agriculture and drinking purposes. The inequality and irregularity in water distribution creates panic among the water users resulting in wastage of water & yield loss. This problem can be solved with the right usage of advanced technologies for day to day decision making on water supply for agriculture and drinking.

The Solution

Kritsnam through its solutions IShWAR and DHARMA is working to ensure equitable distribution of the available water for agriculture and drinking purposes respectively. With the combination of ground IoT sensors, remote sensing, user input and crowdsourced data, the decision support systems for canal and water grid management are developed.

They developed their own IoT sensors which are compact & consume less power which makes them ideal for remote location deployments. Kritsnam’s ground sensors include water level monitoring, water flow meter & soil moisture with micro weather all IoT enabled for real-time decision making.

The Impact

Through one of its solutions, Kritsnam has saved 30 million litres of groundwater in one season from 150 farmers which also resulted in saving Rs 1200 – 1800 (irrigation and diesel costs) per farmer per season. Upon scaling up, there is a significant potential to save water and cost for the marginal farmers and also an increase in crop productivity. The real-time water level data from the Ganga river is also used for flood warning to the nearby villages during monsoon season.

OSCILLO

Modernizing farming with indigenous solutions to local problems.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Hubli

Sector: Agriculture; Farm machineries

Website: http://www.oscillomachines.com

Quote

“Oscillo aims to develop affordable farm machinery for small, marginal paddy farmers and be the one stop solution for paddy cultivation” - Prajwal M

About the Entrepreneurs

Prajwal M and Shivanand S, are schoolmates who obtained physics degrees and M.tech in Machine Design respectively. They co-founded the Oscillo Machines Private Limited to address farm mechanization through indigenous solutions. Prior to this, they have worked individually on science and social impact projects, recognized by Government of Karnataka and LEAD program at Deshpande Foundation.

The Challenge

The decrease in total agricultural workforce, demands an affordable and efficient mechanization. Paddy is a labour intensive crop, the majority of agricultural land holders are small and marginal farmers. Transplanting the paddy seedling plays a vital role in the paddy cultivation cycle. Although mat-based mechanization is available in the market, adaptation and high price of the new technique makes it difficult for farmers. The challenge is to mechanize root washed seedling transplantation with much affordable prices to the majority of the farmers.

The Solution

Oscillo Machines creates semi-automatic electric root washed paddy transplanter and mechanizes root washed/non-mat based paddy transplanters for small and marginal farmers of India.

The Impact

Impact on farmers:

Mechanization can reduce the labour cost by 68%
Income gained by 2000 Rs/acre
Yield increased by 12.8%

Impact on labours:

Eliminating long standing hours and minimizing field work
Income gained by 36% per season
Attracting agricultural workforce due to efficient mechanization

RAAV TECHLABS

An enterprise dedicated towards developing quality analysis solutions for businesses that help analyse the quality of agricultural produce non-invasively.

RAAV develops ‘quality analysis’ solutions for businesses to help analyse the quality of agricultural produce non-invasively.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Agriculture; Precision Agriculture - IoT, Monitors, Automation

Website: http://www.raavtechlabs.com

Quote

“We envision creating a new quality standard based on the internal quality of produce and to help customers make smart buying decisions. We aim to bridge the gap between the use of technology in the agricultural sector which can help farmers, businesses and consumers” - Rahul Kumar

About the Entrepreneurs

RAAV Techlabs was founded in 2018 by four batch mates pursuing B.Tech. from NIIT University, Rajasthan. The multidisciplinary team comprises varying skill sets.

Rahul Kumar, CEO and Founder, specializes in Machine Learning, Algorithms and Backend Development.

Varshnee Raj, CTO and Co-Founder, specializes in Hardware Designing and Backend Development.

Alphonse Dhas Antony, COO and Co-Founder, specializes in Research and Development.

Abhinandan Bhargava, CMO and Co-Founder, specializes in Product development and Marketing.

The Challenge

India is primarily an agriculture-based economy, yet, we witness lack of innovation and product development in this sector. This has led to increasing wastage especially during the post-harvest stage. India witnesses nearly 4.6-15.9% wastage of fruits and vegetables annually. Annual value of harvest and post-harvest losses of major agricultural products at national was at Rs. 92,651 crores. Also, the quality and safety standards are outdated in comparison to the evolving technology across the world. This has influenced the export sector of the country with increasing rejection rates due to failure of meeting international standards.

Businesses are constantly looking for solutions to mitigate post harvest wastage and inventory risk while dealing with agricultural produce. They are also looking for solutions to monitor quality which can help them improve customer relations.

The Solution

The Impact

RAAV’s solution directly benefits businesses which indirectly deliver good quality produce to the end consumer. Their solution can also enable businesses and consumers to make smarter purchasing decisions. By integrating in the supply chain, businesses can:

Monitor and improve the quality of raw materials during input
Mitigate inventory risk and improve management
Enhance customer relationships by providing high quality produce
Design quality-based payout systems
Reduce wastage
Manage and keep track of data online via our dashboard

BHARAT ROHAN

Bharat Rohan is a tech enabled integrated agri value chain company providing farm advisory (nutrition, pest and disease), quality inputs, post harvest processing, quality assurance and market linkage for Mentha, Potato and Paddy crops.

Bharat Rohan is a tech enabled integrated agri value chain company providing farm advisory, quality inputs, post harvest processing, quality assurance and market linkage for Mentha, Potato and Paddy crops.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Lucknow

Sector: Agriculture; Market Linkages

Website: http://www.BharatRohan.in

Quote

“We create innovative solutions so that farmers can sustainably, efficiently and profitably supply safe agricultural products to the consumers” - Amandeep Panwar

About the Entrepreneurs

Amandeep Panwar and Rishabh co-founded BharatRohan Airborne Innovations post their graduation in Aeronautical Engineering in order to create an affordable and accessible tool for Indian farmers using data analytics. Prior to this, Amandeep worked as a Community FundRaising Fellow for Make a Difference. He is also a Mentor for Change at Atal Tinkering Lab (established by NITI Ayog).

The Challenge

Lack of information about the crop and soil health at the right stage of the plant growth is a major reason for the loss of crop and an increase in the input cost for the farmers. Additionally, the lack of market linkage and lack of advisory in improving the quality of the farm produce results in distress sale of the harvest and poor quality of farm produce results in less income realization for the farmer.

The Solution

Bharat Rohan, through its CropAssure solution, is helping farmers in increasing the output of the farm and reducing the input cost by providing information and advisory on nutrition management, pest and disease management. It is also helping farmers get more price for their produce by providing post-harvest processing solutions and market linkage.

The Impact

They are strengthening communication between farms and farmers which is essential in saving them from crop losses and significantly increasing their farming yields.

URDHVAM

Urdhvam Environmental Technologies Private Limited is a Pune based for–profit social impact start-up that aims to develop disruptive and innovative products using cutting edge IT, IoT, Robotics, Mobile technologies for environmental sustainability.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Agriculture; Water management

Website: www.borecharger.com

Quote

“Urdhvam uses science and technology to drive positive change in the lives of stakeholders and communities” - Rahul Bakare

About the Entrepreneurs

Rahul Bakare is from IIM Calcutta, he completed his MS from Michigan State University. He has over 16 years of experience in Project-Program-Product-People Management, IT and Business Development.

Vinit Phadnis is from Eberhard Karls University, Germany. He holds 22 years of experience in Hydrogeology and Geology.

The Challenge

80% of India depends on groundwater for its agricultural, domestic and drinking water supply. There are more than 45 million groundwater abstraction wells and borewells in India that are abstracting groundwater at an alarming pace. Borewells tap deeper aquifers that are hundreds of feet below the surface. Though the rainwater replenishes surface water but is insufficient to recharge deeper aquifers resulting in groundwater levels dropping alarmingly and lack of water in borewells.

The Solution

BoreCharger is a smart rainwater harvesting technique that helps harvesting rainwater from shallow aquifers and store it in deep confined aquifers. It makes the borewell sustainable by recharging the aquifers without any effort.

BoreCharging is a unique process which “perforates” existing borewell casing in-situ from inside. It potentially revives existing, failed and low yielding wells & doesn’t need civil construction, space and surface water source. This innovative technique converts any existing borewell from “Abstraction Only” structure to “Recharge” structure at very low cost within a few hours.

BoreCharger increases rainwater recharge rate of a borewell by 2 to 20 times, improves quantum by 4 to 60 lakh liters and enhances longevity by 1 to 6 months along with better water quality.

The Impact

550+ implementations in 7 States in India & abroad in Benin, Africa impacting over 5000 people
Recharged more than 44cr litres of rainwater
Won awards from Maharashtra State Innovation Society (Govt of Maharashtra), FICCI. Finalists in JSW EarthCare Awards, NASSCOM Foundation and many more such accolades.

KRIMANSHI

Krimanshi is an award winning social enterprise working in dairy input innovations to manufacture high quality animal feeds from surplus agriculture and food residues. Krimanshi is based out of Rajasthan.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Jodhpur

Sector: Agribusiness; Farm Inputs

Website:

Quote

“Simplifying cattle nutrition for higher milk production” - Nikhil Bohra

About the Entrepreneurs

Nikhil Bohra is the Founder and CEO of Krimanshi. He has researched cultivating and harvesting micro-algae as an alternative food and has developed unique formulation for animal feeds for increasing milk production.

He has over seven years of experience working in program management, training and monitoring and evaluation with NGOs under projects from European Union, JICA and World Bank, and social enterprises functioning across environmental conservation, nutrition, water, sanitation and health.

The Challenge

India is the largest milk producer in the world, most of which comes from 100 million small and marginal dairy farmer households who are fast becoming unprofitable. They try to feed the best available feeds and fodder to cattle. With skyrocketing feed and grain cost, it is even difficult for farmers to meet actual nutritional requirements of cattle and hence they remain underfed. Reduced grazing coupled with intermittent feeding practices makes the cattle unproductive causing severe economic loss to farmers. As per Department of Agriculture in India, the national shortfall accounts to 40% for dry fodder, 36% for green fodder and 57% for concentrate feed.

The Solution

Krimanshi aims to provide affordable nutritive feed solutions for cattle to the small dairy farmers all-round the year without any compromise on quality. They do it by upcycling food waste into low-cost nutritious cattle feeds and fodder. They collect food waste from Agri hubs in the form of fruit leaves, crushed fruits, vegetable waste etc. and process them into different types of feeds. They currently manufacture 4 different products Silage, Fodder, Concentrate Feeds & Mineral Mixes.

The Impact

Krimanshi’s primary beneficiaries are the low income dairy farmers who are always looking for cheaper feed alternatives, cannot afford high protein dairy feed, and are therefore unable to sustain profitable milk production. These typical dairy farmers own 2 to 10 cattle each along with some goats. They usually end up spending highly on cattle upkeep compared to earnings from milk production.

FRESHR

Freshr is disrupting the fish & meat industry in eastern India by creating an integrated aggregation and distribution model, with farms, farmer networks, logistics, storage points, rural hubs and state-of-the-art FSSAI certified urban retail outlets.

FreshR is disrupting the fish & meat industry in eastern India by creating an integrated aggregation and distribution model, with farms, farmer networks, logistics, storage points, rural hubs, and state-of-the-art FSSAI certified urban retail outlets.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Odisha

Sector: Agribusiness; Livelihoods & Job creation

Website: http://www.freshr.co.in

Quote

“Connecting small- scale local farmers to underserved markets using supply chain technologies & retailing platforms” - Ambika Satapathy

About the Entrepreneurs

Sadananda Satapathy spent over eight years at the DGQA, Ministry of Defence. Since his childhood days, he was motivated to uplift the tribals in his area and that is when the idea of FreshR was born.

Ambika Satapathy is an Economics graduate from Miranda House, Delhi University, and a Young India Fellow. She is a food consultant and previously worked with Zomato. She is passionate about bringing innovation in the food value chain.

The Challenge

FreshR operates in Western Odisha, one of the poorest parts of India, where many human development indices are lower than Sub-Saharan Africa. This area is dominated by tribal communities, and is infamous for malnutrition, unemployment and distress migration, due to lack of local livelihoods. These communities are dependent on activities like backyard poultry, goat rearing and fish farming in community ponds for incomes and nutrition.

In the supply chain, live birds are transported over thousands of kilometers and pumped with antibiotics to help them survive. Often, the fish is sprayed with formaldehyde, a dangerous preservative unfit for human consumption. Local farmers produce healthier, safer products through less intensive production practices, which make them uncompetitive in an undifferentiated wholesale market. Thus, the entire supply chain, from farm-gate to consumption is broken, unorganized, prone to wastages, and disadvantageous for both local producers and consumers.

The Solution

FreshR has developed an integrated meat aggregation and distribution model with farms, network farmers, logistics, storage, rural distribution hubs and urban retailing facilities for fresh chicken, live fish, eggs, seafood and other popular meat products. The goal is to create one-stop meat shops, keeping consumer preference for fresh meat in mind, in small towns and rural areas. The business model has the following components:

The Impact

FreshR works with local producers, micro-entrepreneurs, tribal youth and women. Most producers are small-scale farmers, often tribal, with average production capacity less than 5% of the large producers in neighboring states.

KAMAL KISAN

Kamal Kisan develops affordable agricultural equipment for small farmers.

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Agriculture; Farm equipment

Website: http://www.kamalkisan.com

Quote

“Over 83% of farmers in India are small and marginal farmers, who do not have access to effective mechanisation. Kamal Kisan aims to build effective solutions that look beyond the tractorisation of India” - Devi Murthy

About the Entrepreneur

Devi Murthy graduated from Drexel University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and then went on to do her Masters in entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore. She has over 6 years of experience in Product Development & Business Development at Kamal Bells, a sheet metal fabrications and components manufacturing company.

The Challenge

There is an increasing labour shortage in rural India due to urban migration, driving up labour prices and reducing the viability of small and marginal farmers. Mechanization can reduce these farmers’ dependence on labour, but is typically unaffordable for most small farmers in India.

The Solution

Kamal Kisan has developed a range of low cost agricultural equipment specifically for small and marginal farmers. The products developed use a base platform which can be modified per the task. The innovations bring productivity advantages of mechanization to small and marginal farmers who were previously unable to afford it. It reduces the need to buy dedicated equipment for each farm task.

The Impact

Kamal Kisan’s mini rice mill, sugar cane planter, rice transplanter and mulch sheet layer make mechanization affordable, improve farm outcomes and help small farmers get profitable.

PROMETHEAN POWER

Promethean has developed a rapid milk chilling machine that is now used by leading dairy companies deployed in villages

Incubated:

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Agriculture; Cold storage

Website: http://www.promethean-power.com

Quote

“Our systems are a bit more expensive than a regular diesel generator system, however the savings in operating costs make up the difference in less than a year” - Sorin Grama

About the Entrepreneurs

Sorin Grama graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Ohio State University with a Bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering. He then went on to do his Master of Science in engineering and management in MIT.

Sam White has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and Spanish from Union College. He has also studied at University of Salamanca, Spain. He has worked in companies such as GetConnected, Smartleaf and Greentown Labs.

The Challenge

Every year in India agricultural produce worth $10 billion is lost due to inadequate refrigeration. India’s diary system, though vast, is disorganized. Milk needs to be stored at cool temperatures to prevent it from spoilage. Most rural regions in India don’t have steady supply of grid-electricity to power refrigerators.

The Solution

Promethean’s products aim to provide access to energy efficient cold storage. It has designed the world’s first rapid milk chilling machine with a thermal battery that can be deployed in smaller villages of India. It is designed to work in areas with unreliable grid power.

The Impact

Cold-storage at the village level minimizes the number of collection trips and reduces transportation cost by half. By allowing small villages to become a part of the milk collection cycle, it can significantly increase monthly income in the hands of small dairy farmers in these areas. Promethean’s chillers vastly improve the quality and the longevity and transportability of milk.

UNDER THE MANGO TREE (UTMT)

UTMT develops a unique range of organic honey for retail and bee-keeping solutions that improve farm earnings.

Incubated:

Headquarters: Mumbai

Sector: Agriculture;Improving farmer yields

Website: http://www.utmt.in

Quote

“It is not just advice, but offering hands-on training and help” – Vijaya

About the Entrepreneur

Before establishing UTMT, Vijaya worked as a development professional with the World Bank, KFW, European Commission, DFID, and the Aga Khan Foundation primarily on livelihood and natural resource management. She has studied International Relations and Women’s studies and has a Masters’ in Regional Planning from MIT, USA.

The Challenge

Four out of the five foods that we normally eat – fruits, vegetables, oil-seeds and pulses – depend on pollination by bees for their reproduction. Indiscriminate usage of pesticides over a period decreases bee population resulting in reduction in pollination percentage and yield.

The Solution

UTMT provides smallholding farmers with equipment for beekeeping, and has a buy-back arrangement with them for the honey they collect. It also provides access to the market, by creating a premium brand for single origin honey. Single origin honey, unlike blended honey, is specific to a region’s flora and fauna and therefore has a unique taste. This high-quality organic honey is collected from farmer cooperatives and packaged for direct sale to customers.

The Impact

UTMT has been able to increase farmers’ income by 40%. This has also increased their agricultural productivity and income. The annual purchase of honey has risen from 500 kg in the first year to about 15,000 kg in the year 2013.

SKYMET

Skymet is India’s first private weather forecasting company that delivers forecasts to farmers via mobile phones

Skyment is India’s first private weather forecasting company that delivers forecasts to farmers via mobile phones

Incubated:

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Agriculture;Weather forecast

Website:

Quote

“The resources have come because of Villgro, this venture wouldn’t have been possible without their support” - Jatin Singh

About the Entrepreneurs

Jatin Singh graduated from Boston University with a Masters in International Relations, and worked in channels like Aaj Tak, where the idea of starting a weather forecasting company took form when one of Singh’s producers told him about the difficulty in procuring accurate weather information.

The Challenge

While there is enough data available on weather forecasting, current solutions are limited to larger geographies and short duration. Farmers are not able to access highly accurate weather forecast information for their specific regions and for a longer time horizon.

The Solution

Skymet processes raw weather data using cutting edge methods and software to cater to the specific needs of farmers in micro-geographies and for specific duration. Farmers access this information through mobile platforms.

The Impact

Apart from providing forecasts on temperature, rainfall, humidity, etc., Skymet also started providing agri-advisory and crop statistics. It now has its own sensors at 800 points in different states including Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

MASUTA

Masuta designed a tasar yarn making machine that can increase productivity by 200% to 800%

FARM HARVEST

Farm Harvest is a farm to folk company in the business of producing sweet corn and popcorn through the community of farmers and further processing and distributing them through wholesale, retail channels and micro-entrepreneurs.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Salem

Sector: Agriculture; Market Linkage

Website: http://farmharvest.in/

Quote

“We intend to mitigate the risk farmers take by providing them assured income” - KMS Rajesh Kumar

About the Entrepreneur

KMS Rajesh Kumar grew up in Salem in a business family. He has been passionate about farming and has been a farmer himself for over two decades now. Realizing the potential of social impact in the sector and the plausible value add in the sweet corn chain, he started Farm Harvest.

The Challenge

The company is determined to solve the problem of low farmer income in rural areas.

The Solution

The company is improving farmer incomes and creating micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas. The company develops protocols for efficient farming of sweet corn and popcorn varieties. They oversee contract farming among small & medium farmers and process the produce using innovative preservative free methods and retails across South India.

They commit a buying price to farmers, undertake their labor-intensive sowing & harvesting service and provide high quality seeds free of cost.

The Impact

Farm Harvest directly works with 1500+ small & medium farmers, runs a processing plant that employs only women and retails ready-to-earn corn in cities through more than 100 vending carts. They have facilitated a credit facility for unemployed youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to aid in owning this vending cart.

Current
Exited

Dr SafeHands

Dr SafeHands is a digital health platform for sexual health and wellness.

Dr SafeHands is a digital health platform for sexual health and wellness, focused on preventive, promotive, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehab services through an online counselling technology centre to provide immediate access, support & care delivery across the value chain, and across genders. They provide a complete suite of full sexual health & wellness screenings, STI & HIV tests, prophylactic services for HIV like PEP and PrEP, cervical cancer screenings at home, e-pharmacy services and so on.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://drsafehands.com/

Quote

“With a mission to deliver high-quality sexual healthcare to millions, DrSafeHands is at the forefront of transforming and improving lives across the nation,” Dr. Ashish Arora.

About the Entrepreneurs

Dr. Ashish Arora

A healthcare professional, entrepreneur, and author, currently serving as the CEO and co-founder of DrSafeHands.
Leveraging technology to deliver healthcare solutions at scale, making a positive impact on the lives of countless individuals.
Served as guest faculty at prestigious institutions such as Delhi University, NHSRC, Public Health Foundation of India and more.

Dr. Sudhir Gupta

A serial entrepreneur and a trailblazing radiologist who brings a wealth of expertise to the helm of Dr SafeHands.
As the co-founder at Dr SafeHands, he plays a pivotal role in shaping strategy and maintaining financial control.
Serves as the National Advisor at Sarthak Trust, a prominent NGO dedicated to empowering Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

The Solution: Dr SafeHands addresses broken care options due to societal taboos, quality concerns, and gender indifference. They offer comprehensive gender-agnostic care through multiple centers, online counseling, and a strong panel of medical professionals. Their services include sexual health screenings, STI tests, HIV prophylaxis, at-home cervical cancer screenings, e-pharmacy services, and more.

