Green Business Podcast

Taps were first used in the Roman Empire. Designed to gush water, they reflected a time when rivers and ponds were endless. Today, taps have evolved with sleek designs, motion sensors, and temperature controls. But they still share one thing with their Roman ancestors: they gush water as if it’s unlimited.

With 10 billion taps worldwide, the potential for saving water is immense. Adding a water saver to each tap could conserve billions of liters daily and pay for itself within weeks through lower water bills. Yet, the market is flooded with unreliable imports, with no clear leader in this space.

Enter Earth Fokus, a company striving to be the go-to brand for durable, and sleek looking water savers. Their innovative designs create the sensation of gushing water while drastically reducing the water flow.

I enjoyed speaking with Arun and Rishi, co-founders of Earth Fokus. We discussed:

  The Zero Water Day in Chennai and how it became a turning point for Earth Fokus.

  Surviving the challenges of COVID-19.

  The power of engineering and design in tackling sustainability issues.

Ever wondered why even though we manufacture electric scooters and cars right here in India, we end up importing their electronic powertrain components? Well, there's a fascinating reason behind it. You see, the heart of these vehicles, the motor controllers, often relies on imported semiconductors and PCBs. It's this aspect that sometimes makes it challenging for our Indian products to go head-to-head with their imported counterparts. But is this the absolute truth? Maybe not.

In today's episode, I had the  opportunity to chat with Bala from Anuvega Powertronics (https://apowertronics.com/), who is flipping the script. While the notion might be that Indian companies can't stand their ground against imported motor controllers, Bala is betting on a different outcome, especially in the mid-range market. He's targeting applications in light commercial vehicles, passenger cars, and even electric vehicles in mining and material handling.

What fuels his confidence? Well, it's the legacy behind Anuvega Powertronics. Their parent company, Anuvega Technology, boasts a six-year journey of supplying motor controllers for defense and missile applications. Bala's point is intriguing: Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) might just prefer a domestic partner who can fine-tune controllers to perfectly fit Indian conditions.

Now, don't get me wrong—it's a tad early to predict if his crystal ball will be accurate. Their product is still in the process of being crafted and rigorously tested. But let me tell you, delving into the world of motor controllers during our conversation was an absolute blast. We dived into some captivating topics, including:

1. market potential for high-end motor controllers.
2. How these controllers square up against their imported rivals in terms of competitiveness.
3. The remarkable advantages that come hand-in-hand with a business legacy.

Meet Shubham Singh from CRASTE (https://craste.co/),  a company that turns rice straw into beer cartons and furniture! Who knew that something usually burned in the fields could become so useful? With his expertise in chemical engineering and his sister's unwavering support (because let's face it, who else would put up with his crazy ideas?), Shubham has turned agriculture waste into something way more exciting than just compost. Craste's proprietary technology removes the silica that prevents rice straw pulp from being used in a variety of applications, creating a huge opportunity to create value-added products.

It took Shubham nearly four years and some grant money to set up a pilot factory where he is building value-added products for furniture and packaging applications., These products have been used by companies such as Ikea and Nestle. Shubham and I had a fascinating conversation about the following

1.    Origin story of Craste

2.    How CRASTE rewards farmers for not burning their crops

3.    Building differentiated products

4.    Writing a winning grant proposal

Air conditioners are notorious for being power hogs. And, while IOT is well-known for providing analytics about power wastage, it usually requires someone on the ground to control the AC to reduce power bills.

Rohith from Zodhya is combining IOT, AI, and good old hardware to create a suite of products that eliminate the need for manual intervention to bring in energy savings. Its first product is an AI- based air conditioning control device that can be installed on any AC and reduces the unit's electricity consumption by up to 40%. 
Rohith founded Zodhya in 2017 with his friends Sharath and Aditya, shortly after graduating from IIT Madras. They iterated for four years before commercialising their product in 2020.  The company has completed more than 20 implementations in offices, supermarkets, and hospitals and are now looking to grow rapidly. We had a fascinating conversation about

1.    Journey of Zodhya from an automation service provider to a product company

2.    Using AI to reduce manual interventions to save energy

3.    Challenges of scaling up

4.    Fund raising at seed stage

Do listen and share your feedback.

In this episode we have Vikash kumar Jha , co founder of Rukart Technologies (https://www.rukart.org/) which provides sustainable cooling solutions for small holder farmers. Rukart’s flagship product is a subzee cooler, that can keep vegetables fresh for up to a week, without needing any electricity or even solar power.

Vikash founded Rukart immediately after finishing his MTech at IIT Mumbai in 2016. IIT Mumbai also gave him a grant to develop green innovations for small farmers, which led to the creation of the first prototype of the Subjee cooler. Since then, the Subjee cooler has gone through several iterations and is now used by over 800 farmers and vegetable shops.  We cover the following:

1.     How Vikash and Sharayu founded Rukart

2.     Why community cold storage solutions don’t work for small farmers

3.     Different use cases of Subjee cooler

4.     Unit economics of Subjee cooler and Rukart’s marketing strategy

5.     Rukart’s growth plans 

Many of us who live in apartments are not able to access solar power, as we have limited roof space to install solar panels. Samuel Mathew from SundayGrids enables us to buy a portion of a solar power plant from anywhere in India and use it to lower our power bills.

