While India’s economic prosperity is tied to its enormous dependence on coal and other fossil fuels, of late, there has been a push by the government for the production, distribution and adoption of renewable energy. According to Climate Action Tracker, India is the only major country in the world to have taken steps to combat emissions with the goal of restricting global warming to an average of 2 degree Celsius.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari’s announcement that India is on its way to become the top electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing hub reaffirms the government’s commitment to fight climate change and bat for clean air. Gadkari believes that with the country “producing surplus power, it is time for Indian economy to use electric as power”.

However, we are still struggling to increase the number of electric cars on the roads. One of the main barriers to Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption is ‘range anxiety’. There are only 3181 charging stations set up by the central government under its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) I and II schemes.

The biggest challenge in scaling-up fast charging is infrastructure limitations — extremely high power is required for fast charging at scale but enhancing the electric grid in places where electric vehicles will need to charge is prohibitively expensive and complicated.

Sensing an opportunity in this demand-supply chasm, a two-year-old firm tries to break new ground with a novel fast-charging solution. Founded by Dhilly Babu and Harshith Talasila, the Bengaluru-based start-up Mojo Green offers powerful battery-integrated charger that delivers fast charging while significantly reducing installation and operational costs.

What’s the technology

Mojo Green smartly combines battery storage, charging technology and intelligent software to deliver fast charging experience. “Its USP is that it works with existing low power infrastructure, reduces energy charges by peak shaving or demand shifting and can be deployed without any expensive, time-consuming infrastructural upgrades,” says Dhilly.

The battery charges slowly overnight or under off peak hours and discharges power to an EV at a much faster rate even during peak hours. It’s an electric flush-tank concept where the input is a trickle but the output is a steady gush, explains Dhilly. The idea is to store energy when it is cheaper and not needed and use it when required and is expensive.

“Our objective is to enable acceleration of clean energy and electric mobility through innovative energy storage systems” he says.

Energy storage is critical because the biggest impediment to scaling up and deploying a large number of charging facilities is the limited availability of power at the consumer end. Power infrastructure needed to fast charge a single vehicle is equivalent to the infrastructure needed to operate a large retail store such as a fuel station or a cafe. Deploying high power infrastructure at scale for charging a fleet of EVs at the grid edge is going to be an uphill task for the power utilities.

In the long run, when subsidies and incentives are withdrawn and RoI becomes a major concern for providers, these factors would end up making charging expensive and unviable for the consumers.

Mojo’s fast-charging solution is compact and mobile. It can be stationed at accessible locations such as petrol pumps, corporate tech parks, retail showrooms and shopping centres or can be carried onto a pick-up truck to the consumer’s destination for road-assistance or doorstep charging needs.

Its charger-in-a-box concept packages all the complexities of a traditional fast charging station including transformer, cables, electrical points, metering, batteries and software into a simple box.

There are multiple layers of software and analytics designed for advanced battery management, user control and remote monitoring. Through a mobile application, a user can scan the QR code and charge the vehicle. A simple dash-board offers necessary information to charging station providers or fleet operators to control and monitor charging sessions.

Testing the waters

Mojo has run multiple pilots with fleet operators to gain insights into their requirements. The feedback has helped in enhancing product design, performance and identifying convenient locations for charging stations. “Currently, we offer 50 KW charging speeds and plan to deploy our next version of the product with 100 KW+ charging capabilities. It will help us cater to existing EV models as well as the upcoming ones. The product further provides advanced capabilities including supporting EV charging even when grid power is unavailable; offers demand side management and analytics to reduce overall energy costs and support integration with on-site renewable sources” says Dhilly, adding that his startup has installed battery-operated chargers in Bengaluru.

Mojo has multiple deployments planned with key stakeholders in the next 3–6 months including a large oil & gas utility, a power distribution company and a vehicle manufacturer. However, Covid has put a spanner in the works, delaying several other pilots.

The current business model of selling power is scalable, says Dhilly but the high upfront cost has forced the founders to explore bundled energy services and cost-efficient ways such as using second-life batteries and integrating battery energy storage systems with renewable energy.

“With solar integration, energy storage becomes economical at homes, offices and other retail locations and can also be used as reliable power back-up services when needed. This is the big picture for us, where innovative energy storage systems can solve multiple use cases beyond EV charging” he says.

Mojo has a small team, spearheaded by the founders. Harshith, with a strong power electronics background, drives product development. Dhilly looks after the business side, having been a part of the founding team of a couple of startups in rural healthcare and financial analytics, earlier.

Impact

Electric vehicle adoption in India is expected to cumulatively reduce 5.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) of oil demand, resulting in a net decrease of 170 petajoules (PJ) of energy and 7.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over the vehicles’ lifetime (NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute, 2019)

“Mojo’s clean energy focus though is not limited to reducing CO2 emissions or decarbonizing our future. Electric mobility is expected to create 120,000 new jobs in the sector, open-up demand for new skills and opportunities such as technicians to manage and service EVs and charging stations,” says Harshith, the co-founder.

Air pollution, driven by the transport sector, is also a significant health hazard, it’s a significant risk factor for chronic and cardiovascular diseases in India and is responsible for 40% premature death for chronic patients.

“We at Mojo see this as a platform towards improving the livelihoods of millions of people, their quality of life, their health, and the environment,” he says.

Social Alpha’s role

“Even before the startup was formed, Manoj, the founder of Social Alpha, has been a source of encouragement and support for me. Back then, two-and-a-half years ago, we were exploring multiple problem statements to solve and their potential social impact in the long run. Things firmed up when Harshith came on board. Along the way, Social Alpha gave us a place to work, provided financial support to build the proof of concept and is now helping us with the pilots,” says Dhilly.

“When Dhilly Babu approached Manoj to discuss a potential career opportunity, the latter, sensing a spark in him, offered an entrepreneurial alternative. Dhilly became one of the early recipients of Social Alpha’s Entrepreneurship-in-Residence (EiR) programme and a success story,” says Suhail Shaikh, Programme Manager, EIR and E4I, at Social Alpha.

“Since clean energy and climate-change mitigation are highly important focus areas for Social Alpha, it was but natural that Mojo Green received a great deal of support from us,” says Suhail.

At the very beginning of this association, when Dhilly Babu was still researching and shortlisting problem statements, scouting technologies, and looking for partnerships, Manoj believed in his sense of purpose, skin-in-the-game approach and prior technology innovation experience, says Suhail. “He guided Dhilly Babu on business strategy, partnership challenges, and pilot hurdles,” he adds.

Social Alpha provided Dhilly financial support and introduced him to a network for potential partnership for pilots and tech-transfers. This sort of support encourages innovators to pursue entrepreneurial risk taking. The EiR programme has the potential to become a launchpad for innovators and entrepreneurs looking to play a catalytic role in the science and deep tech ecosystem with the purpose of solving some of the complex socio-economic and environmental problems.

Social Alpha will continue to support mission-driven innovators like Dhilly Babu who are willing to take entrepreneurial risks at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey, including market access and scaleup.

Mojo Green: Accelerating clean energy and EV revolution through innovative energy storage was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

While the second battering of coronavirus has upended our lives, the crisis also inspired creativity and innovation, driving out-of-the-box solutions to mitigate human suffering and bolster healthcare systems. Several of Social Alpha’s startups have shown amazing dexterity in identifying and quickly addressing the gaps that the Covid-19 catastrophe has deepened.

Here’s a list of companies that have breathed new life into the struggle against the pandemic.

Tan90

Core innovation: Tan90 worked on post-harvest management through portable cold storages at the grassroots. The focus was on extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by controlling temperatures and atmosphere inside the cold storages. During the first lockdown, their products were put to use primarily in the fisheries and floriculture segments, which faced massive losses due to poor post-harvest management.

