Sustainable Futures: Meet the 5 Greentech Startups from Conquest, BITS Pilani's 20th Cohort Shaping a Greener Tomorrow
Conquest aims to support India’s most promising early-stage ventures through an intensive seven-week program, offering resources, mentorship, and equity-free grants.
India's startup ecosystem is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by innovation, increased funding, and a supportive environment. Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai have emerged as key hubs in this vibrant landscape. In May 2024 alone, Indian startups raised an impressive $1.3 billion, with early-stage funding particularly active across sectors such as e-commerce, fintech, and greentech.
In this thriving environment, Conquest, BITS Pilani’s flagship student-run startup accelerator, is showcasing a promising cohort of twenty-seven startups from its 20th batch. Conquest aims to support India’s most promising early-stage ventures through an intensive seven-week program, offering resources, mentorship, and equity-free grants.
This year Conquest is dedicated to fostering innovation in sustainability through its specialized sustainability track in partnership with Pepsico. This track aims to support early-stage ventures focused on environmental impact and green technology. Let’s take a look at India’s most-promising Green-tech ventures that are a part of the Conquest ‘24 Cohort.
GreenGo Agro Technologies Pvt Ltd (Purple Farms)
Founded by: Brahmmjyot Singh Kalsi and Satya Raju
Founded in: 06/2018
Sectors: Agri-Tech
Headquarters: Ahmedabad
Purple Farms, based in Ahmedabad, is revolutionizing farming with its Fogponics technology, the world's first commercial smart indoor vertical farm using this method.
Fogponics is a soilless farming technique where a 'fog' is sprayed directly onto the roots, using up to 97% less water and 99% less land than traditional methods. Launched in 2018 by GreenGo Agro Technologies Pvt Ltd, Purple Farms addresses food shortages and climate change challenges.
Currently, Purple Farms is building an indoor vertical farm in Ahmedabad, spanning 11,000 square feet with an annual output of over 80 tons, enhancing sustainable farming practices and productivity.
Founded by: Nitin Jain, Samir Sharma
Founded in: 12/2022
Sectors: Agriculture
Headquarters: Meerut
Teo Ventures aims to create an ecosystem to enhance India's soil organic carbon. The process involves converting organic residue into biochar and blending it with other residues to create a biochar-based soil enhancer. This enhancer is provided to farmers to increase soil organic carbon and reduce the use of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) fertilizers.
Generating Carbon Credits is a complex process requiring clear evidence of dMRV (Digital Measuring, Recording and Verification) of Biochar production and application process. Teo Ventures brings on a digital tech wrap including dMRV for the Farmer Groups to aggregate generation and sale of Carbon Credits as well as BCSE.
Farms in Meerut using SunCarbon™ have experienced significant improvements. Pea production, Cabbage Production and grain size showed substantial increase. Additionally, pest and disease infestations were reduced by 70-80%.
Founded by: Gayatri Kailas Jadhav, Aditya Puppala
Founded in: 04/2020
Sectors: Automotive, Logistics
Headquarters: Pune
Intra-city deliveries are a rapidly growing market segment, driven by the demand for efficient, eco-friendly urban logistics. As cities become more congested and environmental regulations tighten, compact electric vehicles offer a sustainable alternative for businesses, reducing carbon footprints and improving delivery efficiency.
Speedloop Auto is pioneering India's first zero-emission micro commercial vehicles, setting a new benchmark in sustainable urban transportation. Their focus is on creating right-sized electric cargo vehicles tailored for intra-city deliveries, contributing to a cleaner, greener future for India's bustling cities.
The Pune-based startup has already attracted early interest from multiple dealers, with over 1,000 vehicles ordered and more than 100 currently in use on the streets of Pune.
Founded by: Deven Sharma, Saurabh Kumar
Founded in: 07/2022
Sectors: Automotive
Headquarters: Bengaluru
Electric motorcycle companies face hurdles like limited battery range, insufficient charging infrastructure, and higher costs. Enthusiasts often prefer gasoline engines, with range anxiety and long recharge times deterring buyers.
E2svd introduced India's first hybrid electric motorcycle. Their Strong Hybrid system, with four patents and two unique designs, allows operation on engine power, battery power, or both, addressing range anxiety and emissions.
E2svd's motorcycle has shown best-in-class pickup and mileage, bridging the gap between traditional petrol and fully electric bikes.
Founded by: Lokesh Puri Goswami, Kunjpreet Arora
Founded in: 2020
Sectors: Social Impact
Headquarters: Udaipur
The clay brick industry significantly contributes to air pollution in India, accounting for up to 9% of the nation's carbon emissions. It also consumes large amounts of fertile soil, coal, and water. India faces a major waste issue, being the world’s third-largest generator of waste, much of which is non-recyclable plastic that often ends up in water bodies or is incinerated.
Angirus, a startup specializing in sustainable construction materials, addresses these problems with its patented technology that turns industrial and plastic waste into high-quality bricks called Wricks. These damp-proof bricks can lower construction costs by up to 20% and serve as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional materials.
The company has made notable progress with projects in various Indian cities, including Srinagar, Udaipur, Indore, Chennai, and Bangalore. Angirus reports significant achievements, such as reducing CO2e emissions by 1000 tons, recycling 210 tons of waste, and conserving over 70 tons of water by replacing 70,000 clay bricks with Wricks.
These five are just a glimpse of the 27 groundbreaking startups that secured a spot in Conquest’s 2024 cohort. With Conquest’s offline week approaching, running from June 5th to 11th in Bangalore. The renowned “Demo Day” is set to happen on 11th of August, where the cohort of Conquest will engage in competitive pitching in front of a board of jury. If speaker sessions, panel discussions and network opportunities sound interesting to you click here to learn more about Demo Day.