Tech For Change

Relocating Using Tech!

Founded in 2021, ed tech startup FunctionUp operates a pay-after-placement model and trains students in backend engineering, coding, and programming subjects. In 2021, serial entrepreneurs Bharat Gupta and Pritesh Kumar founded ﻿FunctionUp﻿ to bridge the gap between college education and the skills required for a job. Y-Combinator-backed FunctionUp is a placement boot camp-focused backend engineering learning platform, which trains candidates from any background in software development courses.

Up-skilling The Gap Between College Education & Getting A Job!

Bengaluru-based watertech startup Uravu Labs uses solar energy and non-polluting chemical desiccants like Silica to adsorb water from the air, sterilise it, and prepare for consumption. Founded in 2019 by Pardeep Garg, Swapnil Shrivastav, Venkatesh R and Govinda Balaji, Uravu Labs is dedicated to building an ‘atmospheric water generator’ that runs on 100% renewable energy. The water-from-air concept is not new, though, as many startups already operate in the space. But unlike Uravu, most of them use refrigeration as a method to condense air in the atmosphere, which is an expensive process with high energy requirements. Uravu’s method which uses a desiccant is relatively less capital-intensive and energy-intensive and also requires much less maintenance. The desiccant used in the machine has a shelf life of around ten years, and the rest of the components are mostly conventional electronic components like fans and pipes.

Solving India's Water Problem!

An ecopreneur by passion and a professional engineer, Surabhi Shah is responsible for Carragreen's marketing, finances, and product manufacturing. She is passionate about yoga and design. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law team are known for shattering social norms and are on a mission to offer customised, biodegradable, non-toxic, and eco-friendly products at reasonable prices. She established Carragreen in 2018, an eco-friendly startup based in Indore that specialises in biodegradable stationery and packaging options. Pens, pencils, seed paper diaries, and monthly calendars are all part of the product line. Additionally, it offers perforated biodegradable boxes that can be used to pack and transport food items and change into plates and spoons as needed. Wooden spoons called Carraspoons are a popular item. They work to make the planet Earth greener, cleaner, and healthier with their products.

Re-'packaging' Entrepreneurship!

13-year-old Anoushka Jolly, the founder, and CEO of InnerArk Blocktech Private Limited, Anti Bullying Squad (ABS), and Kavach, The Mobile App, is from Gurugram. She defines herself as an 8th grader who loves writing, entrepreneurship, and psychology. When she presented her idea on Shark Tank India, she was the youngest contestant. She has gained attention for her concept for the Kavach app, a tool to assist kids her age in combat bullying in schools and colleges. The awareness-building social initiative called the Anti-Bullying Squad seeks to reduce bullying in real life. This online community serves as a hub for experts who collaborate to plan one-on-one counselling sessions against bullying in schools. The platform was created with the intention of drastically reducing instances of the problem, and according to Jolly, with the assistance of schools, NGOs, and professionals, over 2,000 students from more than 100 schools and universities have benefited from ABS.

The Youngest Contestant On Shark Tank India

What did you do when you were 16? Goofed around, played, and joked? A child prodigy and two-time entrepreneur Krishna Maggo manages an online platform for startups to raise money. When his board exams were postponed to 2021, Krishna founded his first business and used the free time to launch "GrowwVenture," a platform for angel investing. He then concentrated on retail investors and built his second business, "Sateeq," which enables regular people to become investors by contributing as little as Rs. 5000 to startups across India. Sateeq uses an invitation-only method to enroll startups. Krishna's ten-person business goes through a three-step verification process before registering businesses. This entails a startup being scouted and verified by Sateeq investors, followed by a review of investment possibilities. The final step is to hire an outside company to perform a startup's due diligence. Sateeq has registered more than a dozen startups and added more than 5,000 investors to its network in less than a month since the platform's beta launch. Investors like Mumbai Angels, Ivy Capital, Shraddha Sharma, Vaibhav Vardhan, Kiran Mani, Deshpande Startups, and Shark Tank India have already supported these startups.

Making Investment In India's Start-up Ecosystem Accessible To Everyone!

OPEN is a neo-banking startup based in Bengaluru that is focused on small businesses, enabling them to manage cash flows, automate accounting and get easy access to credit lines. The account has all the tools that are required by a small business to send and receive payments, combined with an AI-based accounting engine that automates bookkeeping and expense management. Apart from enabling businesses to run their finances effectively, the platform also offers APIs for developers to integrate banking and payments into their business workflows. Tune in to the conversation with Anish Achuthan and Kay to get an insight into the world of neo-banking.

India's 100th Unicorn & How They Did It!

Meta (formerly Facebook) organised a creator meet-up in Bangalore, to celebrate creators from Karnataka, and the way they are using Reels as a global stage to grow and be discovered. In this episode of Tech for Change, host Kay Machado is in conversation with Mr Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Meta to talk about how Reels are changing the way content is created on Instagram and how reels are giving regional players a global stage.

How Reels are changing the way content is created on Instagram

Global warming is real and sustainable development is the only way around it and CCAMP is on a mission to bring it to life. The Bengaluru-based research foundation bagged the National Technology Business Incubator Award. The sustainable development-focused firm ‘Sea6Energy’, which uses seaweed to create plant health bioactives, was incubated by C-CAMP as well as ‘Bugworks’ in the healthcare sector that focuses on next-generation broad-spectrum antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Bagging the National Technology Business Incubator Award!