Covid challenge: Tan90 specializes in the development and manufacturing of specialised cooling chemicals termed as Phase Change Materials. The founders Soumalya Mukherjee, Rajanikant Rai and Shiv Sharma have developed cooling solutions over a wide range of temperatures starting from +15 degrees centigrade to -24 degrees centigrade. In addition to reducing wastage at the farmgate, it was important to look out for vaccine transportation. Given the huge logistical challenge of maintaining the state of vaccines during transit, Tan90 has developed solutions for almost all vaccines. Various Covid 19 vaccines need to be stored at different temperatures, and with their wide range of temperature options, Tan90 has been providing solutions for the transportation of Covishield, Covaxin (2 to 8 degrees), and Moderna vaccine (-20 degrees). Going forward, Tan90 would be providing solutions for the transportation of Sputnik V vaccine in India which needs to be kept at sub-zero temperature. Vaccine shipper boxes from Tan90 offer the best-in-class volumetric weight ratio, thereby allowing for more vaccines to be carried at a time. Tan90 provides the following retention time for various temperature ranges:

2 to 8 degrees centigrade: 120 hours/ -25 to -15 degrees centigrade: 80 hours/ -8 to -4 degrees centigrade: 120 hours.

They are currently developing solutions for -70 degrees centigrade, required for the transportation of Pfizer BioNtech vaccine, thereby negating the dependence on dry ice, which is a hazard when transported by air.

Impact: Their solutions are being used by two companies for transporting vaccines. Tan90 has developed solutions with a major UK based vaccine shipper company to transport Covid vaccine that needs to be stored between -25 to -15 degrees centigrade.

Currently, the start-up is focussing on transporting vaccines by rail, using their passive cold chain solutions, to reach out to rural areas, with a partner based out of Bengaluru.

Blackfrog Technologies

Core innovation: The startup has developed a portable, battery-powered medical-grade refrigeration device called Emvólio that’s ideal for the delivery of vaccines and other biologicals like blood, tissue, COVID-19 specimens and culture. The carrier maintains the temperature range of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for about 8–12 hours at a stretch, thus ensuring that the vaccines retain their efficacy until they are administered. Emvólio can replace standard-issue iceboxes and other less sophisticated systems like use of thermos flasks to protect the vaccines from thermal degradation.

Covid challenge: Founders Mayur Shetty and Donson Dsouza used the startup’s original technology to effectively address vaccine transportation issues. Emvólio is compliant with FDA & CDC (US) guidelines for storage of vaccines. Since it has a two-litre capacity, it can transport around 30–50 vials, required for day-long immunisation drives.

Impact: The startup has virtually revolutionised the last-mile delivery of vaccines in different parts of the country at a time when central and state governments are faced with the mammoth challenge of mass vaccination. Recently, Blackfrog partnered with SELCO Foundation and SVYM Hospital to ensure delivery of more than 1580 vaccines that were administered over a fortnight in Mysore. The device is currently being deployed in remote areas in Manipur, Bihar, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

Incredible Devices

Core innovation: The startup has invented a fully automatic Catheter Reprocessing System (CRS, Patented) that safely reprocesses angiography/angioplasty catheters without human intervention to reduce their cost by 99%. This helps in decreasing the overall treatment cost thereby making it affordable and accessible.

According to the WHO, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the no.1 cause of death globally and 8/10 patients die because of unaffordable treatment due to the high cost of consumables like catheters.

Covid challenge: When entrepreneurs Vikram Goel and Rajwinder Kaur saw the vulnerability of frontline health workers, shortage of essential medical devices and prolonged treatment of Covid patients, they repurposed their patented technology to design an Advanced Reprocessing System (ARS) for ventilators. This novel product enabled automatic reprocessing of ventilator expiratory parts used on Covid patients, thus eliminating the need for human intervention. This not only ensures patient-staff safety but is also a cost-effective way to meet the demand for ventilators.

Since the geometry of catheters and ventilator parts is different, Incredible Devices had to rework various geometrical and biochemical parameters. In the process, they developed an innovative hydrodynamic technology with magnetic isolation system to effectively decontaminate ventilator parts.

Impact: Clinical validation of ARS has been successfully completed at 2 renowned hospitals. 1 unit of ARS at each hospital is supporting 2 ICUs, thus benefiting 40 patients and 50 medical workers each day. This year, the founders plan to install 100 units of ARS, which will benefit more than 30 lakh patients and 1 lakh medical staff in 1 year. The social return on investment for ARS is 10 Lives/$. ARS will also lessen environmental toxicity by avoiding the disposal of over 55 thousand EtO cartridges in 1 year.

Ubiqare Health

Core innovation: Ubiqare Health, founded by Sundararajan Srinivasan, Sridhar Pillalamarri, Prasanna Limaye, Dr Bala R Rallapalli, and Dr Sasikala K, was set up with a mission to make specialty healthcare easily accessible to millions of patients away from hospital, typically at home. They are doing this by combining technology, trust, teamwork and touch into one hybrid platform. The platform is a blend of mobility healthcare and clinical telepresence technology, collaborative model, last-mile clinical network and clinical workflows. It enables remote monitoring of patients’ conditions, quick clinical response to episodes and achieves high compliance to care protocol. The solution supports care for cancer, neuro-, ortho-, geriatric, pulmonary and other life-limiting chronic illnesses. It covers terminal, chronic, rehab, and post-acute care stages.

Covid challenges: Initially, patient acquisition took a hit due to the pandemic. With the focus shifting from non-Covid cases, most were deferred to later date by the hospitals. Patients’ kin too, were afraid to take up care programs that involved people visiting them at home. However, an increased regulatory clarity on telemedicine due to government guidelines resulted in lowering the hesitation in practicing doctors and specialists in adopting the platform.

With encouragement and support from BIRAC, CCAMP and Social Alpha, the founders repurposed the platform for covid-care at home — by providing service directly to patients as well as by enabling healthcare facilities to deliver remote speciality care. Ubiqare began to reach-out directly to patients by revamping their website, increasing social media presence and reaching out to residential communities in Bengaluru to prepare them for handling covid cases. A range of tailormade products and services lowered the barrier to adoption.

Impact: Ubiqare was recognised by BIRAC as one of the 20 in-market start-ups aiding the fight against Covid. It has been delivering Covid home isolation care to asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients. A few corporates have engaged with Ubiqare to give early-stage Covid care to their employees and families all over India.

It has delivered more than 11000 days of complex medical care to close to 300 non-Covid patients in Bengaluru. Patients who subscribed to its specialised medical care packages saw a 5-times reduction in care expenses. Ubiqare has managed 2 to 3 episodes of symptoms per patient per month at home and prevented hospital revisits/ readmissions for more than 90% of the time.

Ubiqare has enabled a renowned Bengaluru hospital to onboard around 2400 patients and 130 specialists on its platform. Between 300 to 400 patients are receiving extended care from this healthcare institution. Due to high incidence of Covid, the hospital is using the platform to optimise hospital stays and transition Covid patients to home care during the 14-day spell.

Ai Health Highway

Core innovation: AiSteth is a smart stethoscope to screen, detect and predict cardio-respiratory disorders. The product was primarily intended for physicians as the end-user, especially for stand-alone GP clinics who do not have access to ECHO, imaging facility etc. It is useful across a wide spectrum of diseases in adult cardiology, respiratory, paediatric conditions & monitoring of mother and child.

Covid challenge: In response to the pandemic, Ai Health Highway founders Satish Somayya Jeevannavar and Radhakrishna S. Jamadagni developed Covid Pre-Screening & Triage Tool — a risk-assessment platform to identify mild, moderate & high-risk groups who could be prone to the virus attack based on the demography, travel/contact history and clinical presentation. The innovation had multiple use-cases:

i)Nurse-led Covid Screening + NCDs Management: A tool with a nurse-led model for Covid + NCDs management for the rural population, which is not tech savvy and cannot speak English. It has now 100% adoption and the rural population seamlessly connects with our nurse over IVR Helpline and still retains the human connect which is very critical for delivering last mile access to healthcare.

ii) In addition to proactively triaging, screening Covid, the entrepreneurs realized that there was a huge neglect to NCDs and other chronic conditions. Hence, they also made it a point to drive better NCDs management, adherence to medication, lifestyle disorders.

iii) Syndromic surveillance: The analytics were able to identify lead indicators before the second wave struck. This helped in decision-making vis-a-vis when factories should open/close, stratification of high-risk groups for vaccination, contact tracing, disease surveillance etc.

AiSteth too proved to be a valuable tool in the fight against the virus:

i) Home isolation: Used in remote monitoring of heart/lung/vitals for mild, moderate cases for which self/home isolation was advised.

ii) Chronic heart/lung disorders: Follow up and remote monitoring of elderly patients suffering from chronic heart/lung disorders as they are at high risk of Covid if they visit regular OPD/clinics/hospitals. AiSteth acts as a great adjunct tool for tele-medicine, home healthcare partners for their elderly patients.

iii) Home healthcare: AiSteth was given to nurse, lab attendants when they visited home, apartment complex to provide home health services or to collect lab samples — the nurses, lab attendants can facilitate teleconsultations after the lab sample collection or during home health services so that the treating specialist/physician gets more in-depth clinical information of vitals, heart/lung parameters via remote auscultation.

