Where Mission Drives Margin
The startup will use the fresh capital to scale its productivity and expand its operations across more than 12 cities in the next 18 months.
https://techstory.in/chakr-innovation-raises-19-crores-from-ian-fund-others-2019/
Grameen Impact Investments and Acumen announced India’s first sustainable development goals (SDG) bond. The LIFE SDG Bond provides a credit facility of Rs 10 crore to five for-profit social impact enterprises. These organisations – LabourNet, Empower Pragati, Edubridge, iSTAR, and iPRIMED – work towards enabling sustainable livelihoods for youth across India in both rural and urban areas.
https://yourstory.com/2019/06/investment-bonds-social-impact-grameen-acumen-labournet
Chakr Innovation pitched the idea to Dell, resulting in the tech company now using the ink on 1.5 million Dell packaging boxes across India each year. At the time of launch, Dell estimated that the process would help clean the same amount of air breathed annually by about 110,000 people.
https://www.packaging-gateway.com/features/dell-sustainable-packaging/
Workers are looking for jobs which they don’t get. The market is looking for particular kinds of workers which it does not get.
The two pass each other like ships in the night. Why this yawning gap? This was the thought that struck Gayathri Vasudevan in 2008 when she was working with the International Labour Organisation.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/how-labournet-is-bridging-the-gap-between-employers-and-jobless-migrants-119051800847_1.html
ABB, a pioneering technology leader, is writing the future of safer, smarter and more sustainable energy for 65 villages in India. Working in collaboration with Husk Power Systems to develop clean energy microgrids, the companies are using renewable energy to reduce household energy costs by up to 40 percent and improve productivity in 85 percent of factories and small businesses.
https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=240725
Another household necessity that no one wants to talk about are sanitary pads. Periods are pretty much taboo conversation in most cultures, but Saathi Pads are hoping to change the “yucky” into the “yes!”. Saathi Pads are made from banana fiber, so they’re fully compostable and biodegradable. They also are free from bleaches and perfumes so you can easily say bye bye to that nasty pad rash.
https://feminisminindia.com/2019/04/17/these-5-new-startups-are-turning-heads-and-changing-minds/
While volunteering in rural India 10 years ago with several NGOs, Abhishek Sen, a doctor, saw a large number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases but few ways to diagnose them. “There were several families suffering from serious non-communicable diseases. The male would be hypertensive, the female would be anaemic and the kids would be underweight,” recounts Sen, who along with Yogesh Patil, a classmate from TN Medical College and BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai, and a doctor, decided to come up with technology to deal with the problem.
http://www.forbesindia.com/article/innovation-factories/biosense-lowcost-medical-diagnostic-devices-for-rural-doctors/53083/1
The series Planet Healers on Discovery Channel will deep dive into the journey of how these start-ups are working out innovative technology led solutions to environmental hazards faced in India. One of the first featured companies will be Chakr Innovation, who has created world’s first retro-fit emission control device for diesel generators which can capture over 90% of particulate matter emissions.
https://thecsrjournal.in/jim-sarbh-puts-spotlight-planet-healers-india/
change: WATER Labs is creating a portable toilet that does not require water and evaporates 95% of sewage without using energy.
https://www.compelo.com/water-technology-companies/
Opportunity, they say, lies in adversity. Manoj Sinha, CEO of Husk Power Systems, could well vouch for this adage when he recalls how he abruptly had to quit his plush job in New York to take over the reins of the company he co-founded in 2008.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/entrepreneurship/generating-electricity-for-millions-husk-power-bolsters-modis-dream-of-power-to-all/articleshow/68213635.cms
Founder and CEO Annie Ryu was inspired to create The Jackfruit Company in the summer of 2011. She was 21 years old and working in India to implement a maternal and child healthcare program that she and her brother had developed. Upon discovering jackfruit, Ryu saw an incredible opportunity to convert an underutilized crop into nutritious, delicious food, while also providing an income opportunity to local farming families. She established the company during her junior and senior years at Harvard, and simultaneously won Harvard’s Women in Business Competition, Harvard’s i3 Innovation Challenge, and the Resolution Project’s Social Venture Challenge, helping to kickstart the support needed to grow the business.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2019/02/19/8-mission-driven-companies-reinventing-the-packaged-food-industry/#2ab737751d57
Monisha Narke, founder and chief executive officer, RUR Greenlife said, “This form of circular economy is highly sustainable and is a holistic solution to waste management. It not just results in waste management but also aids in remediation by replenishing nutrients back to soil, mitigates greenhouse gases generated due to transportation of waste from source to landfills.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/goregaon-residents-convert-waste-to-wealth-develop-fruit-vegetable-garden/story-ypvmMswj4rdk6zvwaQ9DQI.html
Diesel generators are extensively used in India for power back-up, emitting unburned diesel or soot. In areas where there is no connection to electrical grids, diesel generators are the primary source of energy, and are used on average for eight hours a day. Chakr Innovation aims to cut Delhi’s air pollution levels, largely caused by diesel generator emissions. Such emissions lead to particulate matter density as high as 300 micrograms per cubic metre. At such high levels, soot becomes a danger to human health: the World Health Organization’s safety limit is 23 micrograms per cubic metre.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/turning-diesel-ink-india
Krimanshi Technologies: International agri-business awardee by the UN and the latest debutant in the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list, the company upcycles surplus farm and food waste into nutritious cattle feed. Operating in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, it supplies cattle feed to 200 farmers every day across Jodhpur, Pali, Nagaur and Bikaner.