So, you have decided to establish a start-up. You have presented your ideas to investors, you have the groundwork ready, as well as a list of potential employees. But where do you go from there? How do you navigate the messy world of taxes and paperwork and laws surrounding businesses? Udita Pal and Ankit Parasher realised that there is a great need among early-stage startups to manage their finances, and set up the neo-banking platform SALT to cater to this specific gap in the market. Tune in to the conversation with Udita, Ankit and RJ Kay as the founders break down how SALT helps MSMEs find their footing and the future of this venture.

How can we remove the mundane tasks that hinder the creation of a start-up?

Soraj Dhanai and A Vijayarajan founded Innaccel. The company uses Biodesign to identify and validate critical unmet needs in India through a 3-4 month clinical immersion at a partner hospital. They have designed products like an AI-powered fetal heart rate monitor for mothers in labor or after 36 weeks of gestation. It claims to be more accurate, reliable and easier to use than conventional heart rate monitors. In addition to this, they have also introduced a portable device that can provide breathing support to infants with breathing difficulties at a very low cost. Tune into the conversation between RJ Kay and A Vijayarajan, to find out more about this company that makes healthcare devices accessible and affordable for the general public.

Trends in Healthcare That You Never Saw Coming!

Waste is the biggest problem that India is facing right now, and there are about 1.4 lakh tonnes of solid waste generated every day. Recykal, hopes to solve that problem by unlocking a circular economy, where waste is also used as raw material for more products. The Hyderabad-based firm has a hyperlocal infrastructure to connect waste collectors in the most effective way possible using technology. It was also recognised as Tech Pioneer 2022 by the World Economic Forum. Tune into the conversation between Chetan, Vikram and Kay to find out the reasons Recykal was started, and the responsibilities of both the government and the public in waste generation and recycling.

Building The Circular Economy Of Waste With Tech!

With global warming and climate change being the most pressing issues today, businesses are hurrying up to reduce their carbon footprint. With this in mind, Saurabh Saraf and Ankit Mathur founded OffsetFarm, which is building on the Polygon blockchain, enabling investors to pre-finance climate projects that are listed on the platform. The investments are represented by NFTs called SPROUT, along with a token called OFFSET that is equivalent to one tonne of CO2 saved. The Singapore-registered startup has a seven-member team, including the founders, and it aims to help developers and investors in the carbon market by leveraging the use of blockchain. Join in on the conversation between the founders and Kay as they share their experiences, and their plans for the company. Ankit Mathur and Saurabh Saraf are co-founders of the OffsetFarm. They are both alumni of the Delhi College of Engineering, and founded the company to offer a platform for both project developers and investors.

The Carbon Finance Market Just Got A Tech Upgrade!

In the past, there have been several accidents at places like construction sites and mines, which have all been caused by lack of safety infrastructure. These accidents cost people their lives, and families their only sources of income. Blue-collar workers are sent into dangerous places, sometimes armed with only a helmet. But what if there is a way to improve the safety helmet, by enabling it with technology and making it easier for the wearer and the supervisors to better look out for their wellbeing? This train of thought was what inspired Pulkit Ahuja to found Proxgy Technologies, a B2B and B2G startup that makes custom safety helmets. Based in Gurugram, Proxgy has been in touch with the Government and several private organisations for IoT enabled smart helmets. Their idea was appreciated for its innovativeness, and even received funding when they went on the show, Shark Tank India. Tune into the podcast as Pulkit explains how to helmet improves the lives of blue-collar workers, by making a dumb plastic helmet so much safer, and how he thinks technology can be used for the good of people. Pulkit Ahuja is the founder and CEO of Gurugram-based startup Proxgy. He is also the author of two books, Googled by God and Risk Management in Basel. He completed his bachelor’s in computer science engineering from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and received a post graduate diploma in management and finance from Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, and is currently building new things everyday at Proxgy.

The Future Of Safety In India Using Tech!

Legal processes in India can seem long, daunting and hopelessly complicated for the average person. 23-year-old lawyer Shreya Sharma took this on as a challenge and set out to simplify all things legal by launching her own start-up, Rest the Case. The Pune-based company provides a media platform that serves two purposes: one, it simplifies complex legal jargon, and two, it provides templates for legal agreements and contracts that are customisable to the person’s needs. The primary aim of the platform, however, is to connect their clients with a lawyer that will be able to solve their specific problem, be it divorce, copyright, or property disputes. Tune in to the conversation between Shreya Sharma and RJ Kay as she shares her journey and how she thinks technology and the legal world can be integrated to better serve people. Shreya Sharma is the founder of Pune-based legal startup Rest the Case. She completed her Bachelor’s in Law from Cardiff University in the UK. She founded the company to provide a unified legal platform for the benefit of lawyers, clients and law students.  India's growing legal services market was valued at $1.3 billion in 2018. 

'All Rise' For The New Tech In The Legal System!

Very often technology is used for both, good and bad things. There is a constant flux between these two which can cause you to lose faith in technology. Tech for change will aim to restore that faith. Radio One radio host, Kay will introduce you to some innovative companies and go-getters who have used technology for the social good, social change and impact. Tune in to this podcast to find out how tech is changing the world for the better. This is a Radio One production, brought to you by HT Smartcast.

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Tech For Change

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