Impact: The entrepreneurs have deployed the first batch of AiSteth for field trials in 3 hospitals/medical colleges & research centre with early encouraging results.

Since its launch last year, the Covid Pre-screening & Triage Tool has been used to carry out more than 7500 Covid screenings and 5000-plus tele consults, over all impacting more than 5000 families across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Meladath Auto

Core innovation: An Electric Mobility Powertrain company with proprietary technology-based solutions. The pilot solution can convert petrol scooters to electric hybrid smart scooter with 40 kms of electric range.

Covid challenge: Entrepreneur Rakesh MK has developed a frugal breathing support apparatus for non-invasive ventilation, which can serve as a temporary alternative to life support in an emergency situation. The portable artificial manual breathing unit (AMBU) bag is DC powered/battery operable.

Impact: The product is awaiting post-pilot clinical trials, followed by testing and accreditation from Indian Medical Association. Costing only Rs 20,000, this affordable solution can be transported to resource-constrained rural clinics to address health emergencies.

Devidayal Solar Solutions

Core innovation: Developing and selling renewable energy solutions. Its flagship product is a DC off-grid solar refrigerator that addresses supply chain gaps in agriculture and allied sector.

Covid challenge: Founder Tushar Devidayal has developed a solar maternity solution to detect co-morbidities like high blood pressure and diabetes. The kit also includes IR thermometers, pulse oximeters, backup batteries and headlamps.

Impact: Impact assessment is yet to be done but the product has already elicited enthusiastic response from an NGO in Rajasthan, which has asked for 30 kits.

War on Pandemic: Start-ups step up with innovations in COVID Tech was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It is the worst of times and, perhaps, the best of times as the pandemic unleashed a wave of unprecedented disruptions. Lives and livelihoods were lost and people suffered in every conceivable way as economies around the world crumbled. But like any sweeping crisis to shake up the foundations of human existence and undermine time-tested institutions, the coronavirus also gave us an opportunity to reimagine and revitalize healthcare and finally overcome decades of inertia in the healthcare system. The ‘new normal’ necessitated the adoption of new technologies and digital solutions to improve access, affordability and quality of care for a large swathe of the population, including the underserved sections. On World Health Day, Dr Kshama Kothari, Clinical Director, MedTech, Social Alpha tells us about the transformations that have the potential to democratise India’s healthcare system with both the government and private sector accelerating change. Edited excerpts of the interview.

We know the corona pandemic has irreversibly changed our lives. How has it exposed the inadequacies of India’s healthcare system?

The pandemic exposed the limitations of India’s healthcare delivery system in more ways than one. Before the pandemic there was a marked dependence on institution-based care. Most records were manually documented and siloed. Treatments largely relied on specialists’ opinions. Our protocols and systems were needlessly burdened because of our propensity to carry out things manually and a breakdown was imminent. Given the status quo, there was hardly any incentive to adopt digital solutions for care delivery. Also, the virus exposed how healthcare access is still a privilege (rather than a right) for most of the population. It also laid bare the inequities in access to care and information on services.

We missed out on addressing the needs of the ‘non-Covid’ patients because the response to the pandemic became a national priority. Hence, people with other infectious diseases and chronic illnesses as well as their caregivers suffered as access to even routine check-ups became arduous and expensive.

Interestingly, during this crisis, while the frontline workers were battling it out on ground, we had several innovators and entrepreneurs in the wings building solutions. These innovations weren’t just for emergency response to Covid such as ventilators, PPEs, and CPAP machines, but also for digital healthcare and remote-monitoring. So, what we witnessed in the early months of the pandemic was a social change. The government and the private sector collaborated to facilitate the accelerated development, iterations based on industry feedback, and adoption of suitable innovations in the care delivery systems. Consequently, there was availability (in vernacular languages) and uptake of information as well as home-based monitoring solutions to address the pandemic. Such shift to digital settings would have otherwise taken years to establish in mainstream healthcare. Simply put, the distancing norms, necessitated by the pandemic, paved the way for adoption of digital solutions.

So, the pandemic did throw up opportunities for new ways of doing things… Going forward, what will be the new trajectories for healthcare delivery systems?

In the first response to the pandemic, the government, philanthropic institutions and private sector put out urgent calls for curation of scalable innovations. There were calls for procurement of protective equipment from manufacturers across India. However, the most difficult challenge was for the devices and diagnostics sector. The journey from innovation to market is dependent on clinical safety, efficacy, and regulatory approvals. This is the phase when enterprises spend maximum time and money before their products hit the market. And, the success and completion of these steps are mandatory for adoption and clinical protocol. However, for digital solutions, the pandemic offered a great opportunity as it could crack the decades-long inertia of the healthcare system. The wearable-based diagnostic aids and automation for remote monitoring became part of the clinical protocols. The government also gave primacy to the direction by introducing the National Digital Health Mission to build digital architecture and Ayushman Bharat announcing the first market-access cohort — all these efforts working in the direction of integrating this pool of innovations and upgrading our health systems to provide timely access and high-quality care across geographies. The government’s focus on technology to drive healthcare solutions has been one of the positive outcomes of the pandemic. So, now there is an opportunity to truly democratise access via technology that would benefit a large swathe of the population, including the underserved sections in remote areas.

The umbrella term ‘healthcare’ is the meeting point of our health goals, socio-demographics, the health systems, i.e., the public and private sector, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the markets influenced by policy and advocacy initiatives. Promotion of impact innovation and entrepreneurship requires collaborative partnerships with society, markets and state (SAMAAJ, BAZAAR and SARKAAR). A cross-industry collaboration focused towards rapid venture acceleration and clinical integration of Digital Health Tech is in the works at Social Alpha, and will soon be launched.

How have healthcare startups kept pace with the new trend?

We are seeing an increased focus on providing a digital framework to innovations in Social Alpha’s pipeline — the new age hardware devices are enabled with easy-to-use software and are progressively moving towards automation by building ML / AI tools in R&D pipeline. The objective is to provide affordable, accessible (remotely if needed) and high-quality care and it is in sync with the most important problem statements of primary and specialised healthcare. For instance, SA’s portfolio company AI Health Highway is using its digital stethoscope technology to provide access to remote care to over 3000 industry workers at their work site. Blackfrog Technologies, another portfolio startup, is building last-mile cold chain transport solutions that can enable vaccination coverage, monitoring as well as reducing wastage of vaccine. Ubiqare Health provides tele-healthcare solutions for a tertiary care hospital to maintain the continuum of care and treatment of its patients in home-settings. Nurithm Labs is providing solutions to assisted diagnostics for oral cancer and 140-plus skin disorders by way of image analysis. TrustCircle is able to provide access to mental healthcare services via a platform, overcoming the barrier of physical meeting with a therapist. Most of these technologies are using the basic setup of a smartphone and a specialised software — with or without a specialised device. These innovations are augmenting the current capabilities and capacities of our healthcare workforce. So, essentially, by way of technology, we are freeing up hours of practice of the healthcare workforce to focus on human-to human care and deliver more important information to the patients and their families rather than focusing only on carrying out documentation of diagnosis and treatment. For the patients and their families, technology can eliminate the barrier of travel, waiting-room hours and the indirect costs towards accessing a short consultation, and also easily maintain the continuum of medical care by accessing follow-on consultations from home.

Healthcare is now moving towards the primary care model again, where we are deploying the capabilities of our healthcare workforce onto the field (community) and the primary healthcare centres, rather than directing them to tertiary healthcare centres. So, healthcare is now moving closer to the homes of people in remote settings rather than calling patients to a centralised facility for care.

So, with digitisation becoming the buzzword in healthcare delivery systems, are we seeing increased adoption of digital innovations benefitting the end user?

We are at an inflection point and have to still facilitate the actualisation of the abovementioned benefits because only when the innovations are integrated into the new normal, we will see the full scope of benefits. There are multiple challenges on the way. The most common barrier to adoptions in the ‘market’ environment pertain to:

1. Financial considerations: How much it would cost to procure/build the infrastructure to host these innovations, and keep them running? ‘Price’ remains a key constraint, so the design and development of the technology has to optimise for affordability continually.