The Impact: Sexual Health services made available across 400+ cities in India through a network of partner labs, doctors & healthcare professionals. Provided in-person and online support for sexual & mental health to over 100k individuals via website and clinics.

Avni

A feminine care & hygiene startup that makes sustainable products.

Avni is feminine care & hygiene startup that makes tested, functional and sustainable products for intimate hygiene, menstruation and incontinence suited for each body type.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Healthcare

Website: http://www.myavni.com

Quote

“Avni is on a mission to detox the reproductive health of 2.5 million women from menarche to menopause through well researched wellness products, credible information and support at fingertips. All products are developed by women healthcare experts keeping the ayurvedic principles in mind. Loved by over 1,00,000 women, Our Lush range of India's first tested antimicrobial period pads and panty liners come with a patent pending design,” team Avni.

About the Entrepreneurs

Sujata Pawar, Founder, CEO

A healthcare professional, menstrual educator and 2X entrepreneur with experience of building brands in the healthcare sector in India.
A marketing professional with a keen eye for well-researched innovative products.
Before Avni she had a 7-year long corporate career with big pharma.

Apurv Agrawal, Co-founder, COO

Healthcare professional with a particular interest in launching technical products in international markets.
Has over 9 years of experience establishing & expanding business in the USA, Europe, and South East Asia during his tenure with ACG and Borosil.

The Solution: Avni offers washable cloth pads made from 100% certified organic cotton, featuring an antimicrobial layer for infection prevention. These pads are safe, rash-free, and chemical-free, with a unique design for improved functionality.

The Impact: Avni has sold over 1.5 Lac reusable pads sold in 9 months. These pads are manufactured in women managed & women run units to support the economy in rural areas.

Wysa

An AI-enabled Coach for mental and emotional wellness that provides early intervention to high-risk groups.

Wysa is an AI-enabled Coach for mental and emotional wellness that provides early intervention to high-risk groups through 3 methods: an AI chatbot, a library of evidence-based self-help tools, messaging-based support from human therapists.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://www.wysa.com/

Quote

"Wysa started as a personal journey for both Jo, my partner and co-founder, and I, as we grappled with it as caregivers and founders ourselves. Even with all the resources and awareness, we struggled to access care that was effective and high-quality, and so Wysa was born with a singular mission - to break down all access barrier to the best quality mental health care, by meeting users who need it the most, exactly where they are." - Ramakant Vempati

About the Entrepreneurs

Ramakant Vempati

Co-founder and leads the business and commercial side of Wysa.
Holds an MBA from the London Business School, and has a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Kanpur, India.
Previously, worked in investment banking and consulting.
Served as a Senior Advisor to a UN and World Bank-backed entity building a $100m+ impact investment portfolio in the Arab region.

Jo Aggarwal

Co-founder and leads the product and innovation side of Wysa.
Holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), in Lucknow, India and has a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Delhi, India.
The founding director for Technology & Innovation for a UN-backed foundation and has been the managing director of Pearson Learning Solutions in the U.K.
A recognized global thought leader in education technology, and has been recently recognized by World Economic Forum as one of the Top Innovators of 2022.

The Solution: The Wysa solution is an AI-driven conversational chatbot, that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to reframe negative thoughts, along with self-help tools on wellness (e.g. sleep, meditation), and a guided program on depression/anxiety. To provide mental health support to millions of low-income women, Wysa is building its globally-accredited, user-approved and clinically-proven app in Hindi language.

The Impact: Wysa has over 6 million users across 95 countries and over 500 million AI CBT sessions delivered annually with a 90% user helpfulness rating, 4.9 star rating, and 80% completion rate in 4-8 week digital therapeutic programs.

Project Baala

Project Baala is a Delhi based organisation working on innovative menstrual health solutions primarily in rural India, Nepal, Ghana and Tanzania.

Project Baala is a Delhi based organisation working on innovative menstrual health solutions primarily in rural India, Nepal, Ghana and Tanzania. Led by Cornell and Warwick University alumni, Baala has directly benefited over 3,50,000 women and girls in the past five years.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://projectbaala.com/

Quote

"We envision a world where menstruators in all communities have an agency over their body, education and career, where their decisions are not limited to the choice of menstrual absorbent or the lack thereof." - Aradhana Rai Gupta

About the Entrepreneurs

Soumya Dabriwal

Founder of Project Baala, India.
Engaged in projects across Ghana, South Africa, and India.
A CommonWealth Youth Winner , Acumen Fellow, World Bank Youth Summit Winner, Global Good Fellow, Entrepreneurship World Cup Finalist, Swedish Institute Gender Advocate and a TedX Speaker.

Aradhana Rai Gupta

Co-Lead, Project Baala, India
MBA graduate from Cornell University
Worked with multinationals such as P&G and EY in their marketing and risk advisory departments.
Her work on sustainability leadership at the University of Cambridge brings valuable expertise to the project.

The Solution: Project Baala’s pads have prevented 113 million pieces of pad waste, benefiting sanitation workers and dispelling myths. By decentralizing awareness and product distribution, they create sustainable knowledge ecosystems, promote behavior change, and foster self-sufficiency through livelihood models.

The Impact: They have distributed over 1.5 million reusable pads and conducted workshops benefiting women and girls across multiple locations. Over 500 rural women have been transformed into focal points of awareness and product access, accessing additional income for themselves as well.

Evolve

Evolve is the world’s most inclusive mental health platform.

Evolve is the world’s most inclusive mental health platform, with 400,000+ users worldwide and they are committed to making therapy and wellness tools accessible to everyone through our innovative digital interventions.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Mumbai

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://evolveinc.io/

Quote

"At Evolve, we are on a mission to focus on the mental well being of the LGBTQIA+ community which is 3-4 times more vulnerable to mental health challenges given the stigma, bullying & homophobia they face from the society. We are very proud that the Evolve app has gotten so much love from this community & are extremely driven to solve this problem," Team Evolve.

About the Entrepreneurs

Anshul Kamath

Anshul began his career in London, working in Finance, following which he moved back to India to work in the startup ecosystem. After being diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease, he realized the importance of managing his own mental health and the severity of mental health problems in general. He has facilitated workshops for thousands of individuals collaborating with psychologists and other experts. He founded Evolve to make mental health a priority for millions across the globe.

Rohan Arora

Rohan is a graduate from IIM Ahmedabad & BITS Pilani & has 10 years of leadership experience at Mondelez, ExxonMobil & Publicis spread across functions like growth & analytics. He lost someone very close to him to a mental health illness & wants to create impact by focusing his energy & time on solving this problem. He is a Vipassana meditator & believes in Anicca or impermanence.

The Solution: The Evolve app is a virtual safe space for LGBTQIA+ individuals, providing interactive digital therapy sessions with queer-informed therapists, supportive communities for sharing experiences, and daily self-care activities such as meditation and journaling.

The Impact: 400k users globally and around 60k monthly active users on the mobile application. 55% users identifying as queer or belonging to the LGBTQ+ community owing to their queer-informed content.

Boondh

Boondh is a social enterprise that works specifically on Menstrual Literacy, Policy, Programs and Interventions, M&E, Advocacy and Art Activism.

Boondh is a social enterprise that works specifically on Menstrual Literacy, Policy, Programs and Interventions, M&E, Advocacy and Art Activism. Boondh also promotes and propagates the use of sustainable menstrual products.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://boondh.co/

About the Entrepreneurs

Bharti Kannan

Founded Boondh in 2016
Engineer by qualification and an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Invested in a multi-year therapy program for self-improvement to amplify personal and organizational outcomes/impact.

Sonal Jain

A trans menstruator who lives with multiple menstrual conditions and has been working on gender & environment sustainability for over a decade.
Co-author of I Have a Question, an illustrated book on menstrual disorders,
Head of The Crimson Wave, India’s first travelling menstrual art exhibition
Led the Ungender Menstruation campaign with Schbang For Good which bagged multiple media awards for Gender Sensitivity.

The Solution: Boondh reaches rural India through community interventions and collaborations, offering the Boondh cup—a simple and sturdy menstrual cup for menstruating individuals. They have established a strong brand in urban areas and now prioritize sales to beneficiaries in tier 3 and below. They also offer customer support in 8+ Indian languages, on WhatsApp text, and on call and cater to menstruators looking to switch to a healthier option that is cost-saving, generates less waste, and is easy to use.

The Impact: Their products have benefitted 70,000+ people in under-served places like Sikkim (partnership with SIRDPR, Govt of Sikkim), Telangana (Office of the Collector, Siddipet district), Nagaland, villages near Aurangabad, Maharashtra (CSR), Durgapur, West Bengal (CSR) and several non-profit (NPO) partnerships leading to beneficiaries in tribal Jharkhand, fisherwomen in Kerala, youth groups in Nagaland, adolescent athletes in Uttar Pradesh and SHGs in Uttarakhand, Leh Ladakh, and multiple locations via Tata Trusts to list a few.

Dawaa Dost

Affordable medicines through an offline-online pharmacy.

Affordable medicines through the offline-online pharmacy to help find the right generic medicines for their prescription from well-known brands at the right price through discovery on their website, physical pharmacy stores and kirana stores.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Jaipur

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://www.dawaadost.com/

Quote

“I started Dawaa Dost because I believe that everyone deserves access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, no matter where they live or how much they earn. Dawaa Dost is on a mission to bring healing to every heart, hope to every home, and health to every person. We believe in a world where no one is left behind, where access to healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Together, we can build a healthier future for all.” – Amit Choudhary, Co-Founder and CEO

About the Entrepreneurs

Amit Choudhary

Chartered Accountant with a successful career in finance.
Worked with companies like P&G, JP Morgan and Snapdeal before taking the entrepreneurial plunge finally with Dawaa Dost.

Yash Harlalka

A decade of experience in executing complex projects in India
Brings project management skill sets for on-ground execution.

Anirudh Batwara

A tech architect and a SaaS enthusiast
10 years+ of experience in building and shaping products from scratch.
A serial entrepreneur who has led small and medium-sized teams in the past.

The Solution: Dawaa Dost is revolutionizing healthcare in India through a blend of human behavior, data, and technology. Their goal is to create an equitable and sustainable platform for 1 billion Indians, enhancing health outcomes by providing affordable, high-quality medicines and essential products like sanitary napkins, sexual health items, menstrual health products, and basic hygiene necessities.

The Impact: Delivered medicines to more than 3 million consumers. Dawaa Dost has also partnered with 2500 kirana stores & SHGs to originate orders in places which are difficult to reach otherwise – smaller towns & villages.

An app-based subscription service for birth control pills.

Safe, convenient and personalised app-based subscription service for birth control pills with in-app medical consultation, prescription and doorstep pill delivery are all included in the subscription.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://www.thisisprev.com/

Quote

“Every woman has the right to access safe and effective contraception and gynecology care in a non judgemental way. At Prev, our mission is to make this right a reality for women across India. We empower women to take control of their sexual and reproductive health in an accessible, affordable and judgement free way." - Hannes Lewné, Co-founder

About the Entrepreneurs

Hannes Lewné

A Medical doctor with international experience from India and Ethiopia
Previous experience in building and scaling Healthcare companies.
A Specialist in Anesthesiology and Intensive care
Graduate of Masters of Science in Medicine from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Gaurav Dixit

An experienced product leader with 15+ years of global techno-business experience.
Built from the ground up and scaled multiple Cloud and Machine Learning businesses and teams.
Multicultural experience from living and working in Europe, the US, and India during his roles with Ericsson, DataRobot, and Deloitte.
Graduate of B.Tech. in Electronics & Communication Engineering from NIT Jalandhar
MBA in Marketing & Strategy from IIM Lucknow and Università Bocconi in Milan, Italy.

Olle Andreasson

A marketing leader with experience in growing global consumer businesses as brand and retail partnership lead at Meta Inc.
Graduate in M.Sc. Sociotechnical Engineering from Uppsala University and Kyoto University,
Specialized training in Business of Media and Entertainment from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

The Solution: Prev is a safe and personalised app-based subscription service that provides safe and personalized access to birth control pills. With in-app medical consultation, prescription services, and doorstep pill delivery, Prev offers users a simplified and holistic journey to obtain birth control.

The Impact: The app has more than 10,000 installations, with over 5,000 registered users and about 300 active subscribers getting access to birth control pills..

iWill

iWill offers context-specific, multilingual mental health support to individuals and families with a strong focus on rural and urban healthcare.

iWill offers context-specific, multilingual mental health support to individuals and families with a strong focus on rural and urban healthcare. The platform offers online-digital interventions to support mental and emotional wellbeing during all life stages.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://iwill.epsyclinic.com/

Quote

“I founded IWill and ePsyClinic with a great team to enable Affordable, Accountable and Accessible mental healthcare and wellness solutions, leveraging technology, listening to and building with communities and empowering clinicians. We have helped more than 600k+ people directly in this journey, worked with Governments, direct users, NGOs and private sector. We have big tech, big impact organisational partnerships. Sexual and reproductive health especially maternal health, couple health and young women and men's health is our priority and with Yash Entrepreneurship Program, we are building and scaling SRH services that will empower, educate and enable impact at the last mile.” - Shipra Dawar, Founder

About the Entrepreneurs

Shipra Dawar

Founder IWill and ePsyClinic,
Co-founder bbvf.org, a not for profit think tank,
B20 official taskforce member, G20, 2023.
Contributor to T20. Mental Healthcare Champions from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Alumni of The Boston Consulting Group, Australian National University.
Winner of several international awards. BW40 under 40

Ashish Dwivedi

Co-Founder, IWill and ePsyClinic, previously
Co-Founder at Aryaman Ayush Pvt Ltd, PGDM and BSc Hons.
Mathematics from Banaras Hindu University, India.
Winner of several awards for his contribution to healthcare and technology.

The Solution: IWill offers programs targeted at women and couples, with a focus on promoting reproductive choice and mental wellbeing through counseling and knowledge-sharing. Individuals identified with underlying mental-health issues will have access to a mental health chatbot, paid therapy program as well as family planning-related counseling with a paired therapist.

The Impact: IWill has supported a social community of over 500,000 individuals and helped over 600,000 people gain access to online counseling. The company has launched a English AI CBT product for free, and their social campaigns have reached over 10 million individuals. They have also worked with 12 district and state governments during and after the pandemic to build mental health awareness and provide professional services.

Newmi Care

Newmi Care is an omnichannel Women Health Lifecycle Management Platform designed to deliver personalized journey based care covering all products & services needs of women

1Care offers standardized and affordable primary phygital healthcare services for vulnerable populations at affordable costs and accessible delivery points through a network of quality services. This approach builds trust in rural communities and enhances the long-term value of patient care.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Gurgaon

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://www.newmi.in/

Quote

“Newmi is on a path to prioritize health & wellness of 100M+ Indian Women. Our Goal is to solve for women's health at scale by offering comprehensive solutions that empower every woman to take control of her health journey. We want to establish Newmi Care as the most trusted brand for women health in India.” - Aditi Mittal, Co-Founder

About the Entrepreneurs

Aditi Mittal

Co-founder
A fashion graduate from NIIFT
A 2X Cancer Conqueror (@age 25 & 35),
Gave birth with Cancer building in her body.
Passionate about Preventive Care for Women and brings deep knowhow on women health issues. An active public speaker on Breast Cancer.
Ex-Head Fashion Designer with Sabyasachi Couture

Sanchit Agarwal

Founder
An engineer from Pune University and MBA from GIM & INSEAD.
Survived a fatal accident few years back, promised himself when given a chance will do something more meaningful & impactful in life.
Lived Aditi’s (his wife) health journey, got passionate about women health.
Spent 22+ years with marquee companies like Accenture (Global MD), Deloitte, Barclays, Lehman Brothers, HP etc where he built and ran large businesses.
An ex-investor and board member at multiple organizations.

The Solution: Newmi is a women’s health lifecycle management platform, offering self-customizable life journey-based care through programs and DEI offerings through phygital model. They offer a combination of both products & services through a single interface for both direct and B2B customers.

The Impact: Newmi Care is a trusted provider of women’s health and wellness services to a robust ecosystem of over 12K+ users with 1000+ experts and presence in more than 700 cities.

Last Mile Care

1Care offers standardized and affordable primary phygital healthcare services for vulnerable populations at affordable costs.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Gurgaon

Sector: Healthcare

Website: https://www.lastmilecare.in/

Quote

“Guided by the beacon of technological advancement, Last Mile Care envisions a harmonized healthcare landscape. Through these 1Care units uniting as network aggregators, we extend our embrace to vulnerable populations. Our journey propels patients towards digital healthcare adoption, leveraging genAI, to alleviate cost burdens while transcending economic and social confines. In this synergy, optimal outcomes emerge, while quality medical access prevails." - Anupam Biswal (CEO)

About the Entrepreneurs

Anupam Biswal

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Leads strategy, product design, market outreach and growth at 1Care
15+ years of management consulting experience
Cornell University- EPM
XISS, Ranchi
NDA, Pune
Designed & managed strategic national interventions in social sector”

Pooja Jaiswal

Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Manages the operations and process improvement at 1Care
12+ years of rural management experience
IIM Bangalore- EPM entrepreneurship
XISS, Ranchi
Chairperson – Jharkhand Women Entrepreneur Development Council
Built & operated startups in skill development & livelihoods

Gaurav Sangar

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Heads technology platform & product development at 1Care
14+ years of digital transformation experience
M.Tech &amp
B.Tech – IIT Kharagpur
Serial entrepreneur in digital technology
Experience in social sector projects, public administration and delivery systems using digital solutions

The Solution

1Care provides affordable and accessible primary healthcare services for vulnerable populations. It ensures standardized care, accountable digital documentation, and transparent transactions. With a network of quality services, LMC offers affordable partner-led phygital healthcare, prioritizing the patient journey and promoting health equity. This approach builds trust in rural communities and enhances the long-term value of patient care.

The Impact

Last Mile Care has 10 operational centers in tier 2 and 3 cities with over 25,000 registered patients.
The enterprise has achieved ~30% cost reduction in out of pocket expenditure and has successfully handled over 10k diagnostic cases.

CancerMitr

CancerMitr is a patient-centric community platform for quick access to affordable cancer care providing end-to-end cancer solutions from discovery to recovery.

CancerMitr is a patient-centric community platform for quick access to affordable cancer care providing end-to-end cancer solutions from discovery to recovery. CancerMitr’s vision is to increase the early cancer detection rates by 50% whilst reducing the financial burden for patients by 40%-60% and provide personalized integrative treatment solutions through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to increase prognosis. CancerMitr aims to create healing opportunities for cancer patients and caregivers while empowering healthcare providers through education, training, and development.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Sector: Health

Website: https://www.cancermitr.com/

Quote

“The current cancer care system is meaningful but broken. We mean to fix it. One step at a time. One life at a time. Join us.” ~ Mansi Mehta, Founder & CEO, CancerMitr

About the Entrepreneur

Mansi Mehta, Founder & CEO

Mansi completed her MHRDM from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. She is also the founder of OncoHappy, an NGO which has helped over 25,000 patients so far. Prior to founding CancerMitr, Mansi held senior positions in leadership advisory companies like Nodus, Execuzen, Russell Reynolds Associates, Heidrick and Struggles.

Niyati Mehta, Co-Founder & Business Head

Niyati completed her Bachelor of Mass Media (Advertising) from Usha Pravin Gandhi College. She herself was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in 2020, underwent surgery, received treatment and recovered a year after her diagnosis. She has 12 years of experience in managing P&L and creative roles across the health & beauty industry, and wedding photography, and 10 years of experience in cancer care first as a caregiver with OncoHappy . She is now the Co-Founder and Business Head at CancerMitr.

The Solution

CancerMitr is a tech-enabled community platform built to streamline the complexities involved in the journey of cancer patients. They provide affordable and accessible preventive and curative cancer care solutions.

The Impact

CancerMitr has so far…

Collaborated with 50+ hospitals and 1000+ diagnostics centers
Touched 5000+ lives
Helped 20000+ patients with personalised solutions
Saved Rs 200+ Cr on end-to-end treatment
Saved 20+ L Life hours of time and effort

Pinky Promise

Pinky Promise eliminates the cost, quality and social barriers to sexual and reproductive health through technology, via a mobile app that provides an instant symptom assessment, doctor's consultation, testing and community support chat rooms.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: http://www.askpinkypromise.com

Quote

“You can get groceries within minutes but quality healthcare for women is still time-consuming and riddled with barriers. Pinky Promise is building a comprehensive system to provide quality health instantly, and to make care uncomplicated, affordable and data-driven – starting with women!” - Divya Balaji Kamerkar

About the Entrepreneurs

Divya Balaji Kamerkar

Divya Balaji Kamerkar is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pinky Promise. Before Pinky Promise, Divya worked in the Government and in management consulting, on issues of gender and healthcare across rural and urban India, Southeast Asia, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa. Divya holds a B.S. in Biology from Yale University, and an MBA from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Yale Global Health Fellow and a published author in medical and scientific journals.

Rahul Kamerkar

Rahul Kamerkar is the Co-Founder of Pinky Promise. He is an Advocate in the High Court of Bombay and the Supreme Court of India. He has vast experience in economic offences and commercial disputes. Rahul is a coder and has built the company’s tech stack. He was also a published author with Hay House at the age of 21! Rahul holds a BA in Economics and an LLB from Mumbai University.

The Solution

Pinky Promise eliminates the cost, quality and social barriers to sexual and reproductive health through technology, via a mobile app that provides an instant symptom assessment, doctor’s consultation, testing and community support chat rooms.