https://www.thebetterindia.com/169324/yes-bank-cleantech-agritech-sustainable-future/
Dr. Aparna Pandey, senior research and development associate, RUR Greenlife, a waste management service in Mumbai, said, “Majumder’s interest and effort in the project has been commendable in terms of scientific monitoring and sensitisation of residents and staff about waste management. She is a living example of an eco-conscious Mumbaiite.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/south-mumbai-society-recycles-90-of-its-waste-thanks-to-this-teen-environment-crusader/story-yIVagbjIBK3o3eMjOwdMHJ.html
Asha Curran, Chief Innovation Officer and Director at the 92nd St Y, and Zubaida Bai, Founder and CEO of ayzh Inc., talk about making health care accessible for girls and women living in poverty across the world.
https://mashable.com/video/asha-curran-zubaida-bai-sgs-2018/#g37ABjLzpiqI
Arpit Dhupar knows that only too well. He grew up in Delhi and developed breathing problems at a young age. Now 25 and a mechanical engineer, he has taken on the fight against pollution by tackling diesel generators.
https://www.dw.com/en/indian-startup-turns-air-pollution-into-ink/a-45664168
Ayzh (pronounced ‘eyes’) is a for-profit venture that is perhaps best known for its JANMA birthing kit. The kit, which is aimed at rural women in areas where healthcare and sanitation are often a low priority, includes the tools necessary to have a hygienic birth in the presence of a doctor or midwife. The expectant mother is given the jute purse after delivery for her own use, which Bai sees as an advocacy tool that furthers the movement for cleaner births.
https://www.firstpost.com/life/ayzh-founder-zubaida-bai-on-the-birth-kits-helping-women-in-rural-india-have-hygienic-deliveries-5236291.html
Deepesh Agarwal, co-founder and CEO, MoveInSync Technology Solutions, said: “The infrastructural development in our country has hampered our commute. Traffic in metro cities is not going to get better, it will only deteriorate with time. The study shows how people spend a huge chunk of their daily life just in going and coming back from work. From the figures, it is estimated that a person spends almost 7 per cent of his or her life only in office commute.”
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/miscellany/delhis-office-commute-time-highest
Today, the community of Lahanda in Keonjhar, Odisha in India commissioned a water system delivering safe drinking water on tap to 206 residents. The community is treating the water using an invention called the Hydrodoser, developed by New York State nonprofit AguaClara Reach. The Hydrodoser is a gravity-based, sensor-and-pump-free technology that delivers an accurate amount of chlorine to disinfect water, making it safe for human consumption. The simple yet sophisticated technology is making it a viable drinking water treatment option for remote communities that cannot afford conventional, electric-powered water treatment.
https://www.aguaclarareach.org/latest-press-release
“I saw women around me whose potential was not being recognized,” said Bai, which stoked a desire to give back to those she cared so deeply about.
https://biz.source.colostate.edu/ending-maternal-mortality-gsse-mba/
Saathi began in 2015, when its co-founders came together on a mission to create fully eco-friendly, compostable sanitary napkins using locally sourced banana fiber from the state of Gujarat, where Saathi is based. Saathi pads are Biodegradable & Compostable, using plant-based materials for the leak-proof outer layers of the napkin. Saathi pads are made with banana fibre because of its highly absorbent properties, and the environmental and social benefits of its supply chain.
https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/69/11162/mapping-women-hygiene-through-innovation.html
Atul believes in taking feedback from multiple people. He goes to the Sarpanch, meets the best farmer in his taluka, and then travels 70 kms to meet the Agri dealers at the market place. He ends up getting confused. The dealers talk to him about a new product being launched by a well-known company. They also try to convince him to buy a few low-priced unbranded products which are supposed to give bumper yields.
http://www.destaglobal.com/the-farmers-smartphone-to-impact-the-agriculture-ecosystem/
India has some of the worst air pollution in the world and smog levels often spike during its sweltering summers, when smoke-belching diesel generators are used to offset power shortages, as air-conditioners and fans stoke consumption.
https://www.devdiscourse.com/Article/21766-chakr-innovation-figures-out-how-to-turn-generator-exhaust-into-ink
Impact investment fund Menterra Venture Advisors, announced a new round of investment in Biosense Technologies alongside its investment partner Artha Venture Challenge.
https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/biosense-technologies-raises-1-million/article23495927.ece
Take, for instance, Husk Power Systems, a social enterprise that was just awarded some hefty funding. Husk develops affordable, environmentally efficient minigrids that supply on-demand power to rural parts of Asia and Africa. The utility distributor recently garnered $20 million in a funding round led by Shell Technology Ventures with an eye toward expanding into India and Tanzania and potentially serving an additional 100,000 customers with affordable renewable power.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310240
Prerna Mukharya’s social-impact startup Outline India gathered data from 3 million people for academic institutions, government agencies and corporates.