2. Commercial procurement considerations: What is the cyclic cost saving and added utility benefit compared to conventional / international brand? What are the essential and good to have regulatory approvals for these innovations? While ‘pilots’ opportunities come by frequently, translation into revenue remains a challenge.

3. End-user resistance: The behavioural-shift challenges are more likely to influence the success and integration of solutions. Behavioural shift operates on two levels: One, is for the healthcare workforce to adopt these innovations into their daily working. Even more crucial is their participation in the continuous development and iterations of these technologies to keep them relevant and contextual to the current healthcare system as well as its future trajectory.

The second behavioural shift depends on the consumers’ adoption of technological tools to keep pace with their health and wellness goals. So, what we are looking at is a potentially sustainable marketplace where healthcare service is not just procured in a hospital but also in an online setting. The individual chooses to use data or process their own data towards personal health goals, continually and collectively reducing the ‘healthcare burden’ and avoiding escalation to an acute or emergency situation.

4. Unlock maximum value by minimum disruption: While disruption is celebrated in innovations ecosystem and ‘ease’ of use helps the uptake, but it’s the value created for the engaged stakeholders and the target market that dictates the market share. ‘Shared Success’ and socio-economic opportunities for the community realise and secure success for entrepreneurial ventures.

Pandemic steers healthcare in the right direction was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If a machine could have a best friend, it would be the sensor that Delhi-based startup Occipital Labs Pvt. Ltd — better known as Urja — has developed. There are reasons for the founders, Saurabh Jhamb and Anant Jhawar, to compare it with a fitbit — a smart computing device designed to track important health and activity markers. “Once installed, the sensors start monitoring the health of the machine and begin sending data to a cloud server. A complex algorithm interprets the data and draws a detailed picture of the machine’s performance in real time for the end user,” says Saurabh, the inventor of the technology and a software engineer with specialization in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.

The batteryless, wireless gadget harvests energy from the machine’s power cable in a non-invasive manner — Urja’s patented innovation ensures that the device, like a fitbit, can be installed or removed any time, without forcing the machine to shut down. Interestingly, the sensor does not require any maintenance over the years.

While reading the pulse of the machine, so to speak, the sensor also gathers information that can lead to early identification of a possibility of a breakdown or if the machine requires maintenance in the days to come. These key insights help the user take proactive measures much in advance to stave off a critical shutdown.

“In any manufacturing setup, machines are prone to constant wear and tear. Consequently, the data relayed by the sensors is also dynamic. This is where ML comes into play in interpreting the rapidly evolving information to alert the user to the kind of losses the machine is currently suffering and the magnitude of the losses in the future,” says Anant, an electronics and instrumentation engineer with a grounding in semi-conductor industry.

One may argue that the in-built safety mechanisms in sophisticated machines can minimize damage or identify a snag. Both Anant and Saurabh claim that their algorithm can detect the problem much before a machine’s internal system gets wind of a glitch.

Essentially, the algorithm studies the complex relationship between a machine’s inputs and output in real time to assess Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), which is derived from the machine’s health, how it is being used and the quality of the output. OEE is the best way to identify losses, benchmark progress, and enhance the equipment’s productivity, says Saurabh.

These sensors can be of great help for industries, which run 24/7 and consume maximum energy, such as iron or steel plants, cement industry, plastic factories, and the automotive sector where downtimes/disruptions lead to mounting losses. “Our sensors can be installed with just clamps and require zero maintenance as there are no batteries. They can run as long as the machine lasts. The communication with cloud servers happens through a GSM chip in the sensor or via our own wifi system,” says Anant, adding that their devices help industries become energy efficient, optimise their productivity and improve decision-making in infrastructure investment.

Urja is looking to scale up. “We have been bootstrapping till now and have had a good run with several corporates, where the focus has mostly been on proof of concept. The time has come to further strengthen our technology to expand our footprint,” says Saurabh. Urja is also gearing up to consolidate its go-to-market partnership through standardised channels as manufacturing industries follow an established pattern of engagement. It’s seeking Tata Power’s help to make inroads into the manufacturing industry.

The startup was formed three years back, thanks to a robust alumni network of Indian School of Business of which both Saurabh and Anant are a part. The founders have complimentary skill sets. While Saurabh looks after the technical aspects, Anant takes care of the business side.

Urja has won several awards and competitions, namely, Nasscom Design4India (Category — Connected Intelligence), 2019, IoTNext 2019 (TiE Bangalore), Schneider Electric Global Top 8 Industry Startup in 2018, and Top Startup in Google Cloud Platform Challenge in 2017. With the industrial sector not in the pink of health, Urja sensors can reduce significant economic losses in manufacturing due to unplanned downtime of equipment.

Social Alpha’s role

Urja.io was incubated at Social Alpha’s Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC).

“When the founders approached Social Alpha, their product was at a preliminary stage. Social Alpha provided them with technical help as well as infrastructural and marketing support, connecting them with peers in industries,” says Ganesh Kaveeshwar, the portfolio manager handling Urja.

Social Alpha was closely associated with developing Urja’s business plan, creating the company’s cash flows and financial projections, he says. “We place our bet on early-stage disruptive startups and de-risk the venture through our incubation support. We are glad to see that this has paid off as Tata Power, the industry leader in the segment, made its first ever investment in a startup based on rigorous due-diligence and innovative deal construction.

Urja: Sensors that act as fitbit for machines was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Neither the torrid summers nor the harsh winters prepare the residents of Delhi for the deadly annual assault in autumn when the air turns into a toxic soup of chemicals. A thick layer of smoke from seasonal crop burning in Punjab, parts of Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh envelops the national capital, plunging the already poor air quality into “severe” and “hazardous” categories. According to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of IQAir data, “Delhi sustained an estimated 54,000 avoidable deaths due to PM2.5 air pollution in 2020, or one death per 500 people”.

Regardless of the laws that ban stubble burning, impose fines and authorise arrests, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research estimates about 23 million tonnes of paddy straw torched every year in north India. That’s because farmers racing against time for the next sowing do not have a credible, affordable and accessible alternative. Can Takachar, a Delhi-based startup, founded by Vidyut Mohan, an engineer, and Kevin Kung, an MIT alumnus, clean up the air and protect farmers’ interests?

What’s the Innovation

Takachar has developed a low-cost, small scale, portable reactor that can be set up in remote areas where crop residues are generated. The technology, arguably, reduces particulate matter, volatile matter and CO emissions by more than 95% when compared to open burning of crop residues. The machine takes in all kinds of crop and forest residue and roast them at a high temperature under oxygen-starved conditions. Called Torrefaction, the thermal process involves expunging the low-energy molecules of the feedstock in the form of gases, leaving behind a carbon-rich residue. “Our in-situ solution supplements farmers’ income by up to 25% at the farmgate while saving costs on transportation of crop residue by up to 75%,” says Vidyut, the CEO of the firm that bagged the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship in 2019. “We are on a mission to fight climate change and mitigate close to 700 mn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emission by drastically scaling up the utlisation of waste biomass to produce fuels, fertilisers and other speciality chemicals. The fellowship was a crucial validation of our goals,” he says.

It’s a win-win for all. There is no crop-burning; the farmer is happy with the extra income, and a village-level entrepreneur who sets up the machine can earn between Rs 4 lakh and 5 lakh every year, claims Vidyut. Depending on the feedstock, the carbon-rich output has a wide variety of applications. For instance, rice husk is ideal for fertilisers while coconut shells are best suited to make activated carbons.

After numerous iterations since the idea found articulation in Vidyut’s project for a master’s programme at the Technical University of Delft in Netherlands in 2013–14, the reactor is now on the verge of completion. “We are fabricating the final commercial product called MiniTorr, which we plan to launch in Tamil Nadu this year if Covid permits,” he says. Vidyut’s collaboration with Kevin who had been working on the same idea at MIT for a doctoral thesis accelerated the scaling up of the product. Kevin’s research was funded by Tata Trusts for developing India-specific innovation.

Why Takachar?

“Many of the existing solutions in the market process biomass in a completely inert environment. The cost of these reactors is upwards of Rs 1 crore and can go as high as Rs 10 crore. While they may have a higher yield of carbon-rich products than our reactor, the prohibitive pricing makes them out for reach for rural entrepreneurs. Our innovation has simplified the reactor design to make it affordable and easy to deploy,” says Vidyut.