The Impact

Pinky Promise will enable women around India and the world to access healthcare with no barriers. This will reduce mortality and morbidity by enabling early access to care and preventative health. It will also increase favorable reproductive healthcare outcomes. Finally, our solution builds the capacity of the healthcare industry as a whole.

PadCare Labs

PadCare is a leading fem-tech platform with a mission to achieve sustainable development goals while ensuring the wellness of female employees. With its patented menstrual hygiene services PadCare Labs is recycling 1 million sanitary napkins and saving >150 MT GHG emissions.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://www.padcarelabs.com/

About the Entrepreneur:

Ajinkya Dhariya

Ajinkya Dhariya, Founder and CEO at PadCare Labs, He is a Mechanical Engineer and Sanitation Entrepreneur. He graduated in 2017 and then started PadCare Labs in 2018 with a vision to shape sustainable societies by enhancing hygiene standards. He is a product enthusiast and loves to solve consumer-centric problems with a design-thinking approach.

The Solution

PadCare Bin (Decentralized Collection Points)

PadCare Bin is a part of a larger preprogrammed hygiene management system that generates harmless, recyclable output out of used sanitary napkins. It is inserted in individual washroom cubicles where women can privately and safely dump their used menstrual absorbents. Bins are embedded with our patent pending PadCare Vap technology which enables pathogenic lock.

PadCareX (Worlds 1st automated AHP processing and recycling systems)

PadCare is an automated hygiene management system that generates harmless, recyclable output out of used sanitary napkins. Through multi-step mechanics, it breaks down absorbent sanitary waste into two by-products – wood pulp and plastic. Once the waste is processed in the Central Processing Unit where it goes through a fully mechanized 5Dprocess it can be utilized to make other products such as tables, pots

Greendelight Innovations Private Limited

Greendelight Innovations Private Limited is a social enterprise on a Mission to reduce plastic waste created by feminine hygiene products by manufacturing eco-friendly and healthy feminine hygiene products made of Kenaf Fibre in the brand name called Bliss Natural that's not just beneficial to women but also to the environment. Bliss Natural is a Biobased Certified feminine hygiene product that started as a student startup. It is now available in 5 countries, and they have a customer base of 25000+ women in India alone.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://www.blisspads.com/

About the Entrepreneurs

Gowtham S

Gowtham S is a first-generation entrepreneur from Coimbatore and is a Fashion Technologist with 2 years of work experience as a Research Associate at Natural Fibre Research Center and 4 years of experience in Entrepreneurship.

Niveda R

Niveda R is a first-generation entrepreneur from Coimbatore and is a Fashion and Apparel Technologist with 4 years of experience in Entrepreneurship.

The Solution

Greendelight Innovations has developed Sanitary pads from Kenaf fibre that is naturally antimicrobial and absorbent called as ‘Bliss Natural’.Bliss Natural is a biobased certified Sanitary pads that are not just beneficial to women but also to the environment.

The Impact

35 lakh + Pads Degraded
1.5 lakh + pads donated to 5000+ women and created awareness among rural women
15 jobs created and 30+ jobs will be created with women in leadership positions

GetIntimacy

GetIntimacy is a sexual wellness platform spreading awareness and offering affordable treatment options to our clients and users with our panel of sexual wellness experts. We also have a range of sexual wellbeing courses focusing on specific problem areas of clients such as porn addiction, premature ejaculation, vaginismus, marriage 101, these courses are self-paced and can be accessed by the user in the privacy of their home, a key concern while accessing services on sexual wellness.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Noida

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://getintimacy.com/

Quote

"Sexual health is a part of our overall health and pleasure is fundamental to our well-being and life satisfaction. Sexuality education is the need of the hour to tackle harmful taboos and myths that affect the intimate relationships people have with other people and with themselves." - Pallavi Barnwal

About the Entrepreneurs

Pallavi Barnwal

Pallavi Barnwal is a nationally renowned coach and certified sexuality educator. She has coached thousands of men, women, and couples with their sex, and relationship issues. She is passionate about helping people experience better intimate life and keeping relationships and families thriving together.

The Solution

GetIntimacy’s solution approach is essentially a 4 pronged solution consisting of content, community, consultation and courses.

Content is curated for general consumption and to familiarising individuals with the idea and importance of sexual wellbeing.
Community is essential to dismantling the ‘shhh’ and ‘haww’ factor that discourages people from seeking help and actively owning their sexuality.
Consultation provides dedicated one on one support for individuals to address their specific challenges and courses fulfill that vital last mile gap in terms of empowered education to lead a better intimate life.

The Impact

GetIntimacy has a 100k+ community across all social media channels where people actively participate in sexual wellness-related discussions, reflect, and implement best insights and practices to improve their intimate relationships. GetIntimacy has conducted 50+ workshops across different cities with an average participation of 15+ people per workshop and we are seeing a rising demand for more such workshops. GetIntimacy is India’s first organization to launch sexual wellness courses targeting adult problems.

StandWeSpeak

StandWeSpeak is a youth-centric, health-tech venture that blends Artificial-Intelligence with expert support to help them make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://standwespeak.com/

Quote

“Gender equality can only be achieved when every single person has the power to say yes and the right to say no – when making decisions about their own bodies and lives.” - Priyal Agarwal

About the Entrepreneurs

Priyal Agrawal
Priyal is a gender equality activist, social entrepreneur, and the founder of StandWeSpeak – a for-profit social SexTech venture in India. She is also the recipient of the Diana Award 2022 for her social and humanitarian efforts.

Dr. Keshav Maheshwari
Dr. Keshav is a Medical Doctor (graduated from Davao Medical School Foundation). He has previously worked in Anesthesia Department as a Junior Resident Doctor at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Hospital (Mumbai). As a professional, he helps in generating business leads and networking with domain experts.

The Solution

StandWeSpeak is a youth-centric, health-tech venture that blends Artificial-Intelligence with expert support to help them make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

StandWeSpeak leverages technology to build Mae – an anonymous AI-driven sexual wellness platform that provides personalized solutions to users based on their age, gender, location, and needs.

Mae provides users access to:

Medically-legally accurate SRHR information.
Healthcare experts.
Menstrual hygiene, sexual wellness, and contraceptive products.
Digital content, podcasts and resources.

StandWeSpeak is building an affordable, accessible, and gender-inclusive “Digital Sexual Health Ecosystem for youth”.

The Impact

StandWeSpeak has impacted 10,000+ young people across 3+ countries via workshops and Mae — its flagship product.

ThatMate

ThatMate is an end-to-end ecosystem that leverages technology to help teens make informed choices

An end-to-end ecosystem that leverages technology to help teens make informed choices. ThatMate is using the "content, counseling and community" approach to help teenagers. Teenagers can use content to understand various problems, reach out to counselors or their peers and discuss their problems.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://www.thatmate.com/

About the Entrepreneurs

Madhavi Jadhav

Madhavi is the Co-Founder & CEO, ThatMate. She is a Petroleum Engineer from Pune University, has worked with companies like Reliance, Schlumberger and Shell, has around 9+ years of work experience in operations and business development. She is a Tedx speaker and has been featured in reputed media in the country. She was in the USA today in 2014 as New Faces of Engineering, she has also received Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 2013 by Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Nishant Neeraj

Nishant Neeraj is the Co-Founder & CTO, ThatMate. He is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Kharagpur, a Software architect with 13 years of experience and has helped several startups w.r.t their products in the past.

The Solution

ThatMate is a mental wellness app for adolescents. The app is built around three pillars:

i) education- knowledge repository/ in-house developed content to impart knowledge on adolescent-specific mental issues

ii) self- management: contextual self-help techniques to deal with issues such as stress, anger, loneliness

iii) seek professional assistance.

ThatMate uses adaptive personalised content such as interactive stories, comics, videos, and quizzes curated by a team of psychologists.

The Impact

ThatMate is building an end-to-end ecosystem that leverages tech and partners with schools, parents, doctors and organisations to help adolescents make informed choices.

Uvi Health

Uvi is a digital health platform that offers specialized services for reproductive & sexual health concerns to women. Uvi offers affordable, science-backed subscription plans and diagnostics services to women, starting at ₹999.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka

Sector: Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health & Family Planning

Website: https://uvihealth.in/

Quote

"180M+ Indian women suffer from disorders that affect their hormonal, sexual & reproductive health. The care experience is also broken and largely driven by fear, judgment, and stigma. We intend to build solutions for 10+ concerns covering the entire lifecycle of women's health from puberty to menopause." - Mehak Malik

About the Entrepreneur:

Mehak Malik

Mehak is the Founder and CEO of Uvi Health. Prior to Uvi, she worked as an impact investor for a US-based fund for 3 years, where she doubled the emerging market portfolio. She also led the fund’s investment in Africa’s first femtech e-commerce platform, which inspired her to come back to India and build something for this market. She has herself been living with PCOS for over a decade now and her own experience helped her identify gaps in care delivery experience that impacts women with reproductive & sexual health concerns. Mehak is an Economics graduate, with a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard. She was featured as a Forbes 30U30 Asia 2022 in the healthcare and life sciences category.

The Solution

Uvi’s all-in-one App is focused on giving women personalised access to trainers, doctors, diagnostics, community & resources. The focus of the product is to enable a care journey that is evidence-driven and holistic. Uvi’s initial focus is on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, PCOS – a condition that affects 45M+ Indian women.

The Impact

Uvi has over 30,000 registered women users on the platform. Uvi has seen over a 90% success rate with symptom management in women engaged in paid care programs.

Sunfox Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Sunfox's product Spandan is a small and smart ECG machine with inbuilt AI for interpretation. It records, monitors, and diagnoses heart diseases, and detects 40+ abnormalities including rhythm disorder and heart attack at 1/10th cost without any expertise. The device does not need a battery or internet connection.

AMELIORATE

Ameliorate has developed innovative technologies to address the unmet needs in early-stage diagnostics, Bio-Similars and Nutraceuticals. Their product ASSURED (Affordable Sensitive Specific User-Friendly Rapid Equipment Free Device) is a single device for detection of three most prevalent vector (mosquito) borne diseases - Malaria, Chikungunya and Dengue.

JANITRI INNOVATIONS

Janitri develops cutting edge medical device technologies in maternal and child healthcare. The device is an affordable, easy to use & portable uterine contraction monitoring device for low resources healthcare settings.

Incubated: 2017

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Maternal and child health

Website: http://janitri.in/

Quote

“More than 90% of the maternal & newborn mortality can be prevented by simple & innovative products in a sustainable manner” – Arun Agarwal

About the Entrepreneur

Arun Agarwal is an electronics engineer and his interest in healthcare led him to do a Master’s in Biomedical engineering. His passion for solving grass root healthcare problems through technology led him to the BIRAC VILLGRO SIIP program where he visited more than 100 hospitals across India to identify & validate problems of maternal and child health. Further, he founded Janitri in 2016 to develop innovative solutions to solve problems of maternal and child healthcare.

The Challenge

Every year, 2 Million Neonatal & 250,000 Maternal deaths occur during the intrapartum period globally. In India, more than 80% deliveries occur with the assistance of staff nurses in a low resource healthcare setting which lack skilled healthcare workers and medical devices. There is a need for affordable & accurate solutions designed for low skilled healthcare workers which would help them in accurate monitoring and decision support during the intrapartum period.

The Innovation

Uterine contraction is one of the important parameters to track the labor progress and diagnose a lot of other complications during intrapartum period but get monitored inaccurately & ignored more than 85% of the time which indirectly lead to mortality/morbidity. Our device is an affordable, easy to use & portable uterine contraction monitoring device for low resources healthcare settings.

More than 80% deliveries occur with the assistance of staff nurses most of them do not follow protocol during intrapartum & post-partum period which lead to delay in decision making/referral/providing intervention in case of any complications. Our solution is an intelligent labor monitoring tool which helps staff nurses in their decision making and protocol adherence during intrapartum & postpartum periods.

The Impact

Both the innovations empower low skilled healthcare workers during the intrapartum period for better monitoring and decision making to prevent maternal & newborn mortality/morbidity.

YOSTRA LABS

Yostra provides affordable screening, diagnostics and greater healthcare access to BoP diabetic patients.

Incubated: 2016

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Healthcare; Diabetes screening & treatment

Website: http://www.yostra.com

Quote

“We are a motivated interdisciplinary team of clinicians, designers and engineer, brought together by the common goal of making a positive impact in affordable healthcare” – Vinayak Nandalike

About the Entrepreneurs

Vinayak Nandalike is the CEO and Founder. He is an entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience in management consulting and program management. He holds an MBA degree from The Indian School of Business.

Dr. Maruthy K.N is the Chief Scientific Advisor, and the Co-Founder. A physiology professor with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Maruthy has been pioneering innovations in biomedical engineering. He holds a MD (Physiology) from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

The Challenge

India has approximately 69 million diabetic patients. About 30% of diabetics develop diabetic peripheral neuropathy and half of those will develop foot ulcers due to their condition. The poor are significantly at risk because of inadequate management of their condition. There is a critical need for affordable diagnostic devices to enable mass screening of diabetic patients for peripheral neuropathy, as well as a need for affordable treatment options for diabetic foot ulcers.

The Innovation

Conventional Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy screening devices available in the market are bulky, not portable, expensive, and need trained healthcare workers to operate the device. The ‘Sparsh’ diagnostic device treats diabetic peripheral neuropathy (permanent damage to nerves in the feet, owing to diabetes). ‘Kadam’, another device, is significantly cost-effective and accessible in comparison with other treatment methods and can be operated with minimum resources.

The Impact

Both ‘Sparsh’ and ‘Kadam’ have far reaching social impact providing greater healthcare access to BoP diabetic patients. Sparsh will enable early diagnosis of DPN thus helping patients to manage it better and avoid complications. Kadam can potentially prevent 2 lakh amputations per year in India.

SPOT HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS

Spot Healthcare designs non-invasive diagnostic solutions to detect neonatal sepsis which significantly results in reduction of neonatal mortality.

Incubated:

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Detection of neonatal sepsis

Website: http://www.spotsense.in

Quote

“We want to bring down the rates of neonatal mortality and maternal mortality by more than 50%. We want to enable parents to make informed decisions” - Amrita Sukrity

About the Entrepreneur

Amrita Sukrity is an engineer with a Master’s degree in Materials Science from IIT-Kharagpur. She worked at Bosch India before taking up BIRAC’s Social Innovation Immersion Program at Venture Center, where she began work on developing affordable medical diagnostics and devices, leading to the setting up of Spot Healthcare Solutions.

The Challenge

Sepsis is the most common cause of neonatal mortality, responsible for 30- 50% of the total neonatal deaths each year in developing countries. Sepsis is largely preventable with neonatal care, early diagnosis and rational antimicrobial therapy. Currently, the diagnosis is difficult because sepsis symptoms are non-specific. Blood culture, the current gold standard, has a long turnaround time and is an invasive technique.

The Innovation

There is an urgent need for a rapid, non-invasive, accurate diagnostic device that can diagnose sepsis in a timely manner to treat it effectively. Through the BIRAC Social Innovation Immersion Program, Amrita had the opportunity to immerse in primary, secondary healthcare settings and observe the problem and gaps in current diagnostic protocol first hand. She is working on developing an affordable, non-invasive diagnostic tool for sepsis detection.

The Impact

An affordable, rapid, non-invasive diagnostic tool for early stage sepsis will significantly reduce neonatal mortality.

NEOMOTION

Neomotion develops devices for physically challenged people and the elderly.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Chennai

Sector: Health; Assistive Tech / Disabilities / Geriatrics

Website: www.neomotion.in

Quote

“Enable people with disability to live life to their fullest” - Swostik Sourav Dash

About the Entrepreneurs

Swostik Sourav Dash, a mechanical engineer, and product designer graduated in 2013 from IIT Madras to join an FMCG firm as a project manager. After a two-year stint there, his interest in product design and his desire to positively impact the society brought him back to his alma mater to continue where he had left.

Dr. Sujatha Srinivasan is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras and has been working in the assistive devices space for over 25 years. In 2008 she founded the Rehabilitation Research and Device Development lab at IIT Madras, currently funded by TTK Prestige and this is where Neomotion’s journey began.

The Challenge

Neomotion’s journey began with the Standing Wheelchair project of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. The team traveled across the country for testing and interacted with over 200 wheelchair users and found that most wheelchair users are confined to four walls with poor health, no employment and no social engagement. The two major problems that caught their attention were –

Lack of awareness and availability of a good wheelchair: One-size-fits-all wheelchairs, widely in use, offer incorrect posture and are difficult to propel. There is no awareness regarding the damage a bad wheelchair can inflict on a user’s health even for a short duration of 3 months.

Challenges in outdoor mobility: Conventional wheelchairs are unusable outdoors. For outdoor mobility, people use alternatives such as tri-cycles and tri-scooters but these involve transfers from one device to another making the person always dependent. Consequently, many wheelchair users stay within their home.

The Solution

The focus of Neomotion is lifestyle-altering solutions for wheelchair users. Neomotion brings three products and a few accessories for wheelchair users in India. NeoFly is a wheelchair designed for individual customization, correct posture, energy conservation, and compactness to enhance accessibility. These health-enhancing features exclude 95%-plus users now. NeoBolt is a motor-powered clip-on which converts NeoFly into a safe, roadworthy vehicle. It eliminates the need to transfer into other vehicles and can be independently attached by the user within seconds. It has a maximum speed of 25 km/ph and travels up to 30 km/charge.

NeoBolt can be safely used on uneven terrains. NeoRider is a hand-powered clip-on to NeoFly. It obviates the need for two devices at home, a vital factor for people with disability from economically challenged backgrounds. NeoRider gives a stylish tricycle on roads that also enhances efficiency.

The Impact

Improper posture inflicted by one-size-fits-all wheelchairs acutely compromises the quality of life. NeoFly, the wheelchair, will eliminate the avoidable damages, promote good health, increase accessibility and make wheelchair use enjoyable. These will result in an active lifestyle and a better attitude towards life. NeoBolt and NeoRider, clip-on devices for outdoor mobility, will empower wheelchair users to go out more and explore the world independently without fear. They can become more employable and explore more work opportunities. Macro socio-economic impact of wheelchair users embracing NeoMotion Mobility Solutions will be game-changing.

FLEXMOTIV

Flexmotiv is an assistive technology product design company working on mobility aid for locomotor disability. They design innovative products for differently-abled which provides them with the freedom to go limitless and lead an independent life.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Health; Assistive Technology and Locomotor disability

Website: www.flexmotiv.com

Quote

“Flexmo reflects our vision for this society. Let’s change the definition of equality together.” – Arvind S.A.

About the Entrepreneur

Arvind S.A. is the CEO and Director of Flexmotiv. He looks after the Product Development and Strategy. He has 7 years of experience in production and bio-medical product design. He is currently pursuing Masters at IIT Delhi.

The Challenge

Axillary Crutches are the massive mobility aid distributed in India in large numbers. The current design is single tipped and is prone to slipping and falling. The rubber tip is not very durable nor stable in uneven terrains (wet surface, rocks, sand, and mud) like in India, and they wear out soon. They demand a lot of energy to move and transmit movement shock to the body, making it painful and uncomfortable to use. People are not aware of the long term effects of using these crutches and solutions are not available. These drawbacks lead to a low quality of life for the person using these crutches.

The Solution

Flexmo crutches is a design improvement of the traditional crutch crafted to enhance the mobility of a person using crutches. It is the world’s first self-standing crutch. By using specially crafted metal flexures based tip design, the Flexmo crutch substantially improves the stability and mobility of a patient while keeping the cost low. It also incorporates smart techniques to keep energy usage low. The ultimate result for a user is that energy used is minimal and there is no impact force carried to the body thus mitigating side effects. Additionally, the design increases grip on rough terrains such as sand, pebbles and wet surfaces.

The Impact

Flexmotiv understands that gainful employment plays an essential part in the life of a person because it gives him/her status and binds him/her to the society. Acceptance of disabled person at work can be viewed as society’s acceptance of these people without discrimination. However, many people with disabilities are still unable to obtain occupation and are dependent on others. With Flexmo crutches, PwLD can work in a robust environment without worrying about slipping or facing any difficulties while doing activities.

REDWING LABS

Redwing designs delivery drones. These drones are capable of Hybrid VTOL flight i.e taking off & landing like a helicopter and then flying like a plane. Redwing Aerospace's solution is able to overcome limitations caused by difficult terrain and inaccessible areas by using an aerial route of delivery, thereby enabling access.

BEABLE HEALTH

BeAble Health is a startup committed to enabling health & lives, through design and technology. Their product ArmAble, an innovative game based solution solving a pressing need for intensive, engaging and regular rehabilitation therapy for the upper limb for stroke victims and people suffering from upper limb motor deficit.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Hyderabad

Sector: Healthcare; Assistive Technologies / Disability

Website: www.beablehealth.com

Quote

“At Beable Health, we strive towards adding joy to the long & painful journey of recovery. Recovering not just a dream anymore, it is now a possibility. Being able opens up infinite possibilities. Be Able, Be Infinite.” - Habib Ali

About the Entrepreneurs

Habib Ali, Founder & CEO is a Biomedical Engineer, with a passion for rehabilitation engineering. He is an innovator, with training in design thinking and loves identifying problems and solving them. He loves game development and robotics.

Sreehari KG, Co-founder & CMO, is a media education professional with varied experience in design, research, and media. He has also worked as an Assistant Professor, Media Consultant & Communication specialist for various universities, industries.

