Right Now - Diving Deeper into the Startup Ecosystem Startup Indian

In this episode we speak with Kaushik Kappagantulu, the founder of a Hyderabad based Agritech startup ⁠Kheyti⁠⁠, that’s been creating waves in the Greenhouse space. Kaushik passionately talks about the impact of climate change on Indian farmers, how their Greenhouse-in-a-box helps to increase farmers’ resiliency to climate change while earning higher incomes, what challenges they faced while trying to drastically reduce the cost of their product and where the sector is headed.

This episode is a part of our India Agritech series where we dive headfirst into India’s Agritech value chain to break down – what startup founders have been creating and how it’s impacting Indian farmers, and of course to get more people talking about it.

Read more about our endeavors in India's startup ecosystem at ⁠www.startupindian.com⁠⁠.

In the ever-evolving landscape of agriculture, technology is reshaping the way farmers cultivate their fields and tend to their livestock. Enter Farm IoT devices, the silent revolutionaries that are transforming traditional farming into a smart, data-driven endeavor. These smart devices collect a wealth of data, from weather conditions to soil quality, enabling farmers to make informed decisions, optimize resources, reduce wastage and increase productivity.

In this episode we speak with ⁠Shailendra Singh⁠⁠, the founder of a Bengaluru based Agritech startup ⁠Yuktix⁠⁠, that’s been creating waves in the Farm IoT space. Shailendra passionately talks about the need for such devices, the impact they can create on the ground, how their venture whipped up novel solutions, and where the sector is headed.

This episode is a part of our India Agritech series where we dive headfirst into India’s Agritech value chain to break down – what startup founders have been creating and how it’s impacting Indian farmers, and of course to get more people talking about it. Read more about our endeavors in India's startup ecosystem at ⁠www.startupindian.com⁠⁠.

In this episode we speak with ⁠Santosh Nair⁠, the founder of a Bengaluru based Agritech startup ⁠MiklensBio⁠, that’s been creating waves in the Crop Biologicals space. Santosh passionately talks about the sector’s woes, how his startup whipped up novel solutions, and where the sector is headed.

This episode is a part of our India Agritech series where we dive headfirst into India’s Agritech value chain to break down – what startup founders have been creating and how it’s impacting Indian farmers, and of course to get more people talking about it.

Read more about our endeavors in India's startup ecosystem at ⁠www.startupindian.com⁠.

In Oct'21 Azim Premji wrote about ‘Why and How India is facing its most dire education emergency’, which highlighted the problem of inaccessibility of quality education by the underprivileged, especially during the pandemic. For us, this was a trigger. As we thought more on this subject, we realized that India's education system is fraught with many more challenges like – the traditional textbook oriented approach of teaching, inadequate remuneration of teachers, excessive academic pressure on students, and many more. And now, we’re wondering,


Can edtech’s for-profit endeavors ever solve the problems faced by the underprivileged?
Have edtech companies really been solving India’s education problems?
How grave is the problem of poor remuneration of teachers in India?
Is there any startup working to address any of the problems?

To get a closer look at this, we had an interesting conversation with the co-founder of an Indian edtech company that is working to solve one such problem. Here are the questions on which Sahil Makker, co-founder of Suraasa, gave his perspective:


Problems faced by the stakeholders of India's education system
Can for profit endeavors ever solve the problem of 'inaccessibility of quality education by the underprivileged?'
'Teachers are often underpaid', how grave is this problem in India?
What is Suraasa doing to solve this problem?
Will NEP 2020 help you catapult in your journey?
Are the edtech companies doing a good job in addressing the problem of 'traditional approach to learning'?

Have you seen those small objects that hover in the air? That look like helicopters, definitely sound like one but can only fit probably a mouse in it. Well in common parlance they’re called Drones and it’s alright if you haven’t seen one yet. Because in a short while they’re going to be all around you.

Yes, Startups, Legacy Businesses and Governments are all working together to build the Drone Industry in India. But among all this, we’re wondering,


Who can fly a drone in India?

Are they safe enough?

And what is the Government doing about it?


If you’re curious too, tag along with Ritwik to the conversation, as he converses with John, the founder of the Indian Institute of Drones.

We know you’ve been hearing a lot about SPACs and how it has taken over the world of IPO by a storm. And probably you even googled it up and read a word or two about what it means, so that you’re not all lost when your friends bring it up in a conversation. But there’s little out there that tells you as to why, as an Indian, any of it makes sense. Because afterall if Virgin Galactic, a US company, raises capital in a new way and gets itself listed on the US stock exchange, how on earth does it have any relevance to you. Right?

So allow us to tell you where India lies amongst all the buzz around SPACs, whether such a concept exists in India and if not, how can it be made possible.

This conversation dives deeper into some important questions about SPACs:


Can you explain the concept of SPACs in simple words?
So how is the SPAC route different from the usual IPO route?
But where is India with all of this right now? Can a similar structure be adopted in India?
What’s wrong? What needs to be changed?
So if India is aware of the opportunity in hand or rather the opportunities that are slipping away, why aren’t the regulators taking steps to remove these hurdles?
How have the Indian Startups & Startup Founders reacted to all the buzz around SPACs?
So is that it? We keep sitting here, while the Government is stuck at the drawing board and the Indian Startups go for US listing?