Takachar is looking at the activated carbon industry in India that deals in water and air-filtration systems. “We are eyeing a Total Addressable Market of Rs 45 crore in this sector over the next five years. The larger objective, however, is to cater to a wide variety of the biomass market,” he says. Some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations by Vidyut estimate the global biomass market size to be USD 52.5 billion as of 2019 while India’s share would be about 10% of that pie.

In keeping with the business roadmap, Takachar has teamed up with a Kenyan company Safi Organics that produces a proprietary fertilizer formulation for local farmers. “Since they will be using our technology to produce fertilizer, we will fabricate a reactor in India and ship it to Kenya,” says Vidyut.

Awards and Acknowledgments

The startup’s first break came in 2018 when it won the Most Innovative Solution award at the Smart Fifty-50 Solutions to Transform India, a competition organized by IIM-Calcutta and the Department of Science and Technology, GoI. It had also aced the Social Alpha Energy Challenge that year. The Echoing Green Fellowship in 2019 brought the founders into a collective of passionate social entrepreneurs who lead transformative change. In all, Takachar had won 10 awards and grants.

Social Alpha’s Role

In the early stages of the company, SA’s role has been invaluable, says Vidyut. “We work out of the Clean Energy Incubation Centre, SA’s energy lab in Delhi. The not-for-profit platform also introduced us to a wide network of startups, government officials, funding agencies and industry players, which, in turn, catalysed into indirect funding and partnerships on the ground. SA was also generous with financial support when we built our first prototype in India,” he added.

Takachar became an obvious choice when it emerged as one of the winners in the SA Energy Challenge in 2018, says Aditi Arya, Senior Portfolio Analyst at SA. “Moreover, the impact potential of the firm’s solution on the climate and its contribution towards the incremental income of farmers in the agriculture value chain aligned with SA’s impact vision,” she says. SA also rendered financial support for legal consultancy vis-a-vis company-related documents, she adds.

Takachar: Offering a lucrative solution to crop burning was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The growing demand for universal access to energy is powered, in no small measure, by the clean energy revolution sweeping through India. While the government’s rural electrification and LPG distribution programmes have met with considerable success, ensuring sustainability of electricity supply down to the last mile continues to face daunting challenges.

It’s startups like Grassroots Energy (GRE) that have overcome institutional and logistical barriers to further clean energy access in rural India. Based in Bangalore, the firm has been generating BioCNG in the villages of Bihar to feed into the solar minigrids, replacing fossil fuels in the process.

Four years ago, GRE began operations transforming dairy waste into energy. Now the focus has shifted to energy-rich agri-waste. “We follow a circular economic model, targeting small and marginal farmers who stand to gain the most from our activities. The symbiotic relationship we share with farmers ensures a steady supply of feedstock,” says Mateen Abdul, co-founder of GRE, who has over 15 years of experience in the automotive sector and the energy-startup space.

Low-cost energy in rural India

BioCNG is an interesting fuel because of its multipurpose usage. It can be utilized for cooking, power generation and heating in diverse segments.

GRE’s plug-flow community-level digesters are easy to deploy and low on operating expenses. The material used for the digesters is tough, durable and capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. GRE uses minigrid as an anchor customer to enter a community. The minigrid commits an assured offtake of the clean fuel. The surplus clean fuel is distributed for cooking, an alternate option for LPG. One BioCNG plant can cater to 10–15 solar minigrids. “Each minigrid can serve 70–80 families, which means 1 plant can power nearly 1000 households. BioCNG being a clean and economical substitute of diesel, is instrumental in bringing down the cost of energy generation by at least 20–30%, the benefits of which are then passed onto the consumers, says Mateen. The on demand high calorific fuel reduces the need for storing solar energy in expensive batteries which needs frequent replacements.

The clean cooking fuel serves about 80–100 households and 15–20 commercial entities. As the clean fuel is locally generated, there are no distribution challenges. BioCNG costs the same as subsidized LPG for households and saves 30% for commercial entities and non-subsidy users.

Thriving on innovations

However, since biogas production is closely dependent on atmospheric temperature, the harsh winter of North India sees a drastic fall in output. To circumvent this problem, GRE uses greenhouse covering material on top of the digesters. Additionally, the startup traps the waste heat from on-site generators and redirects it to the digesters.

GRE’s other process innovation involves a unique set of microbes that decomposes agricultural waste in such a way that it can be used in the firm’s modular and ready-to-deploy digesters. The firm, arguably, uses the world’s smallest biogas enrichment system, having repurposed IIT-B’s water-cooling technology to remove carbon dioxide and oxygen from the gas.

The wide usage of BioCNG is constrained by distributed generation, transportation and lack of low-cost debt. This is where GRE’s patent pending Distributed Biomethane technology and Adsorption storage technology comes into play. “The firm uses an engineered material that soaks up gas three times more than a standard cylinder at the same pressure widely used for bottling,” says Mateen.

Mateen claims that the quality of BioCNG produced by his startup is comparable to LPG and regular CNG, except for the fact that the renewable option is a cleaner and lower-carbon fuel. GRE is lining up investments to deploy 200 plants over the next three years in Bihar and UP.

Awards and acknowledgements

GRE won the Energy Access Booster award in 2020 for developing “affordable biogas production and treatment systems” and distributing BioCNG bottles for cooking requirements. The Mission Innovation Net-Zero Compatible Innovations Framework, a global platform that assesses the impact of clean energy innovations, has ascertained the high environmental impact GRE’s technology can potentially have by 2030. GRE’s Distributed Biomethane technology and Adsorption storage has been awarded and labelled as one of the most energy efficient solutions in the world by Solar Impulse, a European Foundation providing a platform for clean tech innovators, corporations and investors.

Creating jobs, fighting climate crisis

The startup’s waste-to-energy business aims at solving energy poverty and creating employment in rural India. Each of their biogas installations will create 8–10 jobs across the value chain, thus generating livelihood opportunities for locals. By removing waste from the farms, the firm is promoting hygiene and helping to keep diseases at bay. GRE supplies nutrients-rich slurry to these farmers which improves crop yield and regenerates soil while saving costs on chemical fertilizers. Saving on chemical fertilizers has an additional benefit of carbon offset, the fertilizer industry being one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Scaling up

“GRE is in discussions with multiple mini grid operators who are considering alternatives to diesel usage and additional generation sources at affordable prices. Wherever the mini grids are concentrated, we will install BioCNG plants to serve the cluster. The surplus gas will be sold in the community,” says Mateen.

Our partnership with mini grid operators will help to provide clean energy and drive down the cost for end consumers, he adds.

GRE is contributing significantly to help India meet its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Sustainable energy is one of the 17 goals that comprise the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Role of Social Alpha

Grassroots Energy has been a part of Social Alpha’s second energy cohort. “Startups need industry connections to commercialise their technologies to accelerate wider deployment. Social Alpha provides the platform to demonstrate and explore synergies for scale-up with Industry partners. Social Alpha and its Clean Energy International Incubation Centre’s support for energy startups is unparalleled in India,” says Mateen.

“We decided to support GRE looking at the multi-layered impact potential of their solution on the agriculture value chain and rural energy access, as well as on the climate, which fits right into Social Alpha’s impact vision,” says Smita Rakesh, Portfolio Director, Clean Energy and Climate Action, Social Alpha. Apart from innovation, GRE’s USP also lies in their comprehensive approach, designed to support end-to-end operations of the biogas value chain, ensuring sustainability of the plants in the longer run, she says. “Social Alpha has engaged with partner Tata Power to provide GRE opportunities to demonstrate their part as a supplementary energy generation solution for Tata Power’s mini-grids plants. SA is also exploring opportunities to extend its platform for GRE to scale up their operations in Bihar and UP. We are also working with GRE on unlocking blended finance (grants, debt, equity as well as climate finance) by demonstrating financial viability through their business model,” says Smita.