The Challenge

BeAble Health is addressing the rehabilitation of upper limb post stroke as a first case as the number of stroke incidences in India are at its highest, 18 lakh cases every year. Current rehabilitation therapy doesn’t focus on neuroplasticity, and is a burden on patients, and doesn’t provide any objective feedback on improvement. At present, rehabilitation starts at the hospital and takes place once or twice a day for 10-15 mins, and gradually progresses to 45 mins. The therapist manually performs a passive treatment to the patient where the brain is not involved. The maximum number of repetitions, not just India but globally are around 40-50. The requirement is to perform 400 to 600 repetitions in order for the brain to develop new connections and enable recovery. This cannot be addressed in the current practice.

The Solution

Stroke patients generally have hemiplegia/hemiparesis i.e., one side of the body is weak or paralyzed. But the advantage is that the other hand is still healthy and can be used to train the paralyzed/weak side. The games they make are engaging, and patients tend to get so immersed that they forget they are performing therapy while playing the games. This allows for a higher number of repetitions than conventional therapy. These repetitions allow for creating new connections in the brain by engaging the neuroplasticity of the brain. Every movement performed by the patient is recorded, along with their performance data. This allows for both the patient and the therapist to look at objective measures of therapy, and when patients are able to visualize their improvement, they tend to get motivated and improve their adherence to therapy. The therapist can modify the course of the treatment based on this data.

The Impact

India contributes to 1/5th of the total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and due to stroke alone it is 500 million DALYs. This causes an economic burden of more than $34 billion dollars in the US annually and much more in India. By using the ArmAble, patients get access to high quality and intense therapy which enables improved recovery, quality of life and reduced financial burden.

MONC TECH

Monc Technologies is a social enterprise that aims to provide high quality and technologically outstanding products and services to restore mobility for people.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Coimbatore

Sector: Health; Disability

Website: http://www.monctech.com

Quote

“Our mission is to provide affordable, high quality and technologically advanced products & service in prosthetics to empower amputees and increase their livelihood, because true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence” - Anthony Edison

About the Entrepreneurs

Monc Technologies was founded in 2016 by Antony Edison. Gokul and Mugilan later joined the journey of empowering amputees. Unlike most startup founders, they were neither college mates nor school friends. They are bound together by their ideology and the passion of impacting lives with technology.

Antony Edison has his undergraduate degree in Mechatronics engineering from HICET, Coimbatore. He published scientific articles in “Electronic For You“ magazines, holds 3 patents and has led a team of 25 members in Electric Solar Car design and fabrication national level event and won a best business plan award.

Gokul Karat has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IES, Kerala. He has organized and successfully completed three phases project “punarjanni” with other volunteers on behalf of National service scheme (unit 186) on three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016. Mugilan has his Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from VIT, Vellore. He has 2 years of experience in a DRDO project and has published numerous international scientific journals.

The Challenge

The loss of an arm or its partial loss is a catastrophic event for a person. It has been estimated that in India alone, annually 6300 new arm amputees are added to total arm amputee’s population. Low income countries account for 84% of total global population, and affordability plays a major role in their lives. Prosthetics industry is one of the most underserved in terms of innovation in commercially available products mainly due to lack of volume in the market. Currently available externally powered functional prosthetic hands are priced at INR 1.5 lakhs to INR 30 Lakhs which makes this product a fantasy for low income families. Body powered hands, however, are available at INR 8K – 20K but the hand system is complex and extremely uncomfortable to wear.

The Solution

Conventional model functional artificial hands use two EMG electrodes to open and close, thus requiring highly trained Prosthetists to figure out exactly two different muscle groups in the remaining stump of an amputee. Moreover, the frequency of error rate in EMG is high. Since almost all the functional artificial hands are imported, it increases the service time and cost. But Monc Technologies has developed a technical procedure called Unified Myography (UMG) which acquires two different physiological phenomena from a single superficial muscle group and only a single UMG electrode is enough to control the hand functionalities. This technology solution enhances product robustness and quality while being an affordable option for many.

The Impact

Monc Technologies products will help arm amputees to provide for themselves and their families and achieve independence. The improvement in adaptability and reduction in time taken to fit the hand prosthesis can enhance the quality of life for arm amputees and increase employment rate.

5C NETWORK

5C Network provides the fastest and easiest way for any hospital or diagnostic centre to get a quality radiology report for their patient.

Incubated:

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health, Digital Health Platform

Website: http://www.5cnetwork.com

Quote

“I imagine a world where we can accurately know what is wrong with us in 15 minutes and get the best treatment possible for it” – Kalyan Sivasailam

About the Entrepreneur

Kalyan Sivasailam is the CEO of 5C Network. He started 5C Network when one of his colleagues was admitted into a hospital in Bangalore and the MRI scan report took 2 days to come.

The Challenge

Diagnosis is considered as 3/4ths of the remedy, and radiodiagnosis today is the most important and commonly required form of diagnosis for almost every sort of ailment. A large population in India does not have access to fast and high quality medical radiodiagnosis which leads to delayed diagnosis and related complications, or makes patients travel for many days in order to get access to fast and high quality diagnosis. For many, this involves high travel cost and loss of wages, apart from higher costs of medical tests in metro cities. More than 50% of deaths in non-metro cities are due to delayed diagnosis or diagnosis that did not happen due to unavailable facilities.

The Solution

5C is a network of specialist radiologists all over the country, equipped with technology to make sure that every report can be read by the best available radiologist in the fastest time. 5C runs an online portal that brings together the best radiologists in the country along with cutting edge technology, and allows hospitals and diagnostic centres to upload scans directly to the expert panel in the fastest way. 5C is focused on providing specialist interpretations for every scan while building technology to make this faster, more accurate and more consistent.

The Impact

5C’s impact has been profound – 50% reduction in cost for high-quality diagnostic testing, 500% improvement in TAT for cases – saving over 5,00,000 hours of waiting time, and over 10,000 critical cases done, which means that a report was required in less than 15minutes for an immediate intervention by treating doctors.

ADIUVO DIAGNOSTICS

Adiuvo designs portable diagnostic devices for skin and soft tissue infections. The non-invasive device can detect pathogen presence on skin and soft tissue infections, within minutes, using multi-wavelength fluorescence spectroscopy combined with advanced image processing and machine learning techniques.

Incubated: 2016

Headquarters: Chennai

Sector: Health; Infection detection - Antimicrobial Resistance

Website:

Quote

“The interactions with patients who have been suffering due to improper diagnosis motivated us to develop solutions which will put an end to wrong treatment protocols, and help in minimising treatment time and save a lot of their hard earned money” - Geethanjali Radhakrishnan

About the Entrepreneur

Geethanjali Radhakrishnan is a biomedical engineer, who worked in research and then as a software developer at Tata Consultancy Services. After four years, she felt that her biomedical background would be better utilised to develop solutions for healthcare problems in India. She founded Adiuvo Diagnostics in 2015, after placing as a finalist at Unconvention Chennai (Villgro’s nationwide pitch contest), and has subsequently also been selected at the ASME iShow 2016.

The Challenge

The incidence of Skin and Soft tissue infections (SSTI) from an open wound/ cut/ abrasions/ pressure ulcers is a serious problem in India. Approximately 7-10% of hospitalised patients are affected by skin and soft tissue infections and the problem is more severe in emergency care settings.

Only 6000 dermatologists in India cater to the 121 crore population; most patients having to get treated by general physicians. Due to the lack of a device/method to quickly identify and differentiate the pathogen causing the infection at an early stage, generic antibiotics are prescribed which contribute to antibiotic resistance, rise of superbugs and increasing healthcare-associated infections.

The Innovation

A non-invasive and portable device that can detect pathogen presence on skin and soft tissue infections, within two minutes using multi-wavelength fluorescence spectroscopy combined with advanced image processing and machine learning techniques. The device can also classify pathogens species and in future has the potential to quantify the level of pathogenic load on the wound and, hence, can be an effective diagnostic aid to the doctors in prescribing the right medical treatment.

The Impact

Adiuvo seeks to develop technologically advanced diagnostic devices at an affordable cost in order to assist doctors in right diagnosis and medical prescriptions. The devices will also have data storage and network connectivity options, enabling easy tracking of the infections and consultations with qualified medical professions remotely if required. This will lead to a reduction in unwanted prescription of antibiotics, and minimizing the costs associated with unnecessary visits to hospitals.

AINDRA SYSTEMS

Aindra designs affordable devices that can detect cervical cancer.

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health;Diagnostics

Website: www.aindra.in

Quote

“Cervical cancer is not an aggressive cancer, yet one woman dies every 7.5 minutes because of cervical cancer in our country” – Adarsh Natarajan

About the Entrepreneur

Adarsh Natarajan graduated from Bangalore University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronics and then went on to complete his MBA from IIM Bangalore in marketing and strategy. He worked as a software engineer for organisations such as Infosys and Lucent Technologies. He worked at WIPRO Technologies for 6 years before starting Aindra Systems.

Abhishek Mishra has a Bachelor of Technology degree from NIT Jalandhar in Instrumentation and Control Engineering. He has worked for organisations such as HCL Technologies and NIT Jalandhar before starting Aindra Systems.

The Challenge

330 million Indian women between the ages of 30 and 60 years are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Early detection through constant screening is a necessity. However, most women don’t have access to state of the art technology. Also the devices used in most hospitals are imported from abroad, resulting in high prices.

The Innovation

Aindra Systems is developing an innovative device that can be deployed at low-cost to assist with screening and detection of cervical cancer among women. The Aindra device banks on the pap smear test, a method of cervical screening to detect potentially cancerous cells. The setup has an on board computing unit, which classifies the sample as either normal or abnormal and sends it to a pathologist to confirm the findings. The whole process takes less than a day’s time.

The Impact

The startup has already partnered with Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology and Cancer Care India, an NGO, for conducting on-field trials, and is also in advanced talks with St. John’s hospital.

NAYAM INNOVATIONS

Nayam has designed an artificial eye implant to treat cataracts and post-surgery vision complications.

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Healthcare; Digital Health Platform

Website: http://nayaminnovations.com/

Quote

“Vision impairment and poverty are inextricably linked. In resource-poor settings, it determines one’s prospects for education, employment and dignity of life” - Tanuj Gigras

About the Entrepreneurs

Tanuj Gigras has both a Bachelor and Master of Technology degree in engineering physics and nanotechnology from IIT Bombay. He worked as a research collaborator for Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and an analyst for Credit Suisse before starting Nayam Innovations.

The Challenge

About 6.5 million cataract surgeries happen in India every year. Cataract surgery often leaves patients with sub-optimal vision and dependent on spectacles or having to resort to more expensive corrective technology. For the poor in India, both options are not feasible.

The Innovation

The company creates an artificial implant of the eye to treat cataract and its post-surgical refractive error complications using its proprietary technology. This product will give better outcomes but at 1/10th the cost to the majority of low and middle-income populations in India and other parts of the world.

The Impact

Every year, more than 20 million cataract surgeries happen in the World, of which about 6.5 million happen in India. By 2020 this number will go up to 32 million and 8 million respectively. there exists an opportunity to disrupt the market by creating a product which is at par with premium products in functionality but can be delivered at 1/10th the cost to the poor and middle-class populations, both in developing countries like India and in the west.

BEMPU

Bempu has created a temperature monitoring device to monitor newborn babies’ health.

Incubated:

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Diagnostics

Website:

Quote

“I wanted to create something that would have a massive impact. If you make a difference to a baby, it actually affects the next 60-80 years of their life” - Ratul Narain

About the Entrepreneur

Ratul Narain has a Bachelor’s in Biomechanical engineering and a Masters degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford. He worked at Johnson and Johnson’s for six years in the cardiovascular space followed with a year at Embrace Innovations in the neonatal health space. In 2013, he journeyed across India to carry out on-ground field research to identify the gaps in neonatal healthcare in India, which led him to set up Bempu.

The Challenge

Hypothermia and infection are among the top causes of newborn deaths. Regular temperature monitoring can enable early intervention. However, seemingly simple temperature monitoring often goes overlooked in areas where nurses are few and parents are uneducated.

The Innovation

BEMPU is developing an intuitive neonatal temperature monitor that empowers mothers or other caretakers to better manage their newborn’s temperature and be alerted in case of these conditions thereby preventing such death and illness.

The Impact

Eight out of the 27 million babies born in India are underweight (less than 2.5kg). In India, low birthweight babies are discharged even at 1.2 kg. These babies are at high risk for many issues, two of which are hypothermia and infections. Detection of neonatal hypothermia at the right stage by continuous temperature monitoring will reduce neonatal morbidity. And continuous monitoring at home will make doctors more likely to discharge at risk babies earlier.

The Bempu bracelet needs to be prescribed by a doctor and is currently available in about 150 centres across 11 states in India. Villgro has worked with BEMPU to pilot the device and bring it to market.

ONEBREATH

OneBreath has developed a portable mechanical ventilator designed for emerging markets.

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Primary healthcare

Website: http://www.onebreathventilators.com

Quote

“Villgro’s Team is equally passionate about innovation and social impact. Our engagement with them not only helps us gain perspectives from their vast on-the-ground experience but also enables us to join a stimulating community of budding entrepreneurs. - A. Vijaysimha

About the Entrepreneur

Vijaysimha, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of OneBreath, an alumnus of Stanford Biodesign and a Consulting Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stanford University.

Dr. Matthew Callaghan is the founder of three medical device companies including OneBreath.

The Challenge

3.6 million people die from respiratory illness in India every year and it was estimated that 46% of the population who were admitted to an ICU during the H1N1 pandemic required a mechanical ventilator. A ventilator, even if it is available, is not portable or inexpensive.

The Innovation

OneBreath’s initial offering is a ventilator intended for use in ICUs, emergency rooms, and ambulances. The OneBreath ventilator is designed to provide continuous respiratory support for infants through adult patients. It is optimized for low resource environments and designed for novice through advanced users.

The Impact

Over 7 lakh OneBreath ventilators have been sold for the pandemic preparedness program in the UK and the US.

OMIX LABS

Omix created a technology platform that allows cost-effective DNA testing for early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Biotechnology, diagnostics

Website: http://www.omixdx.com/

Quote

“Taking these laboratory based tests and making them ‘field-friendly’, if successful, could start to make a difference for the millions who suffer from an infection: from malaria to AIDS” - Sudeshna Adak

About the Entrepreneurs

Sudeshna Adak holds a Master of Statistics degree in statistics from Indian Statistical Institute and a Ph.D in statistics from Stanford University. She has in the past worked for multiple research institutes such as IBM India research Lab and Harvard School of Public Health, GE Global Research and GE Healthcare.

Abhinanda Sarkar holds a Master of Statistics degree in mathematical statistics and probability from Indian Statistical Institute and a Ph.D in statistics from Stanford University. He was a lecturer at MIT and he worked for organisations such as IBM and GE Global Research before starting OmiX Labs.

The Challenge

Infectious diseases constitute nearly 50% of the disease burden in India and much higher than 50% in people at the base of the pyramid and in children below the age of 5. Delay in diagnosis and late or inappropriate treatment increases the risk of complications, higher morbidity and mortality and increased cost to the patient.

The nearest primary health centre is likely to be 5 km away, and the medical officer there is unlikely to be familiar with the wide range of infectious diseases that are prevalent in the region and probably will not have access to a microbiology laboratory.

The Innovation

OmiX Labs is developing a novel technology platform that allows for DNA testing for pathogens, outside of laboratory settings. Analogous to the glucose strips and glucometer devices for glucose testing at home, the OmiX platform detects pathogen DNA present in a few drops of blood on a novel disposable biochip, with a proprietary enrichment and assay on the chip and a reader for DNA analysis.

The Impact

The platform is designed to bring advances in molecular diagnosis and create access where there is none: mostly in lower income groups who do not have access to laboratories and yet need early and accurate detection to have a better chance for cure.

MORPHLE

Morphle is developing an affordable one-touch automated microscopic scanner which when coupled with their tele-reporting workflows, can enable remote diagnosis, thereby eliminating the need for the physical presence of qualified pathologists in rural and suburban areas.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Health; Diagnostics

Website: http://www.morphle.in

Quote

“What makes us stand apart from others is that we have brought down the cost of scanners by 10x while ensuring that the diagnoses is far more accurate than what is available in the market today” - Rohit Hiwale

About the Entrepreneurs

Rohit Hiwale holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur. He previously worked on Data Science and System Engineering at Walmart Labs and was also the CEO at Qureto Technologies, a data-driven intelligent fashion discovery company that he co-founded.

Anchit Navelkar also studied Computer Science at IIT Kharagpur where his masters’ thesis was on image processing based skin cancer detection.

The Challenge

There is a shortage of MD pathologists in suburban & rural India. More than 50% talukas in the country don’t even have a single MD pathologist. Lack of access means that many people have to spend significant time and money traveling to cities for simple diagnostic tests.

The Solution

The Impact

A device that scans cancer biopsy samples to create a google map like workstation interface that paves the path to the automation of clinical microscopy. Microscopy happens to be the only part of laboratory testing that is still fully manual and hence lacks standardization and suffers from inter-observer variability. The workstation interface in addition to tele-reporting use cases offers integrated AI-powered screening tools to boost efficiency & reduce inter-observer variability in diagnosing cancer. Our next-generation smart interface coupled with the right pricing is bound to impact lives.

Current
Exited

PROMORPH

Promorph provides actionable, real-time data on RTE mandates by developing & successfully implementing SMART & Intelligent system “EmpowerU”. This ensures that teachers are in the classroom and the resources spent are being used, which in turn drives student engagement.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Kanpur

Sector: Education

Website:

Quote

“We aim to impact the lives of 2 million students by 2020” - Onkar

About the Entrepreneur

Onkar, the Founder & CEO, has a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering from IIT Kanpur. After working in the field with a district collector in Jharkhand, Onkar launched the solution at IIT Kanpur.

The Challenge

There are 31 million students enrolled in the government schools of India but they face serious challenges in terms of imparting quality education. Key reasons for this are not lack of support or funding by the government but having access to real-time information about millions of schools which are spread across districts, state & country so that necessary steps can be taken every day towards improving the quality parameters & accountability of stakeholders.

The Solution

To address these challenges Promorph has developed & successfully implemented SMART & Intelligent system “EmpowerU” that leverages Technology & Analytics. It performs daily Real-Time Monitoring & Evaluation from each of the thousands of schools of a district/state using mobile application enabled with Geo fencing, which works even in rural schools that lack internet connectivity. An Analytical Web Dashboard provides instant Analysis & Data-Driven Decision Making through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and is SMART enough to perform actions based on in-built intelligence at the control room established in the district/state.

The Impact

The project EmpowerU DISHA is successfully operational since July 2016 for last 1 year and 8 months and the impact has been unprecedented monitoring 1,20,000 students & 6000 teachers everyday with the following statistics:

Attendance>90%

Mid-Day Meal(MDM) >90%

Leaves Processed >29000

School Facilities Improved

Grievances Redressed >450

MADGUY LABS

MadGuy Labs is a mobile based online test-preparation platform for government jobs in vernacular languages. It currently offers services in 4 languages – Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Hyderabad

Sector: Education; Test Prep

Website: https://madguy.co/

Quote

“We want to deliver superior quality education that students recommend to family & friends and mentors prefer for their students” - Vishal Meena

About the Entrepreneurs

Madguy Labs was founded in 2015 by three IIT Roorkee classmates while they were preparing for government job exams. Alok Katiyar is the CEO and head of Community at MadGuy Labs. Alok has his dual degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Roorkee. He co-founded two startups – qurebank (to find & book appointments with doctors, diagnostic labs) and RentForge (real estate portal to Buy-Sell-Rent properties).

Sanjay Jagarwal has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Roorkee. To ensure students get the best, he has already qualified exams of UPSC, Bank, SSC, Railway and Defense as a model that delivers as promised.

Vishal Meena has done his dual degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Roorkee. During college, he founded Instabike (a bike rental service in North) and Patturn.in (printed t-shirts, mugs, photo frames etc.).

The Challenge

A government job is considered quite prestigious in India, especially in lower income groups. Current options (Coaching Institutes) which offer courses for these exams are extremely costly due to their high fee and are unable to provide proper guidance & quality education. On other hand, with all the government job exams being conducted online, these options fail to provide the adequate test taking environment to the students, which is quite necessary to cope up with recent technological development, keeping in mind that most of the students are from rural backgrounds. There are 500+ government job exams but coaching options are only able to provide the courses for a few mainstream exams. There is also a lack of online content for regional level exams which are conducted in vernacular languages.

The Solution

The Automated Tool, together with Preparation Tracker helps students to prepare multiple exams at a time, and then suggests ‘What & When’ to study; it also adapts to students’ learning and suggests improvements. Job Eligibility Engine creates awareness regarding many unpopular exams, thus increasing chances of students to get a job in their region.

The Impact

The platform enables students to study from the comfort of their home in their own regional languages at an affordable price. It reduces the burden of high fees charged by the coaching centres and short term urban migration. It is most helpful for the students from rural and poor financial backgrounds with less or no access to a brick and mortar coaching centre.

SKILLTRAIN

Skilltrain provides mobile-based vocational training for youth

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: Jabalpur

Sector: Education; Skill training

Website: http://www.skilltrain.in

Quote

“In the next few years, we aim to offer 50 courses and have an impact on around 100,000 learners across the world” - B. Ganesh

About the Entrepreneur

Ganesh has been a teacher, a manager, an educationist and now a social entrepreneur. He holds an MBA degree and was a Fulbright Scholar on Leadership in Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA.