Mathew along with his friends Naseer and Tarun started SundayGrids, in 2020 by setting up a pilot project of 5 kilowatts which was subscribed to by 45 customers. The project has been running for 2. years and SundayGrids is now looking to scale.

While fractional asset ownership is gaining popularity, with several startups facilitating access to this new investment class, SundayGrids stand out, due to the simplicity of its offering; the promise of lower power bills through solar.

Mathew and I had an interesting conversation about

1.     How he and his friends founded Sunday Grids

2.     Business model of SundayGrids

3.     Regulations governing digital solar

4.     Opportunities and challenges for scaling SundayGrids

 An electric scooter typically takes up to 5 hours to fully charge. Ergon Labs' Ashwin hopes to reduce the  charging time to just one hour, all without the use of any fast-charging infrastructure. Ergon chargers are built into the scooter and work with our regular 15 ampere socket that we use at home. Ashwin believes that his technology will make EV scooters more affordable because quick and easy charging will reduce range anxiety and battery size.

Ashwin studied mechanical engineering at NITK Surathkal, then he worked at Rimac Automobili in Croatia where he was part of the team that built the fastest electric car in the world. He returned to India in 2019. and that’s when ergon was born. We cover the following:

1.    How Ashvin founded Ergon chargers

2.    Motivations for OEMs to integrate Ergon chargers with their scooters

3.    Use cases for fast charging solutions for electric scooters

4.    Battery swapping and fast charging

5.    Can electric scooters be made cheaper, by reducing the battery size and enabling easy fast charging

Did you wear kolhapuri chappals along with Kurta pyjama for Diwali celebrations?  I bet you already   put your chappals away until the next Diwali. Indian ethnic footwear is only worn on special occasions because it is uncomfortable, and can’t withstand daily grind.  Lakshya Arora from DesiHangover (https://www.desihangover.in/) is on a mission to reinvent ethnic footwear, make it durable, fashionable and environment friendly.

Lakshya and his cofounders started the company in 2014, with a dream to create a product that marries our traditional art forms with fashion and can be worn at Times square. And they have made some progress, Desis now come in 50 designs, are sold in India, Malaysia, Singapore and US and support 150 artisans.

Lakshya and I had an interesting conversation about

·       How Lakshya and his co-founders Abha and Hitesh started DesiHangover

·       The sustainability of leather shoes

·       How Desi- hangover is creating a brand and winning over customers

·       How to successfully sell a handcrafted premium footwear online

CSR and ESG were once used interchangeably, and mostly referred to programmes for underserved communities (for example- water coolers in village schools). This information was typically kept in excel spreadsheets and was reviewed near reporting deadlines. However, net zero pledges are changing ESG reporting. Organizations must now continuously measure their carbon footprints because regulators, investors, suppliers, as well as millennial customers, want to know their green credentials. It's no surprise that ESG tech is a growing opportunity, with investors across the world queuing up to invest in ESG tech companies.

My guest today is Satish  Ramchandani, co-founder of Updapt, which is hoping to capitalise on the growing ESG tech opportunity. Updapt seems to have right founding team; Satish is a chartered accountant who spent over 7 years at CRISIL heading business development for SME and CSR rating solutions, so he knows a thing or two about enterprise sales. Mithun, his cofounder, is an ESG expert and former Thompson Reuters ESG analyst. The company is funded by CIIE Accenture Ventures, has 50 employees, and currently serves over 40 clients in India and around the world.

We had a fascinating conversation about the following

1.       How Satish started Updapt

2.       ESG tech market opportunity

3.       Complexity of measuring carbon emissions

4.       Entry barriers and competition from ERP/other software solution providers

5.       Choosing right ESG reporting software

People usually squirm or reach for pest control when they hear the word "insect."

However, insects are food for birds and chickens and it seems they are their favourite food, just as Mango  is for many of us.  Since animals are now commercially farmed, and have no access to natural food such as insects, they must eat man made feed. Consider exchanging Mango for some diet food. 

Loopworm’s Ankit Bhagria is trying to restore natural order by enabling insect-based feed for animals and saving land and forest that are used to produce conventional feeds.  Since insects love food waste (which is why cockroaches infest kitchens), Loopworm is also able to redirect food waste from landfills to feed it to insects.

Ankit founded Loopworm along with his classmate Abhi, right after his engineering at IIT Roorkee. Loopworm farms Black soldier Fly (BSF), which is then processed to make poultry and pig feed. It has recently raised its seed round to start commercial scale operations. Ankit and I had a very interesting conversation about

1.       How Ankit Started Loopworm

2.       Why is insect farming more environment friendly than Soya and other conventional feeds

3.       insect-based feed’s competitiveness vis a vis conventional feed

4.       Loop worms’ business model & its plan to scale up 

5.       Hacks for raising capital for a social start up