Grassroots Energy’s modular BioCNG plants can solve energy poverty in rural India was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Training focus on environment and the truly marginalised

The third edition of Social Alpha’s clean energy challenge, titled Techtonic — Innovations in Clean Energy, recasts the spotlight on the need for nurturing solutions that can radically improve the quality of life of the underserved communities and fight climate change. Techtonic’s diverse offerings are aimed at fulfilling specific needs of startups who are at different stages on their product-development journey. Smita Rakesh, Portfolio Director, Clean Energy and Climate Action at Social Alpha, tells us how this initiative will push the innovation envelope further in the quest for sustainable development. Edited excerpts…

This is the third edition of the energy challenge. Why has Social Alpha further deepened its engagement with scouting and nurturing clean energy solutions?

In the last two years when we ran what was then called the Social Alpha Energy Challenge, we were open to the entire universe of energy innovations — in access, efficiency, and renewables — with an intention to identify the blind spots in the sector that needed our intervention more specifically, and the areas which we could prioritise to add maximum value. The first two editions gave us a fairly good sense of this and also helped us realise that the challenge was an effective tool for casting a wider net to scout for promising innovations and enterprises. Our experience so far has helped our strategy in evolving to a stage today where we have attracted meaningful partnerships and further defined the value proposition for startups based on their respective and diverse needs. This year, while the challenge is open to the entire gamut of clean energy innovations, we have also prioritised some focus areas where we see maximum impact, both in terms of the quality of life of the underserved communities and climate impact. The four focus areas for this year’s Techtonic are: Energy for Livelihoods; Energy for Thermal Conditioning (space heating/cooling) mainly for underserved communities and areas; Smart Energy Systems (or Smart Automation for Grid and off Grid Applications); and Energy Storage (battery technology).

Given that livelihoods is one of the focus areas of the challenge, how cardinal is it to the energy ecosystem?

Energy for livelihoods or productive use is a critical component of energy access. For breaking the vicious cycle of energy poverty, where the underserved also happen to be coming from the socio-economically deprived and marginalised sections of the society, it becomes extremely important to ensure availability of reliable and affordable energy for economic growth. Our livelihood focus on innovation converges with four of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG1, which talks about eradicating poverty; SDG7, which is about access to clean, modern energy; SDG8, which focuses on economic opportunities for all; and SDG13 is about climate action. Also, Social Alpha’s overarching equity lens ensures that our sectoral and thematic focus embeds in itself constantly working towards levelling the field for the marginalised and underserved sections. Energy access and livelihood, therefore, assume even greater importance in our thesis. We have also noticed that innovation has been limited and incremental in this area because demand is often latent and markets need to be created. Moreover, there is a dearth of patient capital, handholding, and product validation support with the users on the ground as well as capital to scale. As a result, we see a huge gap in terms of the needs at the ground and the solutions available in the market to address them. And this is why, in our bid to push the innovation envelope further, livelihoods is one of the core areas of our focus.

How has Social Alpha stepped up its game in response to the ecosystem challenges in promoting startups?

We have now curated a spectrum of programmes, platforms and offerings in clean energy to meet the various needs of start-ups in different stages. The diversified set of offerings has been possible thanks to our partnerships with agencies of repute in the public and private sectors, and civil society at the grassroots. The challenge will be funnelling the start-ups into one or more of our incubator, accelerators and investment programmes based on their eligibility and mutual fit.

Early-stage start-ups require very strong handholding, incubation, and more of prototype development, testing and product development support. Our early stage incubation program hosted by Social Alpha’s Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) will be addressing exactly these needs. Our advanced-stage start-up incubation programme under the aegis of our Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC) focusses on go-to market support and product commercialisation. A third unique offering is the opportunity to do paid techno-commercial pilots, supported by our Industry partner Tata Power and our grassroots partner CInI for early-stage product validation in the real world context. Social Alpha also runs an SDG-7 accelerator looking at scaling up energy access-based solutions, which is the fourth vehicle of support available to the start-ups that come through this program. And finally, Social Alpha’s investment and seed-funding support is also available to start-ups that require patient capital. We have diversified our range of offerings in trying to ensure that it is customised to the stage and requirement of each start-up. There are special provisions for international start-ups wherein we provide them a soft landing platform at our incubator to help them get familiarised with the clean energy ecosystem in India before diving in.

We have realised that one big gap has been the absence of a fund focusing on climate in India and we are working with a few partners on creating a climate fund, which can provide follow-on investments to clean energy and climate-based tech.

What heartening changes have you encountered in the quest for energy innovations?

It has been an encouraging and promising journey so far. We have seen some very innovative and high potential innovations coming in from many areas, for example in battery storage, biomass to energy, clean cooking and AI-based clean energy solutions. In the last few years we have ensured that social and climate impact remain our focus and we have pro-actively built that into our criteria. Our partners Research Institute of Sweden (RISE) had carried out the assessment of the potential of carbon avoidance of the technologies during the selection process, based on their globally accepted ‘Net-Zero Avoided Emissions Framework’ and estimated a potential to avoid more than 200 mT of Co2 equivalent by 2030. We are approaching climate action through a systems lens and are looking for solutions that have the highest potential to address that.

I am very excited to shared that our portfolio companies have won more than 70 prestigious awards, including UNEP’s “Young Champion of the Earth” which was awarded to Vidyut Mohan from Takachar in the year 2020. Our portfolio has also raised over 9 Cr in follow-on capital from various sources.

Another cause for cheer is that many applications have been coming in from cities other than the metros, and from colleges other than the expected prestigious institutions. This not only shows that the culture of innovation in India is deepening, but also tells us that with greater outreach and a stronger handholding we can significantly contribute to this growing phenomenon. We hope to see more women-led start-ups in clean energy, because not many women co-founders have applied in the previous editions of the challenge.

Techtonic — Treasure trove of clean energy solutions was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Ganga is perhaps the best example of society’s attitude towards waste — where devotion is tainted by wilful blindness to a river’s plight. According to a report tabled in the Lok Sabha in 2017 by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the very river, which is personified as a goddess in Hindu sacred texts, “receives 6614 million litres per day (MLD) of waste water”. The discharge includes waste water from households, sewage water and industrial effluents.

Moving on, 70% of surface water in India is deemed unfit for consumption with huge volumes of untreated water finding its way into rivers, lakes and other water bodies, every day. Meanwhile, organic waste dumped in landfills releases methane into the atmosphere and toxic elements from garbage leach into the soil, polluting groundwater reserves. Environmental degradation aside, the health costs owing to water pollution is estimated to be Rs 470–610 billion per year.

As per capita requirement of water sees an increase due to rapid population growth, over-consumption and contamination threaten to turn water scarcity into a widespread crisis.

Turning to waste to create profound impact

A dire scenario calls for desperate measures, especially since several sewage treatment plants (STPs) and effluent treatment plants (ETP) in the country have either shut down or suffer from frequent breakdowns and sub-optimal performance. The Gujarat-based REVY Environmental Solutions can enhance the capabilities of these plants, helping them deal with organic waste and waste water in a scientific, cost-effective and sustainable manner. No wonder, the founder and CTO of the startup, Dr Vanita Prasad, a renowned environmental biotechnologist with 25 years of experience, describes herself as a “microbe doctor” administering proprietary biomass as medicines to revive moribund facilities.

REVY’s flagship product REVY S-Anaerobic granulated sludge, a consortia of 650 different kinds of microbes, is effective in reducing pollutants by decreasing Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the water. The treated water is a liquid fertiliser, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, and can be used to rejuvenate the soil and improve agricultural output. “India has only 4% of the world’s freshwater reserves, of which 70% is used for farming. After our primary treatment, the water can take care of the country’s irrigation requirements, leading to a better management of a stressed resource,” says Rajneesh Prasad, CEO of REVY.

Anaerobic digestion, a four-step process in which organic matter is broken down by bacteria in the absence of oxygen, requires various strains of bacteria in the right amount for every stage. “If one doesn’t get the balance right, the overall performance of the waste water treatment plant suffers,” he says.

The treatment process using REVY’s proprietary biomass also enhances the generation of biogas, which can be utilised to meet energy demands. “We need to see organic waste and waste water as a resource. “If we manage them efficiently, India can aspire to become an energy-sufficient country,” says Dr Vanita, the recipient of several prestigious awards, including India Israel Innovation challenge, Swachch Bharat Grand Challenge and TiE- BIRAC WiNER awards.