The Challenge

Every year nearly 15 million students drop out of the Indian schooling system at various stages. These dropouts currently do not have an option of returning to mainstream education nor can they get into vocational or higher education. Eventually, this can metamorphose into a demographic crisis.

The Solution

SkillTrain offers vocational training to rural school dropouts using an innovative mobile phone enabled learning delivery platform. SkillTrain offers training programmes such as mobile repairing, electrical repairing, computer hardware repairing, plumbing and masonry thereby enabling rural school dropouts to gain employment or become self employed

The Impact

It aims to bridge the gap between the 15 million youth who drop out of schools each year and the projected need for nearly 150 million skilled employees in India by 2020. Over the next 5 years, SkillTrain aims to offer 50 courses and have an impact on around 100,000 learners across the country.

IGNUS

Ignus provides tech-based quality coaching solutions for competitive exams for students in tier-2 cities

Incubated: 2013

Headquarters: Hassan

Sector: Education; Coaching classes

Website: http://www.ignus.in

Quote

“There are talented students throughout the country, but they do not get an opportunity to go to premier institutes because of a lack of guidance and support. We are pioneering a change in the way education is delivered, enabling quality education to reach masses” - Mervin Rosario

About the Entrepreneurs

Mervin Rosario graduated from IIT Bombay with a Bachelor of Technology degree in engineering physics. He founded Ignus as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Villgro. Sharath Holla, a graduate of BITS Pilani is the techie with previous experience in Amazon and Wipro.

Akshay Bedhotiya, also from IIT Bombay, leads the content development at Ignus and was earlier involved in teaching and managing coaching centres in Agra.

Gaureesh, an engineering graduate from PESIT, Bengaluru, looks at the business development and sales strategy for Ignus.

The Challenge

Most students from tier 2 and tier 3 cities are forced to go to the nearest metros to attend coaching sessions for attempting any competitive exam. This consumes time and is also an expensive option for most families. The playing field is uneven

The Solution

Ignus introduced-tablet based coaching for students in tier 2 and tier 3 cities to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity at cracking competitive exams like IIT-JEE. Their video courses use content from the best teachers in various subjects in the country. The courses are well structured to enable proven methods of learning like peer group learning, etc. These are much more engaging than a regular classroom and thus keep the students more attentive and active in the class

The Impact

Ignus is seeking to make quality education affordable and accessible to students all over the country. The company currently has a centre in Hassan. It plans to scale into other cities and other types of competitive exams in the near future.

MULTIBHASHI

Multibhashi is an app to learn languages most effectively and effortlessly. The current version has audio-visual courses and quizzes to learn English from over ten regional languages and vice versa.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Employability

Website: http://www.multibhashi.com

Quote

“We aim to empower blue collar aspirants and workers towards gainful employment and career progression by linguistic upskilling via bilingual mode in a blended e-learning format” - Anuradha Agarwal

About the Entrepreneur

Anuradha Agarwal hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan. She finished her engineering and went on to pursue an MBA in Finance. She was a part of Dexter Capital Advisors before she started helping a few people in her immediate circle with English learning. Before launching Multibhashi app, Anuradha created over 100 animated videos which taught various concepts of English and started posting them on Facebook. She also designed a chatbot for helping people play quizzes on various topics related to English.

The Challenge

When Anuradha was searching for online resources to help learners learn English, she realised that there is no single comprehensive solution to learn a language. Blue collar workers who work on a daily wage basis cannot take a break to attend a classroom training as it impacts their daily earnings

Existing classroom training is expensive for the target segment. Personalised training, specifically linguistic training via native language is not feasible in CRT format.

The Solution

Multibhashi offers self-paced learning that any learner can utilise in leisure hours, thereby, making this a more viable and affordable solution to the target segment. The self-paced learning is augmented by live tutor assisted training that ensures personalised blended learning to catalyse the learning process. Bilingual training ensures each learner can pick up a new language via the native mode of instruction before graduating to mono lingual learning.

Multibhashi‘s interactive e-learning platform is based on the latest cloud technologies that ensures low latency and low data consumption on devices as varied as simple browser enabled feature phones to the latest smartphones, thus, making it a ubiquitous solution for the masses of India

The Impact

Multibhashi has reached the dark zones of Indian hinterland and empowered rural folk to upskill in functional spoken English as well as refinement in Hindi

Its association with Barefoot College has empowered community teachers in spoken English across 30+ districts in Rajasthan belt. These community teachers in turn disseminate the learnings to their immediate village community, thereby, having a multiplicative grassroots impact

Its association with Tortoise Learning was to empower tier-2 blue collar employees to upskill in spoken English (across Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh belt), thereby, enhancing their career progression

Its association with Vidya prasar Vidya Mandir in rural Karnataka belt has been an initiative to teach pedagogical English to school faculty in order to empower them to teach the students of the institution, thereby, having a deep and strong impact at the foundational echelons of society

GAPOON

Gapoon is a one-stop maintenance partner for businesses.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Employability

Website: http://www.gapoon.com

Quote

“We aim to become the largest aggregator of trained blue collared professionals in India” - Ankita Asai

About the Entrepreneurs

Gapoon was started with a team of three founders- Apoorva Mishra, Ankita Asai & Nikhil Gupta, who were close friends since college. Apoorva Mishra, CEO, is an IIT-Kanpur alumnus. Previously, he worked as a Business Consultant with Fractal Analytics & EXL. Ankita Asai, CMO, is also an IIT- Kanpur alumnus. Prior to this, she worked as an oil-field engineer at Schlumberger. Nikhil Gupta, COO, is an IIT- Delhi alumnus who previously worked as a Business Consultant with Fractal Analytics.

The Challenge

The maintenance service industry is one of the largest disorganised segments in India. According to a National Skills Development Council Survey, of the required plumbers by 2020, we only have 20% available, and of that too, only 0.5% are trained. Overall incremental human resource requirement in the industry is approximately 70 million. Despite such staggering figures, for a majority of the working blue collared professionals, not only is there a lack of a steady income source but also an absence of a long-term career opportunity. At the same time, on the consumer’s end, there is no product offering to cater to the maintenance of infrastructure throughout its lifecycle. This lack of standardisation in services results in an imbalance between demand & supply, leading to the overall disorganisation of the industry.

The Solution

Gapoon enables B2B shared economy marketplaces by providing end to end infrastructure maintenance support to the property/rental management companies, hospitality, service apartment, developers, interior designers, brands & marketplaces. This long-term partnership via their customized annual maintenance packages for multiple clients, in turn, offer sustainable career building opportunities to the blue collared professionals. Their proprietary algorithm & automated technology portal, GExPro Suite, maximizes the earnings per professional, matches the right skill sets for respective jobs & addresses multiple cross-skill & intra-skill training requirements.

The Impact

1.5x higher earning per capita due to efficiency optimization by the algorithm. Opportunity to add multiple skill sets. (Eg. A plumber is cross-trained for basic carpentry & electrical skills along with high-ticket complex plumbing projects hence improving his earning per hour).

Creating micro-entrepreneurs by allowing passionate & skilled vendors to build up their team with vendors chosen from the platform.

Regular management & soft skills training along with an introduction to the latest technology.

The best performers are presented with an opportunity to take over management roles in the organization.

VAHAN

Vahan has developed a mobile application to make learning English affordable and accessible

Incubated: 2016

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Education; Adult learning

Website: http://www.vahan.co

Quote

“We want to help solve the skills gap problem in India. Our Goal is to reach 15 million learners by 2020” - Madhav Krishna

About the Entrepreneur

Madhav Krishna is an engineer with a Masters degree in Computer Science from Columbia University, USA. He worked as a software engineer for companies like NextJump.Inc, Jetsetter, ADstruc before starting Vahan.

The Challenge

India adds 12 million people to the workforce every year. However, an estimated 50% of those people are unemployable due to a lack of English language and cognitive skills.

The Solution

Vahan is building a mobile application for making learning English affordable and accessible to India’s massive low-income adult population. By helping people in the workforce learn better English more effectively, Vahan will help them find employment in high growth sectors such as retail, hospitality, beauty and wellness etc. where English proficiency is important.

Vahan’s application is designed to work on basic, feature phones (75% of all cell phones in India) as well as smartphones. The platform also supports full content customization/ contextualization, which is important in a diverse country like India.

The Impact

Vahan’s goal is to help solve the skills gap problem in India and reach 15 million learners by 2020. The company is currently running pilots with two leading organisations in the development space – Magic Bus and LabourNet. The vocational training market in India is worth about $5 billion and English language training is about one-third of that.

SKILLVERI

Skillveri provides skills development solutions using gamified simulation

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Chennai

Sector: Employability; Skill based training

Website: http://www.skillveri.com

Quote

“SKILLVERI’s device does not need any consumables or even a trainer. The users can learn it themselves” - Sabarinath C Nair

About the Entrepreneurs

Sabarinath C Nair has a Bachelor of Technology degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Kerala and an MBA in marketing management from Great Lakes Institute of Management. He has worked at organisations such as NeST Technologies, Sasken Communication Technologies, Photon Infotech and Vortex Engineering Pvt Ltd before starting his own organisation

Kannan Lakshminarayan is a graduate of IIT Madras. He has worked for organisations such as Vortex Engineering Pvt Ltd, Fractal Foundation and Microspin Machine Works Pvt Ltd.

The Challenge

There exists a ‘skills gap’ in India when it comes to the field of technology. Although there is a demand for skilled technicians, millions of youth in India still remain unemployed.

The Solution

Skillveri believes in simple, elegant skill training tools for the manufacturing sector which demonstrate a very effective skill transfer. The first set of products from Skillveri are targeted at the highly demanded welding skill. The AURA series of welding simulators are focused on quick & effective understanding of skills and their impact on quality

The Impact

By using Skillveri’s raining model one can save more than 2/3rd of consumables cost and reduce rejections, rework. It is an eco friendly product that requires virtually zero maintenance.

SCHOLOWIZ

Scholowiz provides teacher/professional development programs to schools

MEDHAVI FOUNDATION

Medhavi Foundation provides career counselling to students from lower income backgrounds.

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Education; Career Counselling

Website: http://www.idreamcareer.com

Quote

“There is no concept of career planning and students have almost nowhere to go for addressing their career related queries. We wanted to change this and so we formed Medhavi Foundation” - Ayush Bansal

About the Entrepreneurs

Praveesh Dudhani is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and has worked for organisations such as GreenHat Ventures, CQ Magazine, Educomp Solutions and IndiaCan before co-founding iDreamCareer.

Ayush Bansal is a graduate of PESIT, Bangalore, and has an MBA in Finance and has worked as a research analyst for Evalueserve in the past. He is now the co-founder of iDreamCareer.

The Challenge

The college dropout rate in India was an estimated 51% in 2010.This has a direct negative impact on the youth employment and human resource output. Students need help to make correct career decisions and the decisions students make in high school also affects their career. Therefore it becomes imperative that students are given assistance at a very early stage so that they can pursue a career of their choice from the get-go.

The Innovation

Medhavi Foundation has introduced the iDreamCareer model, where they help school and college students make informed career choices via career assessment test, one-on-one career planning and access to information. They use technology such as online psychometric tests with career mapping based on the Indian context; entrance exams and scholarship alert system via SMS and Emails; personalized dashboard for users to explore career and college information and; an online forum to post queries directly to career experts etc, to empower students

The Impact

iDreamCareer.com currently has 2 offices, Delhi (Head Office) and Bangalore, and plans to expand to multiple cities across India. In the last 4 years,iDreamCareer.com has empowered thousands of students across India, Middle East and East Africa to take informed career decisions, resulting in a reduction in dropout rates and an increase in human resource output.

ITEACH

iTeach runs a teacher training fellowship to help improve learning outcomes in low cost schools

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Education; Teacher training

Website: http://www.iteach.co.in

Quote

“Better teachers create better learning outcomes. We exist to supply high quality teachers to schools” - Sowmya Jain

About the Entrepreneurs

Prashant Mehrishi is an MBA with over 15 years of corporate experience in the IT and Insurance sector and Soumya Jain, an M.S. from Penn State University, has four years of experience working in an electronics company in the US. They were both part of the Teach for India Fellowship.

The Challenge

The teacher is the single most important factor in determining a student’s learning outcomes.

New teachers enter the system every year, full of potential. Lack of a support system to assist them leads to them getting disinvested very quickly, and eventually losing their motivation to become great teachers. Teachers are being blamed for low student learning, when in fact these outcomes are despite their best efforts.

The Solution

iTeach is a one year programme for fresh teaching graduates (B.Ed Teachers) providing them with professional development opportunities, rewards and recognition. The Fellowship requires teachers to attend two workshops every month, mostly conducted in their school itself. These workshops cover integral components such as basic pedagogy, value education, culture building and conceptual and handson learning. Post the workshop, the teachers are expected to implement the learning in their classrooms.

The Impact

iTeach envisions penetration in 10 ‘A’ tier cities by 2020. In the next 3 years, they plan to add 200 fellows in their mission to create better and happier teachers

ESDECS

ESDECS has been addressing needs in education and employability by devising innovative and affordable solution

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Kolkata

Sector: Education; Training

Website: http://www.esdecsindia.com

Quote

“In the next 10 years, if we can create new jobs for one lakh youth, provide career direction for another one lakh adolescents and provide an educational foundation to 10,000 children, I think we would make ourselves relevant and meaningful” - Shourie Chatterji

About the Entrepreneurs

Shourie Chatterji has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering and prior to forming ESDECS, was Vice President & Zonal Head of IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd and worked in the organization for over 14 years.

Samina Alam has a Postgraduate degree in Political Science and holds a Govt certification in Training & Development from Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD). She has over 10 years of work experience in training & instructional design in education and skills development sectors.

The Challenge

There are critical service gaps in the space of pre school education and readying students for employability.

The Innovation

Esdecs is developing two solutions – An affordable prototype preschool with world class pedagogy and ICTenabled infrastructure; and an integrated life and career skill solution for adolescents that will lead to better employability

The Impact

ESDECS has been around for 2 years, during the course of which they have placed 45 students successfully in jobs. In the next 10 years, ESDECS is seeking to create new jobs for one lakh youth, provide career direction setting for another one lakh adolescents and provide an educational foundation to 10,000 children

ADHYAYAN

Adhyayan has developed a framework for self-review that results in systemic school improvement.

Incubated: 2016

Headquarters: Mumbai

Sector: Education; School assessment and self-review

Website: http://adhyayan.asia/site/

Quote

“There are 1.56 million schools in India. We want to impact on every one of them so that all children in the country have access to quality education” - Kavita Anand

About the Entrepreneurs

Spokey Wheeler has been an educator and school leader for several decades in the UK and India, including working with corporates to set up schools in Bihar and Jharkhand. Realising the lack of a framework of global good practices for schools, he developed the Adhyayan tool for context-free schools in India.

Kavita Anand has been a leading expert in the education sector in India, where she headed Mumbai’s Shishuvan School for 12 years. Through Adhyayan, she is working with school leaders across India to create a movement of quality.

The Challenge

Despite the fact that there are 1.56 million schools in India today, there are more mobile phone owners than people who can read and write. The need of the hour is access to quality education.

The Solution

Adhyayan provides educators the tools, process and framework for self-review resulting in systemic long-term school improvement. It is based on extensive research on what good schooling looks like around the world and is benchmarked against global best practice.

The Impact

Developed by Roy Blatchford and Spokey Wheeler, contextualized to India by Kavita Anand – school leaders in the UK and India respectively – the Adhyayan Quality Standard was offered as a way to enable a common language of school quality for every school, irrespective of its board affiliation, socio-economic status and geographical location. It is now available in 11 languages.

In the past five years, 285+ schools in 23 states have undertaken the first self-review, establishing their baseline from which they can track progress. Over 3,300 school stakeholders have been trained in school self-review; 150+ school leaders and teachers are certifying themselves as Adhyayan assessors for self-review. Of the schools that have undertaken second round reviews (which takes place after 2 years of the first review), 40% showed an improvement in the level of award received and 80% showed a 10-point progression in the KPA – Teaching and Learning, which focuses on the impact of teaching and learning in schools.

BLACKBOARD RADIO

Blackboard Radio is an AI-powered personalized spoken English coach. It enables conversational-English mastery by providing interactive, personalized instruction over a basic smartphone to young children from all socio-economic backgrounds, opening the door to a lifetime of improved employment opportunities.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Jaipur, Bangalore

Sector: Education; K-12

Website: https://blackboardradio.com/

Quote

“We want to transform Indian students into global citizens by improving their confidence, communication and providing wings to their creative expression” - Vatsal Dusad

Entrepreneurs

The Founders were hostel-mates at IIT Delhi and were friends for over 8 years. Before this, both of them were early employees at Avanti Learning Centres. During five years at Avanti, Shubham worked on creating Science and Math learning tools and products for high school children and Vatsal worked on expanding Avanti’s operations to tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India.

The Challenge

In India, not being proficient in English leads to students being under-confident and having fewer opportunities in higher studies & jobs. Students have poor English because: First, most parents & teachers cannot help their children with English as they are not comfortable speaking the language correctly. Second, personal language trainers/coachings are either unavailable or expensive.

The Solution

Blackboard Radio uses AI & NLP to create conversation bots for children. Their conversation bots are chatbots but with an additional layer of animated graphics. These bots simulate a real-life conversation between a child & a virtual cartoon character. This technology is used to create adaptive daily 10-minute workouts for children where they play an activity by speaking to this conversation bot.

The Impact

Blackboard Radio currently works with over a 1000 students in a closed beta and plans on reaching out to 10,000 students by 2019.

Current
Exited

Recycler India (SalTech)

Creates circularity by deploying advanced closed-loop recycling technology to extract maximum value out of waste.

They create circularity by deploying advanced closed-loop recycling technology to extract maximum value out of waste. Their patented process transforms Single-Use Plastics, Construction & Demolition Waste, and Industrial Minerals / Aggregate / Fly Ash wastes into sustainable alternate building materials.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters:

Sector: Climate Action

Website:

Quote

"Transforming waste to create a sustainable future." Team Recycler India (SalTech)

About the Entrepreneurs

Aditya Shukla

Founder, CEO
LIF Fellow – Royal Academy of Engineering, UK
RCF Fellow – Motwani Jadeja Foundation, USA
Ex. Product Developer – Sickle Innovations
B.E Mechanical
7+ National / International Patents

Sudhir Shukla

Co-Founder, CTO
CNC – Indo German Tool Room Ahmedabad
Ex. Manager – Emerald Honda
B.E Mechanical
Worked on 6 products & 4 successfully commercialized, 7+ National / International Patents

The Solution

Developed a patented “Advance Recycling Technology” that transforms Single-Use Plastics, Construction & Demolition, and Industrial Waste into high-performance composite building materials. Their sustainable material is affordable & carbon negative than traditional concrete suitable for precast products like paver, brick and tiles for pavements, floors, walls, roads, etc.

The Impact

Direct jobs: 15-18 and Indirect Jobs: 65-140 Per Site Employment Generation
1.1 MT of CO2 Saved per MT recycling of waste
10-20% Cost saving of Construction Materials and Fast Construction

Jalsevak

JalSevak Solutions solves sewage disposal problems by recycling household greywater for use in toilet flushing and gardening.

Jalodbust

Jalodbust is currently addressing the challenge of manual scavenging in India through innovative, mechanized solutions that pumps high density fecal and sanitary sludge from leach-pits, septic tanks and manholes.

KNP Arises

KNP Arises collects used cooking oils and fats from restaurants and pays them. Then it converts those oils into biodiesel.

KNP Arises purchases used cooking oils and fats from restaurants and converts them into biodiesel. The company provides a wide-array of services to help factories manage their waste oils and fats. With tailor-made packages to Supermarkets and Fast Food Outlets, KNP Arises tries to eliminate any potential issues of dealing with waste.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Jaipur, Rajasthan

Sector: Climate Action

Website: https://www.ecoil.in

Quote

“Definition of development must be changed from constructing artificial things to preserving nature” - Team KNP Arises

About the Entrepreneurs

Sushil Vaishnav

Co-Founder, CEO
MBA Operations (Symbiosis, Pune),
B.Tech (Food Tech)
15 Years experience in Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing, Business Development, ERP Implementation

Kirti Vaishnav

B E, MBM
10 years experience in project management & procurement with ZTE, Knight Frank, Gourmet Gulf

The Solution

They are building a marketplace powered by tech-enabled reverse logistics to dispose of food waste (used cooking oil) to make a healthier and clean society. They facilitate the conversion of used cooking oil into biodiesel to promote a greener and pollution-free environment.

The Impact

2.5 million liters, 3000 MT CO2 saved

Bintix

Bintix is a waste-management start-up that adopts technology to power socially inclusive waste-management solutions from collecting waste to analyzing it and finally ensuring environmentally-safe end-processing.

Incubated: 2023

Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana

Sector: Climate Action

Website: https://www.bintix.com/

Quote

“Bintix’s long-term vision is to see a zero-landfill future, and to achieve this in a sustainable way in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Bintix strongly believes that technology-enabled interventions, such as our dry waste management system that ensures waste segregation-at-source and traceability, can maximize the value derived from waste” - Team Bintix

About the Entrepreneurs

Jayanarayan Kulathingal

Co-founder, Leads Operations and Strategy
Experience building R&D centers
Ph.D in Biotechnology – internationally recognized author/patents holder

Roshan Miranda

Founder & Leads Overall strategy
Ex BCG Consultant for fortune 100 companies
Waste Management and Recycling expertise
Ph.D in Genetics – large scale datasetss

Udit Patidar

Co-Founder, Leads Technology
Software product management, high performance computing, IoT, and analytics
Ph.D in computer science, MBA

The Solution

Bintix is a waste management solution provider for households through its digital platform. It also uses data analytics to optimize collection schedules and facilitates segregation at-source in order to achieve maximum recycling. It also has the capacity to bring in traceability from households to MRFs in terms of materials and quantity recycled.