https://www.fortuneindia.com/people/the-data-collector/101764
“change:WATER Labs allows me to contribute to solving water sustainability and empowering girls.”
https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/candidate/diana-yousef
Bengaluru-based employee transportation startup MoveInSync Technology Solutions has raised $8 Mn in Series B funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Existing investors including Inventus Capital Partners, Saama Capital and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round.
https://inc42.com/buzz/employee-transportation-startup-moveinsync-raises-8-mn-in-series-b-funding/
To stem this rot, PharmaSecure, a provider of brand protection, consumer loyalty and engagement solutions, has joined hands with NDDB Dairy Services (NDDB-DS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), to provide a tool to help safeguard this population of high-quality breeds of cow, both indigenous and mixed.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/no-bull-pharmasecure-nddb-arm-in-pact-to-crackdown-on-fake-no20180208allan-f-a-lasradochennai0inno-bovine-semen/article22694069.ece
For Nikhil Jaisinghani, co-founder of Mera Gao Power, a provider of low-cost, off-grid solar power to villages in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, a prime challenge is attracting investors who are used to large, publicly funded grid-based power projects with government subsidies, and are unfamiliar with projects like those of Mera Gao Power. “We’re trying to put this into a model where we’re serving ultra-poor customers without public funding, and we’re trying to create a profitable model with a three- to four-year payback period on infrastructure,” he said.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-innovative-business-models-can-bring-cheap-energy-to-far-flung-poor-villages/
“Together with our strategic partners, we are now confident of achieving our vision of becoming the world’s largest rural utility company providing 24/7, 100 percent renewable and affordable power to drive inclusive and sustainable development in growth markets.“, said Manoj Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Husk Power Systems. “We believe that mini-grids are the most capital efficient way to help reach 100 percent national electrification goals“.
https://techmoran.com/2018/01/20/husk-power-systems-raises-20m-shell-swedfund-engie-scale-renewable-mini-grid-business-africa-asia/
LabourNet, a Bengaluru-based social enterprise, has been roped in to expand Tata Trust and Google India-backed internet awareness program, ‘Internet Sathi’ in the states of Maharashtra and Haryana, said a top official of the company in Hyderabad on Friday.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/labournet-to-promote-tata-google-backed-internet-sathi-program-in-rural-india/articleshow/62573096.cms
LabourNet has brought about a visible change in the lives of these women through its programmes of skill development and micro-entrepreneurship.
https://yourstory.com/2017/12/how-right-help-at-the-right-time-helped-shilpa-jyothi-and-shobha-change-their-lives-for-the-better/
LabourNet works among the youth in urban and rural India, has been in the field for the past 10 years, focussing on RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning), and bridging skill gaps in education and entrepreneurship, especially in medium, small and micro enterprises.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/labournet-ceo-key-to-upskilling-informal-workers-is-building-on-existing-knowledge/article9980591.ece
Saathi- The startup sells biodegradable sanitary pad made from banana fibre for the Indian market. They are made from discarded banana trees and does not cause any skin irritation.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/here-are-five-startups-working-in-the-area-of-women-hygiene-in-india-2380521.html
According to Are You Reducing Reusing Recycling Greenlife (RUR), which helped residents with recycling, only 20% of used cartons are recycled in the city. The remaining end up at dumping yards, which when mixed with other forms of dry waste the process of decomposition takes much longer and the suppressed methane generated at dumping grounds easily ignites fire.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/residents-in-mumbai-turn-18-000-discarded-tetra-pak-cartons-into-four-garden-benches/story-w7rbWIteg5KL2UJJczSoIM.html
“I am glad to see Lumeter’s technology developed further with Mobisol. Bringing together the customers, hardware, and back end solutions of the two leading companies in PAYG will bring advantages to all of our partners.” – Mitra Ardron, founder of Lumeter
https://plugintheworld.com/press-releases/mobisol-acquires-lumeter-to-expand-its-off-grid-solar-pay-as-you-go-offering/
“Contrary to claims, most of what is in the market doesn’t even use cotton. It is mostly wood pulp. Almost all use the same materials, changes are in the form—how it looks and feels versus what materials are used. As for the chemicals used, every company will say that the quantity of chemicals, SAP or chlorine bleach they use will not kill you,” said Sarah McMillan, business development lead at Saathi Pads, a start-up that makes biodegradable sanitary pads.
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/T3XIiwJI31WZuK1IsoUOJL/How-safe-are-sanitary-pads-in-India.html
The main focus behind the venture was however the sheer unavailability of commercial sanitary pads to women, especially in rural India. “Only 16% of women in India use sanitary napkins. What are the other women using? Kristin asks.
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/This-New-Sanitary-Pad-Has-No-Plastic-Or-Chemicals-And-Dissolves-Naturally-In-6-Months/#.h0im96vah