Her foray into waste management is an inspiring story of compassion and foresight that began in the days of research for Ph.D thesis. “Fascinated by immunology, I wanted to design a diagnostic kit for which I had to collect blood samples from hospitals. While interacting with the patients — many of whom were suffering from tuberculosis — I came to know about their miserable living conditions,” she says. Their stories made her realise that she should turn her attention to sanitation to generate a profound and palpable impact in society. “I switched to solid waste management and tried to create value by recovering Hydrogen from and improving the conventional anaerobic process. This was 25 years ago, long before the potential of Hydrogen as a fuel was to gain currency,” she adds.

Later, Dr Vanita headed the R&D unit of an environment consultancy that was dealing in waste water treatment, which furthered her understanding of waste treatment processes. “Early on, I realized that bioremediation is the most eco-friendly and economical way to deal with organic waste and waste water,” she says.

In 2014, she decided to avail of the BIG Grant and the incubation facility offered by GSBTM’s Savli Technology and Business Incubator in Vadodara. “Even though I had the technical know-how, I didn’t have money and infrastructure to carry on with my work,” she says.

In 2016, Dr Vanita received BIRAC’s Bio-Ignition grant of Rs 35 lakh for her project on development of anaerobic granulated sludge. “I was overwhelmed that the Government of India reposed faith in a woman scientist. This recognition fuelled my ambition to make REVY a success,” she says.

REVY Environmental Solutions was founded in 2017. The following year, the company received a BIRAC SPARSH grant to set up a 20 cubic metre treatment plant in Vadodara to demonstrate the technology validation in a larger prototype.

“Today, the startup boasts of at least six products, including seed cultures and biomass growth enhancement formulations (BGEFs) for both aerobic and anaerobic plants which have been validated on field to turnaround non-performing plants and optimize plant performance,” says Rajneesh.

No more crop burning

Dr Vanita has now come up with a solution to crop-burning. Crop remnants can’t be fed to a biological reactor since they contain high percentages of lignin that the bacteria are unable to break down. Biogas plants that use cow dung have also suffered for the same reason — the stubborn particles in the manure give the bacteria a harrowing time. Her formulation can separate the biodegradable parts from lignin. “The biodegradable elements can then be fed into a biogas plant while the lignin can be processed to create light and robust carbon products for industries,” she says.

Five-year milestones

REVY’s patented offerings have elicited encouraging responses in chemical industry, dairy sector, petrochemicals, textile industry, beverages industry, and food and nutraceuticals industry. “We are of the opinion that ‘seeing is believing’ and when plant owners actually see the efficacy of our formulations, it inspires confidence in them,” says Rajneesh.

“We offer live bacteria, which doesn’t contain any redundant material, will consume all the intermediate products and give enhanced performances in terms of increased biogas output and maximum reduction of pollutants,” says Dr Vanita. As part of their marketing strategy, the startup sets up a small prototype of an anerobic plant at the client’s site to offer an improved understanding of their systems and processes.

To expand its footprint nationwide, the Vadodara-based startup will identify and work with channel partners. By and by, it will tap international opportunities through joint ventures and technology transfer.

REVY’s growth potential is closely tied to climate action goals that have renewed the focus on waste management. Both Dr Vanita and Rajneesh are hopeful that industries will eventually become responsible in dealing with the waste they generate. “Already, we are witnessing a remarkable shift from coercion to willing participation,” says Rajneesh while emphasizing that sustainability has now become an imperative for businesses.

Social Alpha’s Role

Social Alpha decided to invest in REVY for two reasons: 1) It has an active waste management thesis; 2) Organic waste in India — from residential, commercial, and industrial sources — is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In fact, the humungous amounts of garbage we generate everyday ends up polluting the soil, air, and waterbodies.

“Apart from these, we were also impressed by how REVY’s proprietary biomass and the startup’s deep understanding of the way waste treatment plants operate, made anaerobic and aerobic waste processes more efficient. We had looked at several biogas and waste treatment plant technologies before zeroing in on REVY and found that many waste treatment plants were mismanaged and existing processes grossly inefficient,” says Ganesh Kaveeshwar, PM, Social Alpha.

Interestingly, the startup had also won SA’s Urban Liveability Challenge in 2019, which secured them seed capital and incubational support. “SA helped them make business plans; create and manage cash flows; and devise strategies for operations and scaling up. We introduced them to a few investors as well as managed their investment round. The grants received after winning the challenge were channeled towards supporting initial pilots and subsidising customers who were wary of introducing REVY’s technologies,” he says. So, far the journey has been good. Most of the customers who have worked with REVY have returned to give them bigger business. As the pilots continue for the next few months, SA hopes that there will be increasing revenue and more market validation for the startup’s solutions.

One of REVY’s core competencies lies in the knowledge and the years of experience that Dr Vanita Prasad brings to the table. “The startup has introduced its products in the market at competitive prices, which has helped the ecosystem — whether it be anaerobic digestion processes in waste water treatment plants or solid waste being digested through biogas plants. In short, REVY has made significant disruptions in the waste management landscape,” he adds.

REVY: Administering medicines to enhance the power of STPs and ETPs was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One of the biggest endorsements for Bionic Yantra came in February 2020, when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that its devices “revolutionized what happens in physical therapy for people with cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury”. There are reasons for such effusive praise. For one, the startup’s twin offerings — the mobile robot and the exoskeleton worn on the leg — help those with extreme paralysis to stand or even walk on the very first day of rehabilitation without additional training.

“It’s purpose-built and 100% fall safe. At the design stage of these machines, we weeded out all possibilities of a fall. This assurance should boost the confidence of people entering therapy,” says Vaidyanathan Narayanan, the director and co-founder of the three-year-old Bengaluru-based firm.

Vaidy, as he is commonly called, gave up a lucrative job in software industry to form the company in 2017 with Shivakumar Nagarajan, who too abandoned a successful career in marketing and finance, to create a deep social impact. There is a personal angle too as Vaidy’s cousin was paralysed with Transverse Myelitis, a rare neurological disorder that interrupts the messages that the spinal cord nerves send throughout the body. “In his case the bottom of the spine had lost all sensation, which is akin to a spinal cord injury,” says Vaidy.

Life-changing devices

Bionic’s intelligent devices can be life-changing for people who have been confined to the bed or wheelchair for long with their bones becoming dense and brittle, muscles getting atrophied, and confidence taking a beating. The mobile robot is a bodyweight support system that will automatically follow the patient once he starts moving. It takes away half of the bodyweight to make standing or walking a lot easier.

“Once the caregiver harnesses the person, the machine lifts the person from the wheelchair at a press of a button and gets him to a standing position. He is now ready to walk and the foot sensors detect this intent by his leaning forward motion and doing a weight shift. The exoskeleton fitted like a suit mimics the leg movement as both robots are designed to work in harmony through a proprietary technology (patented in India and the US). Unlike, the existing solutions in the market, there is no need for crutches or any additional support,” says Vaidy, adding that the devices will bring about a paradigm shift in care settings across the world. It’s ideal in a post-Covid scenario since there is minimum contact with the caregiver, he says.

The built-in AI control system offers personalised care by taking cues from the patient’s recovery rate. To maintain an efficient gait-cycle, it decides how much to move or lift the leg and the length of the stride. “As the patient shows improvement, the machine increasingly allows him to carry his own weight. So, the 50% support in the beginning, gradually decreases till the point he is fully capable of walking on his own,” says Vaidy.

The software collects data from the exoskeleton at the rate of a millisecond. A complex algorithm processes that information to predict how many exercise sessions a person needs to recover or whether he will recover at all.

Making exercise fun

Even as AI calibrates rehabilitation exercises, Bionic has made it fun by gamifying the regimen. Arguably the first of its kind, the exoskeleton is connected to an Oculus VR headset to give the patient an immersive experience of playing a game and incentivising his progress. “We don’t realise but walking involves proprioception — the perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body — with the mind, body and spirit highly involved in the process. When the exercise protocol becomes immersive, the recovery rate drastically improves,” says Vaidy.

Tackling human-in-the-loop engineering challenges

Bionic devices have solved some of the hardest human-in-the-loop engineering challenges. “We got the physical prototype right at the first attempt. At the design stage itself, we made sure that all the inadequacies in the existing solutions are addressed,” he says.

Super-specialised teams worked on different aspects of the innovations such as control systems, mechanical structure and material science. The engineering part was taken care of by Timetooth, a boutique engineering design firm that specializes in ground-up new product design and in developing technologies for aerospace and defence sectors.