The Impact

22,000 households, 2,000 tons of waste, 6700 tons of CO2 averted

Modcave Shelter Tech Pvt Ltd.

Modcave is a shelter-tech startup that provides a pre-fabricated, modular, temporary shelter. Modcave’s shelters are foldable—decreasing the total volume occupied during transportation by more than 4x, saving up to 90% of logistics and storage costs compared to traditional alternatives.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Nagpur, Maharashtra

Sector: Climate Action

Website: https://modcave.in

Quote

"Shelters are relevant globally wherever humans reside. Every hope, every dream and every emotion needs a strong shelter, we promise never to disappoint in delivering one" ~ Team Modcave

About the Entrepreneurs

Wasif Sheikh (CEO):

Wasif is the Co-Founder and CEO of Modcave Shelter Tech.. He has a demonstrated record of success in building successful analytics teams and managing profitable operations.

Alfaz Hirani (COO):

Alfaz Hirani is a civil engineer who is extremely passionate about the environment and sustainability. His goal is to create solutions for dignified housing and shelter for people all around the world. Currently, he is pursuing a masters in operations and supply chain management.

Shadan Sheikh (CBO):

Shadan Sheikh is the Co-Founders and Chief Commercial Officer at Modcave Shelter Tech Pvt. Ltd. He leads Business development activities at Modcave. He is an Electrical Engineer and currently pursuing a Global MBA from LJMU, UK. He was the Former Managing Director at WagEV Electric Vehicles Mfg. Pvt. Ltd.

Mohammad Haris (CPO): Mohammad Haris is a civil engineer who is particularly passionate about prefabricated structures. Currently, he is pursuing a Masters in structural engineering.

The Solution

Modcave’s temporary shelter solutions can be deployed for refugee camp crises, disaster relief, and onsite accommodation needs. These are easily installable anywhere, anytime.

The Impact

Modcave is striving to uplift the living conditions of on-site workers via our smart cabin which is a dignified and affordable shelter solution for the EPC industry.

ECOWRAP

ECOWRAP is a tech-based reverse supply chain model solely focused on waste segregation at the source and follows a 4-degree primary source segregation method, it facilitates the users with free dustbins, training, and decentralized and tech-enabled door-step waste collection service. To ensure the long-term participation of waste generators in source segregation, it incentivizes waste generators based on ratings of segregation assigned on the ECOWRAP platform.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Jaipur, Rajasthan

Sector: Climate Action

Website: https://ecowrap.in/-

Quote

"The key to solving social issues like solid waste management is to make people understand the importance of community involvement and participation" ~Angraj Swami

About the Entrepreneurs

Angraj Swami:

Angraj is a graduate of Delhi University Passionate about Climate Action he established a recycling unit in Delhi in 2015 where he realized that recycling is not a problem. The problem for Indian recyclers is to find recyclable materials locally around 99% of recyclers are importing waste from other countries. So, moved to Jaipur in 2019 and started ECOWRAP along with his 3 other friends.

Ajay Buri:

Ajay hails from an agricultural background and is a graduate of IIT Kharagpur. Previously he worked in the Ed-tech space at Toppr.com. He manages the product design and operations in ECOWRAP.

Chandrakant:

Chandrakant is a graduate of Delhi University. Previously he headed a hyper logistics company Gujrat. He is the co-founder and chief logistics officer at ECOWRAP.

Manoj Sabu:

Manoj currently working as the CMO at ECOWRAP. He started his journey as tele-caller in Genpact India and graduated as area head. His passion for the waste management sector made him join ECOWRAP.

The Solution

ECOWRAP is a one-stop solution for waste segregation, collection, tracking, recycling, and up-cycling and follows a 4-degree primary source segregation method, helping HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe etc.) to manage the waste in an eco-friendly manner.

The Impact

ECOWRAP has brought around 4000 metric tons of solid waste into the source segregation and recycling process and reduced 7360 metric GHG emissions.
In the next three years, ECOWRAP aims to provide sustainable income sources to 20 women through a waste up-cycling process and 30 people in logistics.
Currently, based out of Jaipur ECOWRAP is operational in 2 cities and working with 1012 bulk waste generators among which 466 are dumping-free entities.

RuKart Technologies

RuKart is an Agritech startup founded in 2019, with the vision of developing an economically profitable and environmentally sustainable farm ecosystem. We focus on developing scalable green solutions that contribute to poverty eradication (SDG 1), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), and economic growth (SDG 8) locally.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Solapur, Maharashtra

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://www.rukart.org

Quote

"There is a need to design farm equipment and eco-system keeping marginal and women farmers’ comfort and requirement. This group represents >75% Indian farming population. This is our strength as well as our weakness. We need to focus on this group." ~Vikash Kumar Jha, Founder & C.E.O

About the Entrepreneurs

Vikash Kumar Jha, Founder & C.E.O:

Vikash completed his M. Tech in 2016 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB). During his master’s program, he has shown interest in developing scalable green technologies for small plot holders. This led to a grant-support from IIT Bombay after completing his M.Tech. He successfully led the seed germination during the grant period at IIT Bombay to a highly impactful & valuable start-up – RuKart. He & his team developed technologies like Subjee Cooler and Peek-Rakshak in a participatory approach where the end users were an integral part of the design team.

Sharayu S. Kulkarni, Co-Founder:

Sharayu completed her M. Tech in 2016 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB). During her master’s program, she worked on clean energy access (Cooking) for Women at the bottom of the pyramid. She was awarded a fellowship from the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI to work on clean cooking technology dissemination at the bottom of the pyramid. During the fellowship, she worked across more than 5 Indian states for the dissemination of improved Cook Stoves among women. Post fellowship, she worked across 10 Indian states on clean cooking technology dissemination with several NGOs, Research Organizations & Pvt. Organizations including the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.

Sharayu Kulkarni manages the finance and business development team at RuKart. She has laid the foundation of organizations in key states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

Gunavant Nehete, Research & Development:

Gunavant Nehete completed his M.Tech from IIT Bombay in 2009. He was engaged in the Solar technology industry in RnD & planning roles for about 5 Years. He has played an important role in the Million Solar Lamps project at IIT Bombay.

After his stint in the Solar industry, he worked in Forbes Marshal and Jain Irrigation. In both of these industries, he was working in R & D segment. He manages the R & D vertical at RuKart. He is responsible for the new product design, technology upgradation in the existing products and new initiatives.

The Solution

Subjee Cooler: The Farm-based short-duration storage facility can keep vegetables fresh for 4 – 6 days without any energy input like Electricity/ Diesel/ Solar etc. A farmer/ trader can store flowers/fruits/vegetables for a short duration utilising only 20 litres of water in a day and does not have any recurring expenditure. RuKart has installed more than 700 Subjee Coolers across 11 Indian States.

The Impact

Subjee Cooler adopters in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra earn about 50 – 60% higher prices than their counterparts.
As evident from MSSRF’s (M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) fieldwork & a third-party impact assessment conducted by Odisha Livelihood Mission in Rayagada district, Mission Shakti Dept., Govt. of Odisha, farmers in Odisha received at least 30 – 50% higher price than those without any provision to store their vegetable.

Katidhan

Katidhan is ‌a technology startup that looks at building high-impact technological products focused on bringing about positive climate change solutions. Katidhan builds relevant tech solutions with the potential to reduce the economic losses faced in agriculture due to wildlife attacks and also potentially reduce the alarming human-animal conflict.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://katidhan.com

Quote

"Building behavioral change technologies for both human beings and animals is quite complex and riddled with adaptation failures, while the products devised by Katidhan has been successful in finding a way to work around those complexities keeping the economic factors in play"

About the Entrepreneurs

Ayan has a decade of experience in Product Design & Development, Strategic design, business design etc with various companies across India. He started his career in the Robotics sector and has been instrumental in setting up the consumer robot space in India. With his passion to build impact-based technological solutions, he started Katidhan with a focus on building solutions that would reduce crop losses in agricultural areas without causing any harm to wildlife.

The Solution

Parabraksh is a solar-powered autonomous light deterrent system to keep wild animals away from agricultural and farmland areas without causing them any harm. It is non-invasive and efficient in protecting both crop and livestock losses from wildlife attacks. It works well against large size wild animals such as lions, tigers, elephants, wild boars, nilgai, bears etc.

The Impact

Katidhan’s products are currently in use in more than 11 states today in India.
Around 750 farmers, directly and indirectly, benefited from the use of Parabraksh with a heavy increase in their returns amounting to anywhere between 80 – 130% with the reduction in crop losses.
Katidhan aims to reduce the total crop losses due to wildlife attacks in India by about 50%.

NAVANC Datasciences Pvt Ltd

NAVANC aims to create a credit-worthy score for each piece of land that is mortgageable within the framework of law and fair market value to enable better credit facilities for businesses and individuals to prove their creditworthiness, in tier 2 and 3 cities in India. NAVANC is a deep tech product and encompasses complex government data sets, individual customer data sets, and geographical data sets to provide a comprehensive score.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Sector: Climate Action, ShelterTech

Website: https://www.navanc.com/

About the Entrepreneurs

Nagachethan S M, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

A seasoned banker with more than a decade of experience with reputed banks and NBFCs, Nagachethanis is experienced in product process and design thinking with customer centricity. He is a graduate of IRMA and holds an Engineering Degree.

Byom Kesh Jha, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Byom is experienced in designing and developing solutions and tools based on predictive modelling in multiple domains, especially in retail & education. His work experience encompasses Sound Knowledge of multiple NLP techniques, Sequence Learners – NERs, Classifiers, Building Knowledge Base, Deep Learning, Product Aspect Extraction, and User-generated content analysis.

The Solution

NAVANC aims to become the”Credit Bureau” with a trustable comprehensive asset score for every piece of asset which can be used to leverage for financial access. The score given by NAVANC enhances the credibility of the mortgage, further, the marketability of the asset makes finance accessible to all, reduces the turnaround time for mortgage creation and eases the customer journey for accessing the loan.

The Impact

NAVANC aims to strengthen the financial system, especially the fintech, modern NBFC and Banks in the following ways

Enable to move towards secured lending and build a quality portfolio
Create a risk-adjusted score for properties which would index the portfolio
Reduce malpractices in land documentation across the country.
Insurance Underwriting for Property and Structure Insurance with better visibility for Distress Sale Value through NAVANC score

Carbon Craft Design Pvt Ltd

Carbon Craft design is a Hubli-based design and material innovation company, started in 2016, solving the air pollution problem by upcycling the rCB (recovered carbon black) to a climate-positive carbon tile.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Hubli, Karnataka

Sector: Climate Action, ShelterTech

Website: https://www.carboncraftdesign.com/

Quote

“At CarbonCraft we mitigate air pollution and reverse climate change at scale by creating an environmental impact with social inclusivity helping build cleaner cities for our future” - Tejas Sidnal, Founder, Carbon Craft

About Entrepreneurs

Tejas is an Architect based out of Mumbai and holds a masters in Emergent Technologies and Design from AA School of Architecture, London in 2013. As a Tata Scholar with an inclination towards Biomimicry and Clean air, Clean water, and Clean food technologies for the built environment he founded Carbon Craft Design to fuse material knowledge with traditional techniques and solve global problems with an architectural intervention perspective – working at the intersection of Tech – Craft – Design.

Tejas’s startup Carbon Craft builds architectural and interior products by upcycling carbon. Carbon Craft won 3rd prize for Climate Launchpad 2020 globally and has won Lexus Design Award 2021. Additionally, Carbon Craft has also received the Rotary Club Award, Taru Lalvani Environmental Protection Award, D&AD Impact Award and Olive Crown Environmental Award.

The Solution

Carbon Craft designs carbon tiles as commercialised environmental solutions while being true to their historical significance in decorative spaces and artistic exhibitions. The product is therefore intersectional of Design, Craft and Technology with proven potential of being scalable and sustainable. Every Carbon Tile is carefully handcrafted from scratch which involves cutting, shaping, joining, filling and forming the tile. The recovered carbon is initially processed at the Karnataka facility and fused with a mixture of binder and natural materials like marble derivatives to craft Carbon Tiles. The whole process consumes less energy compared to the conventional tiles and the product reduces carbon emissions.

The Impact

Actively reduces Carbon emissions—combatting environmental pollution.
1 Carbon Tile is equivalent to preventing 5 kgCO2e

Strawcture Eco Private Ltd

Strawcture Eco develops innovative, commercially viable alternative construction materials (engineered panels) which mitigate the continuous depletion of natural resources while integrating agri-waste streams in the value chain which support the livelihood of farmers.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: New Delhi & Gorakhpur, UP

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://strawcture.com/

Quote

“Strawcture Eco wants to build the Eco-system to transition to Circular Economy by unlocking the potential of multiple waste & alternate raw materials to decarbonise buildings”

About Entrepreneurs

Shriti Pandey is the Founder of Strawcture Eco. She holds a Master’s in Construction Management from New York University and a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Krishna Institute of Engineering & Technology. She is a TedX Speaker, and United Nations Social Impact Challenge Award Winner in August 2018 in New York City. The first pilot house built by Strawcture Eco won the “ GREEN BUILDING PROJECT AWARD “at Smart Cities Expo in New Delhi in June 2019.

She is one of the 19 women Leaders chosen by Aspen Ananta Center for the GP Birla Leadership Program. Strawcture is incubated by IIM Bangalore, Banasthali University and SELCO Foundation. Shriti is a part of the 150 Global leaders of the Acumen Fellowship. She also received JSW Foundation’s highly prestigious ‘ Rashtriya Swayamsiddh Samman (a National Level Award) for Social Entrepreneurship and is a part of the Echoing Green Global 100 Social Entrepreneurs 2020 List. Recently in 2021, Shriti was mentioned in the Forbes 30 Under 30, Asia, ‘Industry, Manufacturing & Energy’ category.

The Solution

The flagship product Agrobiopanel is fire-moisture-termite resistant biodegradable panels made out of agricultural waste and used for Walling, False Ceiling, door, furniture and Flooring applications.

The Impact

About 75% of the buildings expected to exist in India in 2030 have not been built. In this context, India offers a huge opportunity to avoid carbon lock-in associated with new buildings. Strawcture Eco is addressing the challenge of Embodied carbon by using carbon-negative biodegradable material for construction which can store 30 kg of CO2 per sq mt. According to the UN Global Environmental report (2017), between 2020 & 2050 around 49% of the total new construction emission will be attributed to this embodied carbon.

Along with this Strawcture is also addressing the issue of Stubble burning a major environmental challenge specifically in the North-West part of India. About 84Mt (23.86%) of the stubble is burnt on-field each year in India affecting the air quality and soil fertility. Strawcture uses Agro residues like Paddy straw & sugarcane bagasse as raw materials for their biocomposite panels This contributes ₹ 5000/- per acre to a farmer which is an additional income.

Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt Ltd

Post-harvest losses in India amount to at least 30 billion USD loss every year. Raheja Solar was started 4 years ago with the intent of solving this critical problem and uplifting the farmers by reducing their post-harvest losses.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: Indore

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://www.rsfp.in/

Quote

“We Convert Farm Losses to Food-Ingredients through farm-gate sourcing and processing – all done by our Women Entrepreneurs”

About the entrepreneur

Varun Raheja: A social entrepreneur at heart and an engineer by skill, 24-year-old Varun Raheja, hopes to create a better India by helping those who really build the country – the farmers. Varun Raheja founded Raheja Solar Food Processing 3 years ago with the aim of making farmers independent. He developed the most affordable and effective solar dryer which can be installed at the remotest farm in India. He handles the business development at Raheja Solar Food Processing. This year, Varun has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia under Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy Category. In 2019, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recognized Raheja Solars’ work as an income-sensitive, climate-smart storage technology to achieve sustainable development goals. In 2018, he was awarded the Dr. Shirin Gadhia Sustainability Award.

Babita Raheja: Babita Raaheja is the backbone of Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt Ltd and handles the process of solar drying techniques training. She also oversees the R&D at Raheja Solar. Babita is a very good chef and has an excellent understanding of flavours and their preservation techniques. She has been using solar dryers to dehydrate almost all types of products for more than 3 years. Dehydration of produce is not just the job done, but also how to preserve the product while retaining the natural colour, taste, fragrance and nutrients for more than a year, Babita is an expert in the storage of dried products. Understanding that giving solar dryers is not enough to the farmers, but additionally providing storage solutions and market support is key to creating a circular economy around the small and marginal farmers.

The solution

Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt Ltd is providing farmers with the most affordable and DIY foldable solar dryer(s) to create value-added products from the produce which otherwise is either wasted or sold at very low prices. Raheja Solar Dryer dehydrates this very produce without losing its natural colour, taste, fragrance and nutrient, therefore, extending the shelf life to at least one year from 1 week in fresh form. Additionally, Raheja Solar supports farmers — helping them in the marketing of their dried products by selling them to top FMCG companies in India. The market for dried products is huge at about 70 billion USD globally. With the decentralized production model using slow dehydration at the source itself, Raheja Solar is providing the end consumer highest quality products at reasonable prices while giving back a good margin to farmers.

Bandhu Urban Technologies India Private Limited

Bandhu is on a mission to transform the unorganized labour sector in emerging markets like India, and to bring greater transparency and data-driven analytics to the ecosystem - enriching the livelihoods of millions of low-income workers in the process.

Incubated: 2020

Headquarters: Gujarat

Sector: Climate Action, ShelterTech & Housing Accelerator Program

Website: https://www.bandhu.work/

Quote

“We recognize urbanization as our pathway to economic growth, and cities as solutions to that end. But at the same time, we need to be asking who is urbanizing, and what are their barriers to doing so successfully?” At Bandhu, we build and implement technology-based solutions that help low-income workers make more informed migration decisions. Our solutions give these workers access to bundled affordable rental housing and jobs in urban areas, putting the choice to migrate back into the hands of the workers. It helps them decide how to best position themselves according to their own priorities and needs.” - Rushil Palavajjhala, Co-founder, CEO

About the Entrepreneurs

Bandhu was initiated by a team of graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the support of MIT’s robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our team has expertise in urbanism, real estate, mega-infrastructure, planning and policy, emerging markets, international development, social program implementation, data science, computer science and artificial intelligence.

Rushil Palavajjhala, Co-founder, CEO

Real Estate Finance & Tech | Urban Development

Jacob Kohn, Co-founder, COO

Data Science | Urban Analytics

The Solution:

By providing the potential migrants with competing offers of bundled employment and housing, for similar wage differentials, the Bandhu platform can minimize risks for the worker while still leaving the final choice up to him or her. Thus, the entire process of choosing to migrate is full of blind turns for all involved, with no single stakeholder having a complete view. One wrong step for a low-wage worker can have serious lifelong consequences. The latest COVID-19 crisis has exposed how easily these migrants may find themselves stranded without support. Our mobile phone platform, Bandhu, puts information in the hands of these workers so that they can make more informed migration decisions. It does so by creating matches between employers looking for low/moderate skill workers, potential migrants/workers, and owners/occupants offering informal affordable housing on rent. It also shifts the contractor’s private incentives in a way that benefits the entire system.

The Impact:

Improved Access to affordable housing for migrant workers
Improved standard of living for migrant workers
Formalizing the fragmented rental housing market for low-income group
Livelihood creation through onboarding on ground champions

Greenjams Buildtech Private Limited

Greenjams objective is to create a beautiful carbon-neutral built environment through material innovation. Greenjams create carbon-negative building materials from crop residues and industrial by-products. Their flagship innovation Agrocrete® helps reduce the cost of construction by up to 50% and improves the building energy efficiency by up to 25%.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Andhra Pradesh

Sector: Climate Action, ShelterTech & Housing Accelerator Program

Website: https://www.greenjams.org/

About the Entrepreneurs

Tarun Jami, Founder

Product Development, Operations and Sales

Varun Jami, Co-founder

Finance, Partnerships, Corporate & Legal Advisory

The Solution

A first of its kind building material made of crop residues and industrial by-products. It is designed based on decades of research and experiences of the builders, architects, and masons. A perfect replacement for clay bricks, fly ash bricks and concrete masonry units.

Merits:

Best suited for load-bearing construction and low-rise structures.
50% lower construction cost, 50% higher thermal insulation, 30% lesser weight. 60% faster masonry, 60% lesser mortar required, 20% lesser plaster requirements.
A lightweight, highly insulating, carbon-negative replacement of AAC blocks and hollow burnt-clay blocks.

The Impact

Greenjams solve the problem of crop residue burning, which costs the country almost 2 lakh crore rupees annually on health-related expenditure, and the carbon emissions from the built environment, which contributes to almost 45% of global carbon emissions because of the space conditioning of buildings and manufacture of construction materials.

Zerund Manufacturing Private Limited

Zerund brick is known as Plastic Embedded Lightweight Brick - is a patented lightweight brick of Zerund Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. Industrial production of this sophisticated building material will start in the year 2018 in Guwahati, India.

