Drones that spray pesticide on farmland, robotic vehicles that collect dust from roads and help pick the right item in warehouses, and planter boxes that clean polluted air inside homes. These were some of the innovations that were on display at ‘Elevate 100’, a startup initiative by the government of Karnataka.
Around 500 startups pitched their products and services to an audience of top business executives, government officials and investors at the event on Tuesday.
“We are trying to find the 100 most innovative companies in the State,” Minister for IT, Biotechnology and Tourism Priyank Kharge had said in a recent interview. The government is looking not only in Bengaluru but also in Mysuru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, and other places.
The goal is to turn these fledgling ventures into successful businesses. The initiative will give these companies access to the government’s ₹400 crore startup fund. It would also offer mentoring from industry experts, idea validation, advisory, and legal support.
Most entrepreneurs said they came to ‘Elevate 100’ looking for venture capital. Despite developing innovative products, getting access to funding to scale up their ventures is one of the biggest challenges, they said.
“We need seed funding to commercialise our products,” said Varadendra Desai, 23, a product engineer at SkyKrafts, based in Hubballi.
The startup makes unmanned aircraft for agricultural applications, such as spraying pesticides.
Besides funding, Prakash Hosadurga, the 39-year-old founder of Triangle Innovations, which has developed a low-cost vehicle that collects dust from the road, is eyeing various municipal projects in which workers use traditional carts.
“We need at least ₹7 crore to scale up,” said Ravi Shankar R., a manager at Resonate Systems. The company has built a customised router that allows a Wi-Fi connection to run for up to four hours when the primary power source is lost. The company has also developed a gadget that can be embedded in motorbikes to charge gadgets such as a smartphone.
Another company, Greendzine Technologies, has developed a battery-operated trolley that makes picking products in warehouses easier and reduces human error. Athreya Jayaprakash, a design engineer at Greendzine, was at the event to build “visibility and network” for the company.
“The main challenge is raising funds,” said Prasanna Bhat, a 34-year-old research engineer at Drone Aerospace Systems which is eyeing India’s defence market.
We’re the local guerillas: Ola CEO
Bhavish Aggarwal, chief executive officer of homegrown cab-aggregator Ola, on Tuesday compared the competition with its rival Uber to that of Vietnam war, where the worldwide ride-hailing colossus was the U.S. military fighting with local guerillas.
“Let the Americans come, let them carpet bomb the country. But we are the local guerillas,” said Mr. Aggarwal during a fireside chat with Mindtree executive chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan at the State government’s ‘Elevate 100’ event.
Uber, which has picked the head of Expedia, Dara Khosrowshahi, to be its new chief executive, considers India as a priority market.
The San Francisco-based firm had said in a recent statement that the firm had completed 500 million rides in India within less than four years of operations in the country.