“Our biggest advantage was we didn’t have the baggage of history. Almost all the problem definitions and solutions were simulated and tested virtually along with a multi-disciplinary design optimization exercise by the Timetooth engineering team before we ordered for the components to build the device. There is a high level of precision at play here. Very few people in the world can pull off this kind of sophisticated work,” he says, adding that in just 24 months the robot was up and ready.

Like all startups, the founders initially bootstrapped, raising USD 1.8 million from families and friends. “In February 2017, I met Manoj Kumar, the founder of Social Alpha, and the following month he offered seed capital and incubation support. The association with SA brought us a lot of credibility,” says Vaidy.

Bionic’s ground-breaking devices come for a steep price of USD 2,50,000 (approx. Rs 2 crore). “The prices will come down eventually but for now we are eyeing the US and European markets,” he says. The devices attend to a spectrum of neurological conditions, including spinal cord injury and stroke, orthopaedic cases and in post-Covid rehab where the patient’s heart, lungs or brain have been affected. They are going through a clinical trial in National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans). The data collected in Nimhans will be used for FDA regulatory approval in the US and for the European Commission. It will take us two years to hit the US markets, he says.

In 2013, a study conducted by the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation estimated that at least 5.4 million people in the US are living with paralysis. Once the devices reach US shores, Bionic can earn revenue from product sales and annual maintenance contract.

In India the paralytic population figure stands at close to 96 lakh. There is a sizeable elderly population in this country with some form of locomotive impairment who could benefit from this device. Vaidy is confident that leading hospitals can earn revenue from the devices by charging on an hourly basis. Bionic clearly has an edge over other competitors who have tried to repurpose their products for rehabilitation.

Social Alpha’s role

“Bionic Yantra (BY) was an uncharacteristic deal for us. When the founders approached us, the startup was still in an ideation stage and we didn’t have an investment thesis in Assistive Technologies. Under ordinary circumstances we would have declined such a deal as we typically look at some kind of validation before we invest. However, what impressed us most was the resourcefulness of the founders to bring together the best possible partners from across the globe to concoct a winning team. And the proof of the pudding was that within 18 months of our investment, they could realise their vision into a working prototype that they unveiled at Wearacon USA, one of the most reputed wearable robotics event,” says Srikanth Prabhu, Ex- Investment Director in SA.

BY falls in the category of what is called a ‘market-creating innovation’, says Srikanth. “We believed it would disrupt the way rehabilitation is performed across the world and thus possibly unlock new market opportunities both in the developed and developing geographies. This perfectly aligned with SA’s larger philosophy of supporting deep science and tech innovations that have a potential to create non-linear social impact,” he says.

Bionic Yantra: Enabling paralytic patients to walk in a 100% fall-safe environment was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Early October, Nabventures, the venture growth equity fund of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and Social Alpha agreed to invest USD 500,000 (around Rs 3.7 crore) as seed funding in Satyukt Analytics. The satellite data analytics startup had earned the distinction of being “one of the few examples of academic research resulting in a successful commercial venture which can generate financial returns to investors and have a significant social impact as well,” said GR Chintala, chairman of Nabard and Nabventures, defending his decision.

In short, the firm’s activities are both economically viable and farmer-friendly.

Satyukt has been on the roll since inception in July 2018 having won a string of awards and grants, notably the BIRAC-Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) of Rs 48 lakh, the first Social Alpha Quest for Agritech Innovations, and the top honours in National Awards for e-Governance 2020 conducted by the Government of India. To understand why Satyukt’s work is being widely feted, one needs to train sights on rural India where farming is the chief occupation.

Indian agriculture in dire straits

Indian agriculture, once considered a global powerhouse and the primary source of livelihood for 58% of the country’s population, is going through a particularly difficult phase. It is dogged by poor productivity and its most obvious fallout, rural poverty. Grappling with shortage of surface water and depleting groundwater reserves, farmers now must contend with extreme weather conditions and pest attacks brought about by climate change. All these closely inter-connected factors will invariably result in an acute food crisis even as it pushes cultivators into abandoning agriculture.

At this critical juncture, the role of actionable intelligence to determine the quantum of inputs in farming cannot be overstated. This is when Satyukt steps in. Armed with proprietary algorithms, it analyses satellite data and issues advisory that enables farmers to determine crop health and improve crop yield while minimizing the use of precious resources like water. Since this data is mostly derived from public satellites, Satyukt charges a mere Re 1 for an acre, per day.

Core team of competent professionals

The name Satyukt was derived by concatenating the first names of the two co-founders, Dr Sat Kumar Tomar and Dr Yukti Gill. Both come with sterling academic credentials.

Dr Sat, the firm’s CEO, has done Masters in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc); PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources Science, from the same institute; and Post Doc from the Centre d’Etudes Spatiles de la BIOSphere (CSBIO) in Toulouse, France. He has been working in the field of remote sensing for the last 14 years.

Dr Yukti, MD, completed Masters in Organizational Behaviour from Banaras Hindu University, followed by a PhD in Organizational Behaviour from BHU.

Key services and clients

Satyukt’s core team is competent in remote sensing, which sets it apart from the rest of the competition. “We work in two key areas: 1) Crop Health Monitoring 2) Crop Area and Risk Management. The information we provide on the water table and soil moisture at the root level (up to 60 cm beneath the surface) helps determine crop water requirement and better management of irrigation water. The algorithm also provides insights into what the likely produce would be, and the inputs required to improve the yield,” says Dr Sat.

Now, Satyukt has also started giving out pest and disease advisory so that farmers restrict the use of pesticides.

“We specialise in processing multi-satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (microwave band) based data that can be gathered round the year under all weather conditions. Since we work on global satellite data, we have tested our algorithms in Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, UK, US and Latin America. Abroad, very few companies are doing interesting work in the microwave domain,” he says.

Satyukt’s other field of expertise, Crop Area and Risk Management, is valued by the insurance sector as it promptly assesses the loss incurred by farmers due to flood or drought. “Through satellite remote sensing, we can determine the extent of damage in a large area and provide specific information to these companies so that compensation is swiftly disbursed to farmers,” says Dr Sat.

Satyukt mostly provides B2B and B2G agricultural data and services, catering to the needs of Central and state governments, Farmer Producer Organisations, and Agri input and output companies.

It reached out to 10,000 farmers in eastern UP through the network of Social Alpha and PANI, a social development organisation. It has recently signed an MoU with the Telangana government to initiate a pilot project. In collaboration with a Bengaluru-based agri-input company, Satyukt is working closely with pomegranate farmers.

Expanding footprint

Dr Sat is confident about expansion because satellite data is eminently scalable. “We hope to have a pan-India presence in the next 3–5 years,” he says. That’s hardly a tall order in the current circumstances when Indian agriculture desperately needs to adopt practices that uses cutting-edge technology to make farming profitable and sustainable while protecting the health of the environment.

Social Alpha’s role

Social Alpha chose to invest in Satyukt primarily because it was bringing in disruptive technology in the agricultural sector that would benefit farmers and FPOs. “We were mindful of the latest technologies in the field, such as IoT/farm monitoring, but Satyukt was doing the same thing at just a fraction of the existing costs,” says Ganesh Kaveeshwar, the portfolio manager handling the startup. In a short period, it rapidly gained traction among the stakeholders.

Satyukt had also won the SA Quest for Agritech Innovations 2019, under the IAIN (Indian Agriculture Innovation Network) programme, which was jointly organized by the UP government, IIT-Kanpur, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company had to undergo a rigorous evaluation process. After winning the challenge, they were offered incubation at SA. “We helped them with fund-raising and pilot support. They have collaborated with Paani Foundation and Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (Cini) on a pilot project involving farmers in UP. Through workshops organized by SA, the startup got opportunities to connect with industry mentors and agri experts. It was SA that introduced Satyukt to Nabventures,” says Ganesh.

“We also noted that the team was made up of erudite and experienced members who have worked in the remote-sensing domain for 15–20 years and knew how to commercialise such technologies,” he says.

With SA’s support, the startup has productized two of their main technologies: Crop Health Monitoring (CHM) for farmers and Crop Area Risk Monitoring (CARM) for large agri output companies and the insurance sector. CHM is currently being tested by 10,000 farmers in UP, thanks to SA and its IAIN partners.

Satyukt: Analysing satellite data to improve crop yield, conserve water was originally published in Social Alpha on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.