Zerund brick is known as Plastic Embedded Lightweight Brick. It is a patented lightweight brick of Zerund Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. Industrial production of this sophisticated building material will start in the year 2018 in Guwahati, India.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Assam

Sector: Climate Action, ShelterTech & Housing Accelerator Program

Website: https://www.zerund.com/

Quote

“250 billion nos of bricks are used in India annually. 42.64MT of CO2 is emitted from an average brick kiln in India. Zerund has come with a patent-pending eco-friendly, lightweight, cost-effective, crack-resistant bricks made from 70% waste material (fly ash, waste plastic).” - David Gogoi

About the Entrepreneurs

David Gogoi, Director & Co-Founder

David Gogoi is a civil engineering graduate. He has extensive experience in sales and marketing. An enthusiastic and hardworking person always devoted to working extensively for the company and its brand.

Mousum Talukdar, Director & Co-Founder

Mousum Talukdar is a civil engineer and a graduate of Assam engineering college. He has been working on green building materials since 2015

Rupam Choudhury, Director & Co-Founder

Rupam Choudhury is a 24-year-old Engineer turned Entrepreneur. With a year of experience in Production Management, he is running an eco-friendly lightweight brick manufacturing company

The Solution

Using patent-pending technology, with some multilayered plastic, fly ash, sand, water, cement and organic chemicals, Zerund composed a mixture and eventually gave it the shape of a large brick, (size 24*8*3/4/5/6”) which they applied for a patent as, “PLASTIC EMBEDDED LIGHTWEIGHT BRICKS”. These bricks show a compressive strength of 4 MPa or more with low density of 650-750 kg/m3, low water absorption of 12-15%, and thermal conductivity of 0.393 w/m.k. Owing to its low water absorption trait, our bricks don’t impart any sort of dampness to the walls, thus maintaining their strength. And given low thermal conductivity, the bricks also provide high thermal insulation during summers, keeping indoors much cooler and reducing the need for high energy-consuming cooling devices.

The Impact

Energy Efficient building,
The green manufacturing process (low carbon emissions, low water consumption)
Fast construction (reduces 14 days of curing time on site),
Embed’s plastic hence Recycles 600kgs of plastic on daily basis.

New Leaf Dynamic Technologies Pvt Ltd

New Leaf Dynamic Technologies Pvt Ltd, was started in 2012 with a vision to provide access to affordable refrigeration facilities across India without depending on unreliable grid power or diesel dependent sets. Locally available biomass & farm waste is used as fuel - to run cold rooms throughout the year, in turn, providing farmers and micro-enterprises access to prolonged refrigeration. In doing so, they enable the prolongation of the shelf life of perishable products.

Incubated: 2022

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://www.newleafdynamic.com/

Quote

“We efficiently utilize biomass and farm waste for running refrigeration units at farm gate and Aggregation points. We also facilitate safe storage of horticulture produce in cold Rooms without any human interference to Increase shelf life”

The solution

New Leaf Dynamic Technologies efficiently utilizes biomass and farm waste to run refrigeration units at aggregation points and farm gate. In doing so, New Leaf Dynamic’s product ‘GreenCHILL Biomass Cold Storage’ thus creates a circular economy in the cooling value chain.

Impact

New Leaf Dynamic Technologies provides access to refrigeration – in turn facilitating the increase of income of micro-enterprises by prolonging the shelf life of perishable produce. New Leaf provides, all-in-one Cold Rooms to be used as Cold Storage, Pre cooler, Ripening Chamber, and Dehydrator. Furthermore, New Lead facilitates the reuse of any shape or size of locally available biomass and/or farm waste to run Cold Rooms throughout the year. About 700 projects in 50 cities have been carried out by New Leaf Dynamic Technologies Pvt Ltd.

S4S Technologies

S4S Technologies is a food preservation company which focuses on innovating food processors - including dehydrators. S4S aims to tackle the problems faced by both the grower - the farmers & also the Industrial Customers – the Food & Beverage Industry. The machines manufactured by S4S are sold to farmers directly or used at their own facility to produce the best quality processed food. S4S Technologies works with a range of partners to create a sustainable supply of processed food products.

S4S Technologies is a food preservation company which focuses on innovating food processors - including dehydrators. S4S aims to tackle the problems faced by both the grower -THE FARMERS & also the Industrial Customers – the Food & Beverage Industry The machines manufactured by S4S are sold to farmers directly or used at their own facility to produce the best quality processed food. S4S Technologies works with a range of partners to create a sustainable supply of processed food products.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Maharashtra

Sector: Climate Action, Powering Livelihoods

Website: https://s4stechnologies.com/

Quote

“We Convert Farm Losses to Food-Ingredients through farm-gate sourcing and processing – all done by our Women Entrepreneurs”

The solution

S4S solves problems in the following areas:

-Procurement and Processing of agri-produce
-Agri-Food supply-chain
-Enable eliminating middlemen
-Reduce Post-harvest losses
-Low capacity utilization of processing units (130 days/ Year)

Impact

Environmental Impact
Preventing food wastage and reducing post-harvest losses.
Solar-powered processing saves CO₂ from entering the environment.

Social Impact
With enhanced technical knowledge and skills, money directly goes into the hands of women. These women find new social identities as climate champions and decision-makers in farms, families and communities.

Economical Impact
Elevating Farmers out of Poverty providing Annual Assured Additional Income (Profit) of $1000-1500. Thus, Increasing the Profits of Farmer Turned Micro-Entrepreneur by 60-110%.

Source: https://s4stechnologies.com/impact/

Charzer

Charzer is India’s biggest and most trusted provider of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. Charzer's flagship product “Kirana Charzer” can be installed at any place - such as a shop, restaurant, hotel or mall. The charging stations can be used with the Charzer App. Through its innovative approach - Charzer is converting neighbourhood Kiranas, cafes, restaurants, malls and even tea shops into Electric Vehicle charging stations — in turn creating a vast EV charging station network.

Mudita & Radhesh

Mudita & Radhesh upcycle the waste chicken feathers into premium fabric and apparel with their patent-protected process of extraction, spinning, and weaving Butchery Chicken Waste (BCW).

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Jaipur

Sector: Climate Action

Website: www.featherwool.org

Quote

Environment Protection from hazardous chicken feathers and a huge reduction of carbon footprint is a billion-dollar opportunity for all!

About the entrepreneur

Mudita Srivatava (Director), Jaipur, Textile Designer (2011)
Radhesh Agrahari (Director), NIIFT, Mohali, India (2010) and PG IICD, Jaipur, Textile Designer ( 2013)
Rajan Bhatnagar (Advisor and Mentor)- MTech, IIT Delhi, B E IIT Roorkee, Senior Management IT Professional with 30+ years of experience

The solution

Butchery Chicken Waste ( BCW) is converted into Handloom Cloth, enabling sustainable development, reduction in environmental pollution & health hazards. The BCW is hygienically sanitized and the extracted chicken feathers are converted into pulp and yarn for handloom cloth.

Tribal women use hand-carding, spinning weaving to make this into a durable light wearable fabric. This fabric is warmer, lighter, softer than any other existing natural and man-made woolen fibers.

The Impact

India’s annual BCW production is 1.2 million tons including 0.4 million tons of chicken feathers. It is estimated that 15% pollution of Indian rivers is due to chicken waste. M&R’s BCW upcycling reduces 250000 Kg of Carbon footprint and 120000 Kg of river pollutants annually.
M&R has trained more than 500 tribal women in handloom
Enabling secure, sustainable, and dignified livelihoods for tribal women living in backward tribal areas in Rajasthan, India.

Devidayal Solar Solution Pvt Ltd

Devidayal Solar Solutions focuses on design, sales and distribution of solutions in the distributed renewable energy space. The flagship product of the company is solar powered efficient refrigeration systems that are used for income generating activities.

Incubated: 2020

Headquarters: Mumbai

Sector: Climate Action, Solar cold-chain, solar refrigeration

Website: https://ddsolar.in/

Quote

”We make solar energy an affordable option to those with limited or no access to the grid. Our products are designed with rural India in mind and we offer a rugged yet efficient build and a warranty that can be trusted.”

The Entrepreneurs

Tushar founded Devidayal Solar Solutions in 2015 and is the full-time CEO. The company’s vision and focus is designing and developing high quality, certified off-grid appliances like solar DC refrigerators, BLDC fans and coolers. In previous roles, Tushar has worked in leveraged finance in New York City, served in a leadership role in his family owned agri-input business and most recently was the India country manager for Arysta LifeScience, Japan. Tushar is passionate about new battery technology and electric vehicles. Tushar has an MBA from London Business School.

The Challenge

By 2030, Asia will be the biggest global generator of food waste, contributing around 500 million tonnes a year. Globally, about 30% of all food produced is wasted, which equates to over $1 trillion in world economic losses each year. In addition to that increase in average temperatures in many parts of India and lack of reliable cooling solutions have resulted in the increase in relevance of decentralized refrigeration systems, especially in rural and semi-urban scenarios with lack of reliable power.

This provides an enhanced livelihood opportunity for end-users owning small retail stores, and other smaller establishments present across these rural and semi-urban localities through the consistent demand for dairy value chain products, locally made agri-based drinks like sugarcane juice, fresh poultry and fish products, drinking water bottles and other cold products. There is a possibility to reduce post-harvest crop wastage need for local storage for fish/ meat strengthening dairy value chain.

The Solution

The solution is a combination of energy access and energy efficiency with our award-winning solar refrigerator. The solar powered refrigeration solution aptly designed with the right financial and business models to suit end user’s local business needs & the existing supply and market ecosystems presents a highly scalable opportunity.

Cold chain effectively extends the cycle of the agricultural product market, increasing the income of farmers and reduces losses due to food wastage along the entire supply chain. Cold chain storage solutions can reduce harvest crop waste for farmers, strengthen the dairy value chain and improve the storage of fish / meat products.

The Impact

170 units of solar refrigerator deployed
5 pilots of supply chain solutions in agriculture and allied sector
Up to Rs.10,000 increase in monthly income
Increase in income and productivity.
Jobs and livelihoods for women entrepreneurs engaged in Agri and allied businesses.
Improved negotiation power of the women entrepreneurs while selling produce, due to increased shelf life of their produce with mobile (on trucks) refrigeration

Dharambir Food Processing

Dharambir has developed a portable, multi-purpose processing machine useful in processing of fruits, herbs, and seeds. It also works as a big pressure cooker with temperature control and auto cut-off facility. It offers condensation mechanism, which helps in extraction of essence and oil from flowers, seed, and medicinal plants

Greenwear Fashion Private Limited

Greenwear provides market linkages to the yarns produced on Solar Charkhas by rural women through a decentralized textile value chain powered by renewable energy resources.

Incubated: 2020

Headquarters: Lucknow

Sector: Climate Action, Livelihoods, Textiles

Website: http://greenwear.in

Quote

“Self-reliance of Rural India will be achieved by reviving the concept of Khadi and infusing technology to empower rural women and traditional artisans.”

About the Entrepreneurs

Abhishek Pathak has 9+ years of professional experience including designing, working with artisans, skilling rural communities and business development. His passion lies in bringing design, innovation and technology to underprivileged and unorganized artisan clusters and marginalized communities.

The Challenge:

Fashion industry is the second-largest polluter industry in the world being responsible for 10% of its carbon footprint. Synthetic fibers (non-biodegradable) and chemicals used in textile processing are leading into micro-pollution in waterways including oceans.

69% of the population lives in rural India and the majority (58%) is dependent upon agriculture. However, agriculture contributes only 24% to the rural GDP. Non-agricultural activities generate more than two-thirds of income in rural India. Textile manufacturing, which is a major contributor to the non-agro activities, contributes to only 18% of rural output but has been affected by safety and health issues of workers having unhealthy working conditions.

Rural women make up 81.29% of the female workforce in India. Most of these women are agricultural laborers who work on someone else’s land in return for wages and close to 56% of the employed rural women are illiterate. It is very necessary to find a solution where a women-friendly work environment can be provided in non-farm sectors.

The Solution:

Greenwear provides forward linkages and value addition to the cotton & silk yarns produced by rural women using Solar Charkhas (compact spinning ring frame installed at household level which runs on solar energy) that can produce four times more yarn than a manual new model charkha. The drudgery involved is significantly lesser than the manual charkhas and the women who operate the Solar Charkha can carry on their domestic activities while spinning work goes on. The role of procuring the yarns by women trained and facilitated by the society and manufactures fabric and garments, thereby creating a regular source of income for women, weavers and other artisans.

The Impact

Greenwear has a mission to create 5000 jobs for women in rural India by 2025 and right now working with 1180 jobholders in the state of UP and Bihar. The jobholders engaged currently have valued the income and that the flexibility in working hours allows them to manage household obligations. It also aims to reduce the pollution and carbon footprint caused by the textile industry. It believes that it can be achieved through decentralisation of the textile value chain and migrating towards renewable energy resources to generate power for household based machineries. If only 5% of Indian villages become solar charkha clusters (around 30,000), it can produce 180 Cr kgs cotton yarn which is almost 50% of India’s current cotton yarn capacity and generate livelihood for 1.2 Cr people without migrating from their villages.

Khethworks

Khethworks designs, develops, and delivers highly efficient solar pumps that unlock year-round irrigation, cultivation, and income generation for smallholder farmers.

Incubated: 2020

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Climate Action, Agritech, Irrigation

Website: https://www.khethworks.com/

Quote

"Our motivation is simply to enable smallholder farmers to grow more, earn more, and provide more for their families and their communities." - Katherine Taylor

About the Entrepreneurs

Katherine Taylor holds a BS from Caltech in Mechanical Engineering and an MS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering for her work on fluid mechanics modeling of a low-pressure drip irrigation device for the Indian market. She was selected for MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2018 and for the Mulago Foundation’s Rainer Arnhold Fellowship in 2020.

Victor Lesniewski holds a BS from Georgia Tech in Biomedical Engineering and a MS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering for his work on international product development. He previously worked on solar lighting products and peer-to-peer microgrids and served on the national board of directors for AIESEC Australia leading business development.

The Challenge

Only 48% of the total net sown area in India has access to irrigation. Yet 54% of the population earns its livelihood through agriculture and 86% of farmers are small and marginal farmers. Overdependence on inconsistent monsoon rains and lacking irrigation facilities affect the productivity and income of smallholder farmers the most, particularly in eastern Indian, where productive electricity is less, diesel prices are high, and kerosene is not consistently available. Irrigation energy costs are estimated to be 20-40% of production costs, and larger solar pumps available through subsidy schemes have been inaccessible to or do not meet the requirements of marginal farmers.

The Solution

Khethworks develops solar pumps specifically for and with marginal farmers in eastern India. Their patented system features a hyper-efficient, portable, open-well submersible pump. It is a solar pump that is small enough to carry with a flow rate big enough to satisfy marginal farmer’s preferences at a bankable price point that does not depend on subsidy. Smallholder farmers can use the Khethworks pump system individually or in groups to irrigate higher value vegetable crops year-round across multiple water sources and fragmented plots

The Impact

Khethworks has sold and deployed over 30 systems across 5 states in partnership with livelihoods organizations. Farmers can save 200 liters of fuel annually, with some users reporting savings of at least 5-6000 INR on fuel costs per season. The low weight and single-button automatic operation of the Khethworks solar pump makes irrigation accessible to women farmers. Khethworks is looking to scale accessibility to the system through end-user financing, so that credit both allows farmers to invest in an income-generating asset and helps create a retail market for small solar pumps.

Resham Sutra

Resham Sutra develops innovative machines for rural textile producers and supports creation of farm to retail value chains for better rural livelihoods.

Incubated: 2020

Headquarters: Ranchi

Sector: Climate Action, Rural Textile production

Website: http://www.reshamsutra.com/

Quote

“We want our technology innovations to offer a choice to the rural people of working in productive and sustainable fashion within their villages.”

About the Entrepreneurs

Kunal Vaid has worked in renewable power and textile technology development. Prior to this he has managed textile manufacturing and exports business. He did his Masters in Business Development from MDI, Gurgaon and Bachelors in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.

The Challenge

There are very limited livelihood options in villages. People engaged in rural crafts earn very low income and have to do strenuous work for long hours to make ends meet. Increasingly the new generation is disenchanted from this kind of work and prefers to migrate to cities. This paints a very bleak picture for the future.

Major reasons for this situation are archaic, unproductive technology for rural livelihoods and lack of supportive ecosystem.

The Solution

Resham Sutra has developed a niche for producing high efficiency, solar powered machines for rural textile production. This brings about two to four fold increase in productivity and income of rural producers. It also provides support in the form of training and linkages for raw material and product marketing.

As a further innovation Resham Sutra is establishing integrated Farm to retail value chains in some of the most backward regions of India.

The Impact

Resham Sutra has installed more than 12,000 machines across fourteen states in India which has increased the average income of rural producers by 96%. Most of the customers become independent business women, employing other women in the community. This is infusing fresh life in traditional arts and saving them from extinction attracting even the younger generation to join this emerging livelihood option.

Hydrogreens

Hydrogreens designs climate control solutions that improve farmers' income, sustainably.

COOLCROP

CoolCrop creates decentralized solar cold storage systems and predictive market analytics to enable small and marginal farmers get better prices for their perishable harvest.

Incubated: 2019

Headquarters: Vadodara

Sector: Climate Action, Agritech

Website: http://coolcrop.in/

Quote

“We are committed to creating sustainable and affordable technologies for the farmers and empower them to look at agriculture as a profitable venture” - Niraj Marathe

About the Entrepreneurs

Niraj Marathe has worked in energy access, product development and manufacturing sectors. He did his Masters in Solar Technology from Technical University of Berlin, Germany.

Kendall Nowocin did his Ph.D (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US and has earlier worked on power systems.

The Challenge

In India more than 80% of the farmers are small and marginal who also cultivate perishable crops. They usually sell the crops within a day of harvest irrespective of the market prices as they do not have any means to preserve the harvest immediately. In most cases, they end up selling it at throwaway prices, not recovering their cost of production or completely dumping the produce if the market prices of those days are very low. This is primarily due to lack of proper preservation facilities at the point of harvest and inability of the farmers to judge the market price trends.

The Solution

CoolCrop develops customized on-farm cold storage solutions which can be powered by solar energy systems in areas where electricity grid access is unreliable. It usually works with partner organizations to reach out to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), farmer groups or aggregators and provide access to the technology. It also provides the farmers with information of ongoing and predictive market price trends for perishable produce so that they can make better informed decisions on when and where to market the stored or harvested produce.

The Impact

CoolCrop has installed 16 systems till now through which they have been able to make positive changes in the way agriculture and marketing occurs for perishable produce. It is now being used to the benefit of about 5000+ farmers across 6 states. The average post-harvest wastage has gone down from about 25% to less than 5% due to its storage product. This has also resulted in an average increase of income of about 30% for farmers, either individually or collectively.

Ziptrax Cleantech

Ziptrax works on repurposing and recycling Lithium-ion batteries for Electric Vehicle and other applications.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Climate Action, Sustainable Mobility

Website: https://www.ziptrax.in/

Quote

At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the Indian economy and health infrastructure, Ziptrax applied to Villgro’s iPitch 2020. The entire year-long process has been pivotal in shaping Ziptrax. Villgro’s technical and mentoring assistance and access to Grant support will help immensely to launch Ziptrax’s impact-focused products and services to the market—improving scalability and commercialisation.

About the entrepreneur

Sonia Singh (CEO), comes with vast experience in establishing CSR projects, Program Management in Health Environment, and Medical Safety.

Rohan Singh (CTO), graduated with a B.E in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture from BITS Pilani. In 2017, he co-founded Shuttle-scrap India, an on-demand E-waste and Batteries disposal and using web+app based channels specialized into reverse-eCommerce and stock liquidations, the venture was piloted and turned to profitability in 2017.

The solution

Ziptrax uses battery recycling and repurposing technology to make the Lithium-Ion technology cost-effective to e-mobility solution providers. The company uses Artificial intelligence technology to ensure long battery life and increase the buy-back value and has developed battery management technology to prevent thermal runaways.

The Impact

Providing reliable second-life lithium-ion batteries reduces the cost of operations of e-mobility companies, which in turn reduces the cost of transporting people and products.

Sheru (Seygnux Solutions Private Limited)

Sheru provides battery swapping service to E-Rickshaws, empowering them to increase their earnings by adopting an innovative model of pay per km as opposed to paying per swap. This leads to an increase of almost 100% of per day utilization of the E-rickshaws.

Incubated: 2021

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Climate Action, Sustainable Mobility

Website: https://sheru.se/

Quote

"Sheru is enabling over 2 million electric rickshaw drivers to double their income"

About the entrepreneur

Ankit Mittal is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sheru. He comes with 10+ years of experience in software and embedded systems. Prior to Sheru, Ankit was the lead inventor of the Flagship solution by Greyorange and lead the new product development and initiatives. He is a graduate of BITS Pilani.

Nakul Mehan is the CTO and Co Founder of Sheru. Prior to Sheru, Nakul was leading the Battery and charging tech vertical at Greyorange and was the lead inventor of the battery management systems that are used across all Greyorange clients. He is a graduate of BITS Pilani.

Shikhar Sharma is the COO and Co-Founder of Sheru. Prior to Sheru, Shikhar was leading the Operational Automations at Greyorange. He is a graduate of BITS Pilani.

The solution

Sheru offers Battery as a Service, where e-rickshaw drivers retrofit their vehicles from bulky, end-of-life Lead Acid batteries to Sheru’s Lithium-Ion batteries. Driver pays a small security deposit and starts a prepaid account with Sheru. Any time the driver runs out of charge, they visit the nearest battery vending machine and exchange the discharged battery with a charged one. The driver is charged for the number of kilometers driven, which is deducted directly from the prepaid account. This gives drivers the ability to drive more to increase the net daily take home by at least 100%. This also improves the cash flow of the driver and the cost of lending.

The Impact

Sheru’s solution makes e-rickshaw driving financially sustainable
The tie-up with various financing institutions acts as a catalyst for the electrification of mobility in non-metro cities of India
Additional benefits include making India’s largest category of public service vehicles safer with GPS tracking (installed in batteries) and replacing hazardous lead-acid batteries

OORJA SOLUTIONS

Oorja is an energy services company in the business of replacing diesel engines with affordable, reliable solar energy systems for productive power in rural markets. Their first service, Oonnati, provides irrigation water on a pay-per-use basis to smallholder farmers.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: New Delhi

Sector: Climate Action, Agriculture

Website: http://www.oorjasolutions.org

Quote

“Replacing diesel engines, using energy as a catalyst for economic development and creation of jobs, and combating climate change- these are the three core elements of our mission” - Amit Saraogi

About the Entrepreneurs

Amit Saraogi has 15 years of diverse global experience in banking, consulting and development practice. His passion for empowering the marginalised in society led him to complete a Master’s in International Development at Columbia University and gain a professional certificate in social entrepreneurship. Amit is an Echoing Green Climate Fellow and one among the SE100 list of the most Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs.

Dr Clementine Chambon obtained a PhD in Bioenergy from Imperial College London and has worked as a renewable energy consultant. She is a chemical engineer by training and is determined to leverage her engineering background to design and deploy cost-effective, appropriate solar solutions. Clementine is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur and was named as Social Innovator of the Year by MIT Technology Review Europe.

The Challenge

Across India, over 10 million diesel pumps are used for irrigation, a huge operational expense for farmers. An estimated 10,000 MW of small diesel generators are used for backup power in grid-connected areas or to cover daily loads in small industries, such as agro processing mills. This problem persists even in grid-connected areas and results in immense CO2 and black carbon emissions. There is a need for affordable, reliable energy sources to help marginal farmers and small business owners sustainably transition from diesel to low-carbon energy sources, such as solar.

The Solution

Oorja designs, installs and operates solar energy systems to replace diesel engines used in farms and in small rural businesses along with the agricultural value chain. They aim to become the leading developer of solar energy systems to power livelihoods in emerging markets. Oorja’s first innovation is Oonnati, a pay-per-use irrigation service that is 20% cheaper than diesel pumping and provides year-round water for marginal farmers. Oorja also deploys mini-grids providing uninterrupted AC electricity to small businesses such as grain and oilseed mills.

The Impact

Oorja’s impact objectives are threefold:

Reduce expenses on diesel and kerosene fuels in favour of clean energy
Increase productivity and income among farmers and small businesses
Mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels

BOMBAY BIJLEE

Bombay Bijlee has developed a a smart solar energy harvester, storage and delivery device, with self-diagnostic hardware and back end cloud software system. The Bijlee Box also includes a free of cost television set made in-house, from refurbished e-waste of old desktop monitors. This serves as an attractive value proposition for the aspirations of rural households

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Mumbai

Sector: Climate Action; Energy Efficiency

Website: http://www.Bombay-bijlee-private-limited.com

Quote

“Our vision is to create opportunities for rural households to realize their dreams of buying necessary and important home appliances, which will improve their quality of life and can push them out of the vicious circle of poverty” - Sandeep Zutshi

About the Entrepreneur

Sandeep Zutshi is an engineer by education and has 2 years of industry experience in power electronics and 5 years of research experience in the field of Photovoltaic systems from IIT Bombay. Before starting Bombay Bijlee he co-founded Kwatt Solution which provides Photovoltaic based grid connected solutions to industries.

The Challenge

There are more than 100 million rural households in India getting highly intermittent power supply and they consume very minimal (less than a unit/day) electricity. Around 120 million households don’t own TV and 100 million households don’t own a fan. Households are forced to buy counterfeit products using chit fund systems. Households who desire to buy better quality take loans from small banks on very high interest rates. For power back up, they buy off the shelf Lead -Acid battery and charge controllers from the market to increase their power backup, paying a very high price for the marginal need of the power back up due to over sizing of the system.

The Solution

Bombay Bijlee’s solution integrates payments, after sales service and data driven scaling of power back up. Households can buy home appliances on “Pay As You Go” model using their platform.The self diagnostic hardware can detect any fault in the entire system (source, battery, loads e.g TV, Fan, etc) and sends an automatic SMS to the field local technician to provide proactive and prompt service. Usage pattern and battery is also monitored which can be used to scale the power back up of the system without over sizing the system thus saving rural customers’ money.

The Impact

18 Off-grid or grid underserved rural households with yearly income of less than INR 1 Lakh are using Bijlee Box. There has been a INR 108,000 reduction in customers’ expenditure on kerosene, a 3000 kg reduction in CO2 emission, and 1000 hours of clean electricity has been supplied till date.

DELECTRIK

Delectrik has developed Energy Storage systems based on redox flow battery chemistry which are very low cost, sustainable and suitable for Commercial, Industrial and Utility scale applications.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Gurugram

Sector: Climate Action

Website: http://www.delectrik.com

Quote

“Sustainable and affordable energy for everyone by enabling decentralized electricity” - Vishal Mittal

About the Entrepreneur

Vishal Mittal is the Founder & CEO of Delectrik Systems Pvt Ltd. Dr. Mittal has over 15 years of experience in Research, Product Development and Field Deployment in the field of Batteries and Fuel Cells. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Connecticut, USA and a B.E. (Hons) from BITS, Pilani.

The Challenge

The major challenge in widespread adoption of renewable sources such as solar/wind is it’s intermittency and inability to store the energy in an affordable and sustainable way for later use. The existing energy storage batteries are expensive and last for a few years and thus are essentially consumables.

The Solution

Delectrik develops low cost, long life and long duration energy storage systems based on vanadium redox flow battery technology for On and Off grid applications.
Lowest Cost Storage Solution (Low Upfront Cost, Long life and high residual value)
Robust: 20+ Years life, No impact of cycling, High Temp tolerance
Scalable: kWh to MWh scale systems
Environmentally Friendly: No toxic metal used, Non-Flammable

The Impact

Delectrik’s products when combined with Renewables provide for 24×7 clean energy thereby mitigating the use of fossil fuels and its harmful effect on climate. Also, it provides affordable and sustainable electricity for individuals, communities and businesses.

GARV TOILETS

GARV Toilets is a smart sanitation solutions company which extends the basic hygiene services to the last mile communities in underserved urban and peri-urban areas through its Smart Hygiene Centers.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Faridabad

Sector: Climate Action, Water; Sanitation

Website: http://www.garvtoilets.com

Quote

“If we can provide the basic hygiene services in the most attractive, sustainable way to the last mile communities they embrace the change with open arms” - Mayank Midha

About the Entrepreneur

Mayank Midha is an experienced electronics engineer and a rural management professional with a degree from Institute of Rural management, Gujarat. With experience in the manufacturing, renewable and education sector of over 14 years, Mayank, chose water and sanitation as his final calling in 2015.

The Challenge

Globally 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, 1.4 million children die every year globally due to unsafe sanitation and water. Moreover, there are about 120000 people migrating to urban areas every week globally, which is putting tremendous pressure on inadequate public service infrastructure, which is mostly improperly maintained. It requires the intervention through new age technologies and innovative business models to provide equitable access to the underserved.

The Solution

GARV Toilets, a brand of M3 Toilet Resources India Pvt. Ltd., provides Smart Sanitation solutions to underserved urban communities in developing countries. GARV’s steel toilets are portable, durable and maintained through automation. By inducing portability, smart technology and eco-friendly features like solar energy and bio-digesters in durable toilet infrastructure, they were able to provide clean, well maintained services consistently. They provide a one stop solution to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs of the communities. They work through Smart Sanitation Centres. GARV’s Smart Sanitation Centre is a hub of smart toilets, bath facilities, water ATMs, laundry services, WiFi and a kiosk where hygiene products can be sold.

The Impact

Today, with their products and solutions, they have 721 installations providing over 300,000 services every day in the underserved communities spread across India. With the pilot project in Ghana, Bhutan and Nigeria, they plan to scale the solution to multiple last mile communities.

DOORASTHA

Doorastha brings affordable 24×7 access to electricity through solar micro-grids with a flexible payment model, with an automated monitoring solution to drive optimal utilization which is a key for sustainability of remote assets like solar micro-grids.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Delhi

Sector: Climate Action; Renewable Energy-SMART Microgrids

Website: http://www.doorastha.com

Quote

“We endeavor to enrich the lives of rural citizens by providing 24x7 quality power such that it increases and cuts down losses and contributes to economic development of that society” - Atanu Mukerji

About the Entrepreneurs

Shyamal Datta and Atanu Mukerji started their entrepreneurship journey with the mission of making a strong social impact. With a long and varied corporate experience their aim was to use technology to provide energy access to rural India and other geographies. The existing challenges of being able to provide affordable yet high quality products or services in remote areas and being able to regularly monitor them is the need of the hour. They set out on this journey to enhance livelihoods and at the same time use sustainable business models.

The Challenge

As of March 2019, there are 5.7 million unelectrified households in India. Most of them use a mix of sources of energy like kerosene lamps, solar lanterns, solar home systems etc. to power their requirements. However, that is not sufficient to cater to their demands and is not scalable. The rural micro-enterprises are outside the scope of public policy and government focus. Hence that is a gap which needs to be addressed. A lot of these enterprises use diesel generator supply for their energy needs which is available for limited time. The existing installed solar micro-grids, mostly installed using CSR funds are mostly defunct. Thus, all the above put together represent a large total addressable market of 60 mn users.

The Solution

Doorastha is aiming to combat the issue of energy poverty for productive uses by rural enterprises through its “bottom-up approach”. The systems are monitored remotely through their installed smart meters which helps them continuously improve their services.

The solution iLUMY, which is end-to-end monitored Solar Micro-Grid Energy Access Service for Rural Micro-Enterprise is apt to service this set of consumers. iLUMY is a completely integrated hardware, software and analytics-based solution with integrated IOT like devices from the end-user to cloud platform; to operate, manage, monitor, report, diagnose and provide analytics for every micro-grid under control. They provide increased efficiency and optimization of resources deployed at every location. Data is collected at every node which can be analyzed for Descriptive, Prescriptive and Predictive Analytics.

BATTIGHAR

BattiGhar partners with an entity with a prototype to take their prototype from lab to livelihood, and develops the business model, brand, supply chain and financial linkages to enable last mile entrepreneurs to earn a livelihood. It also engages in identifying last mile entrepreneurs and their capacity building. The technology from the lab is chosen based on its ability to impact livelihoods and its ability to be powered by clean energy.

Incubated: 2018

Headquarters: Bhubaneswar

Sector: Climate Action

Website: http://www.battighar.org

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“Develop and transit energy efficient technologies from lab to livelihoods to create last mile entrepreneurs who will contribute to a climate positive economy” - Palak Aggarwal

About the Entrepreneurs

Palak Aggarwal was born and brought up in Delhi and her visits to Kalahandi region infamous for poverty, made her shift base in hope of channelizing her skills and knowledge for upliftment of the villages. During her stay with the Kandha tribe in the forests of Kalahandi, she worked to design projects to deliver solar lights to the last mile, trained local youth to repair solar lights and set up supply chains for spare parts. Quitting her job at the end of 2015, she briefly lived with San tribe in Kalahari desert and her stay in Kalahandi and Kalahari with different tribes made her believe in the intersection of technology, business development and finance as key to break the vicious cycle of poverty. She co-founded The BattiGhar Foundation, in early 2016 which works towards developing and innovating sustainable technologies for livelihoods. She founded BatiGhar Sustainable Solutions, a for-profit entity in 2018 to transit energy efficient technologies from lab to livelihoods to create last mile entrepreneurs who will contribute to a climate positive economy.

The Challenge

There are estimated 10 million street vendors in India, selling varied goods like clothes, hosiery, household goods, food items, juices etc. The technological needs of the vendors vary as per the good they sell.

In particular, street side cane juice vendors can be spotted almost in every urban centre in India. The vendors who sell sugarcane juice run their business generally on push carts which doesn’t allow them to use electricity to run their machines and to run these machines electricity would cost a lot, so they use diesel to run the machine which costs them INR 100-200 and each litre of diesel produces 2.64 kgs of Carbon emission. Each burning liter of diesel produces about 2.64 Kg of CO2. According to studies, more than 50,000 vendors sell sugarcane juice using diesel motors in urban India and collectively emitting 2,37,60,000 kgs of CO2 every year (as per conservative assumptions that the businesses run for 180 days and burn 1 ltr diesel per day).

The problem is not only with the amount of diesel that is burnt in processing of sugarcane but also with how sugarcane is openly burnt and leads to further carbon emission.

The Solution

SolarCane is an innovative sugarcane juice machine mounted on an electric vehicle which is powered by solar technology. The energy generated by the solar panel installed on the roof of this cart is stored in the battery and the power required to run the vehicle, and also the sugarcane juice machine is drawn from the battery. This innovation is an alternative to diesel run sugar juice machines. The cart, SolarCane can run 25 kilometers in a day and the sugarcane juice machine can run upto 6 hours per day and in one hour 30 kilograms of sugarcane can be processed which is approximately 15 liters of juice.

SolarCane has a facility to run DC fans, charge mobile phones and run a juicer grinder which can make other fruit juices; sustaining the business beyond the sugarcane season. The cart is designed with a hybrid facility to charge from the grid in case of bad weather. The technology innovation is clean technology along with that is gender neutral and can be customized for other vending needs.

THE IMPACT

80-100 sugarcane farmers are engaged in supplying sugarcane to 20 Carts
At farm level 5-7 families are employed to engage in cleaning and storage of sugarcane
Sugarcane farmer supplies to sugarcane mills receive Rs 2.75/kg. Farmer earns more than double his/her present income.
20 carts are saving 38000 kgs of carbon.

SUSTAINTECH

Sustaintech has developed smokeless, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly commercial cook stoves

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Sector: Climate Action; Fuel efficiency

Website: http://www.sustaintech.in

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“Our mission is to promote the rapid adoption of sustainable energy related technology and products” - Svati Bhogle

About the Entrepreneur

Svati Bhogle has a Master’s degree from IIT-Bombay. She was a part of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology and has now been associated with TIDE for over 18 years. She has received multiple awards for her work including the National Award for Women’s Development through science and technology from the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.

The Challenge

The number of roadside food stalls is high in most cities and all these outlets use fuels such as LPG or wood burning stoves, while cooking. The smoke emitted is hazardous to the cooks and also contaminates the food served to the customers. The costs of using such fuel are also high.

The Solution

Sustaintech teamed up with PYRO to produce their flagship brand of fuel efficient and environment friendly commercial cook stoves which are smokeless and have features such as controlled combustion of fuel and safe collection of charcoal and ash. These stoves also isolate temperature so that the cooks don’t feel the heat. It is portable and durable and works with any type of fuel.

The Impact

With the rising price of firewood currently at Rs 3000 / ton each stove pays for itself in one year of usage through fuel saving. Subsequently each stove would generate an additional income through fuel saving of about Rs 14,000- 20,000 per year to the customer. These stoves are cook-friendly and don’t harm the health of the cook. These stoves also have many environmental impacts and contribute towards reducing CO2 emissions and deforestation.

SUSTAIN EARTH

Sustain Earth has a low-cost biogas solution for rural households.

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters: Tirupathi

Sector: Climate Action; Biogas

Website: http://www.sustainearth.in

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“Our mission is to solve challenges of energy access with cleaner fuels for the millions of rural households” - Koushik Yanamandram

About the Entrepreneurs

Koushik Yanamandram is an entrepreneur who is an agricultural engineer who worked for think tanks such as TERI and has experience working in NGOs and social enterprises working in renewable energy.

Piyush Sohani has a degree in biotechnology and a Masters degree from TERI University in renewable energy engineering and management. His work experience ranges from companies such as TATA Consultancy Services to Indian Oil.

The Challenge

About 144 million households do not have access to clean cooking fuel in rural India. The common cooking fuels used in villages – such as firewood and dung cakes – emit hazardous smoke, which results in about 1 million deaths annually. India has the largest cattle population in the world, which means that the manure produced can be converted to clean cooking gas with the help of biogas technology. However, not many households are ready to adopt this technology due to reasons such as expensive installation and maintenance costs of biogas plants, lowered quantity of fuel production etc.

The Innovation

SustainEarth has introduced ‘Gau Gas’, a low-cost biogas system that converts cattle dung into clean cooking gas. This system is cheap, portable, durable and easy to install. The system ensures that the byproduct obtained can be used as fertilizer.

The Impact

Gau-gas has been adopted in two villages till now. The villages have around 250 small dairy farms which are ready to adopt this system for sustainability. There are over 600,00,00 rural households with cattle in India.

ECOZEN SOLUTIONS

Ecozen has developed solar powered micro cold storage system for agricultural and rural communities

Incubated: 2015

Headquarters: Pune

Sector: Climate Action; Renewable energy

Website: www.ecozensolutions.com

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“We spent close to nine months for engineering and market research associated with micro-cold storage. Sometimes farmers are apprehensive. It takes a lot of conviction and belief in what we are doing to get them on board. The key is to assure them that the product benefits them the most” - Prateek Singhal

About the Entrepreneurs

Prateek Singhal, Devendra Gupta and Vivek Pandey are graduates of IIT-Kharagpur. Prateek worked at Siemens, IIS- Bangalore and Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France; while Devendra was at GreenHat Ventures and Vivek was a research associate at Alberta University, before they co-founded Ecozen.

The Challenge

35% of agricultural produce is wasted annually, due to inadequate infrastructure for storage. Around 10 million tons of cold storage capacity is required to prevent this. The current systems are very expensive and are available only to big farmers and middlemen; small farmers usually have to sell produce immediately at low prices.

The Solution

Ecozen has produced an innovative micro cold storage which is a solar powered cold storage system. This product is designed for the rural farming communities. It does not need electricity to run.

The Impact

This product by Ecozen Solutions has been recognized by Stanford’’s E-Bootcamp as one among the world’s top 30 business ideas. The product is designed in such a way that it does not depend on grid electricity to run and after a 2-year breakeven, leads to over 40% increases in their profits. At present, Ecozen caters to Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Orissa.

FIRST ENERGY

Micro-pelletising based biomass fuel supply enterprise

SIMPA ENERGY INDIA

Simpa creates innovative solutions to make energy accessible and affordable

Incubated:

Headquarters: Noida

Sector: Climate Action; Renewable energy

Website: http://www.simpanetworks.com

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“When we provide even four more hours of light each night, we give people more time to work, more time to play, more time to be together and more time for conversation. We not only provide four more hours of light- we provide four more hours of life...everyday!” - Paul Needham

About the Entrepreneurs

Paul Needham holds an M.Phil from Cambridge University, UK and has completed the International Management Programme at Ecole Des Hautes Etudes Commercial (HEC), near Paris, France. He has had experience in working for companies such as Accipiter Solution, aQuantive and Microsoft.

The Challenge

Approximately 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity, worldwide and another 1 billion have extremely unreliable access. The poor depend on kerosene lanterns and battery-powered flashlights for light. This dependence on such sources of energy is expensive, unhealthy, and inefficient. The energy alternatives come with a huge fixed cost. The poor have highly variable disposable incomes which make fixed monthly payments a huge burden.

The Solution

Simpa has introduced the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model of pricing to households that cannot afford or don’t have access to grid electricity. This along with their ‘Progressive Purchase’ model is a combination of product-embedded hardware plus cloud-based software that enables a consumer to purchase a solar home system at minimal upfront cost and then to make a series of small payments over time – using a mobile phone – to complete the purchase of their system.

The Impact

Solar-powered lighting and cooling dramatically improves the quality of life for energy-poor families and promotes economic activity by enabling small businesses to stay open. Demand for Simpa’s solar-as-a-service model has been very strong in rural villages of Uttar Pradesh, northern India, where Simpa operates. The results have been transformative in these villages where there is now more street life and commerce later into the night. The demand for Simpa’s services will never go down because their belief that energy equals opportunity has been witnessed in villages in UP.

SEED

Seed increase incomes of rural farmers by developing affordable and sustainable conservation products and services.

Incubated: 2014

Headquarters:

Sector: Climate Action

Website:

About the Entrepreneurs

Mitesh Gala holds an MS degree in electrical engineering with expertise in optical fibre technologies and an MBA from Colorado State University (CSU) from a program specific to entrepreneurship in sustainability and base of the pyramid or emerging markets.

The Challenge

In India, irrigation accounts for 25-30 percent of total farming cost. There are parts of India where water is not abundantly found and is an expensive commodity. In other places water sources are far away from the farm land. Older pump technologies were very large horsepower type pumps that weighed 100-160kgs. With reduced farm sizes and distance to water sources increasing, farmers need lighter versions.

The Solution

SEED has developed a pump that can pump water from 30 feet in the ground. It contains the lightest diesel engine in the market. The pump made entirely from aluminum weighs in at only 35 kilograms and consumes lesser fuel.

The Impact

With an initial focus on the Jalna market of 370,000 smallholder farmers (~4 acres), SEED’s goal is to help reduce the stress farmers go through due to drought. Together with the setup of farm ponds and these pumps, farmers will become less affected by inconsistent rains, unavailability of electricity and thus will have more consistent farm revenues. SEED plans to replicate their model in other farming demographics such as tribal farmers who live in mountainous and forest regions and marginal farmers (with ½ acre farms) and help create more meaningful impact.