In 2023, a wave of visionary startups emerged, pushed by a robust mission — to safeguard our planet, uplift rural communities, and pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare. They sparked a brand new period of hope and progress, the place innovation turned a beacon of constructive change for a brighter future.

The Higher India brings to you an inventory of impactful startups that owned the yr!

1. JioVio Healthcare

Madhurai-based Senthil was an electronics and communications engineer who has labored with corporations like Samsung and Qualcomm for nearly a decade. Nevertheless, when his sister bought pregnant, he realised that there existed an enormous healthcare hole for pregnant ladies in rural India.

In rural areas, about 54 % of moms attend the beneficial visits, in comparison with 68.1 per cent in city areas. To deal with this hole, he began JioVio Healthcare, an IoT-based maternal healthcare startup that gives early threat monitoring companies at residence.

Since 2019, the startup has catered to greater than 30 lakh moms from 14,328 villages in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Kerala. By way of their 1,000-day programme, he has helped greater than 7,000 high-risk pregnancies thus far.

2. Daraksha Ecosystems

Whereas thermocol is a identified visitor at birthday events, faculty exhibitions and craft courses, not many know the dangerous results it has on the surroundings. Arpit Dhupar, a 30-year-old IIT graduate and engineer from Delhi is trying to vary this actuality with a brand new biodegradable materials.

Together with his startup Daraksha Ecosystems, he innovated biodegradable packaging materials out of crop stubble waste. Each bit of the fabric produced, says Dhupar, “prevents 250 tonnes of thermocol from going into landfills”.

He has procured over 250 tonnes of paddy stubble from 100 acres of farms in Punjab and Haryana, whereby the farmers are paid Rs 2,500 per acre.

3. Banyan Nation

Plastic waste has been a mounting downside for a lot of rising nations. Whereas many startups in India have been bringing modern alternate options to plastic, there’s a Hyderabad-based startup that converts produce premium-quality recycled polyolefin plastics (PE and PP). This can be utilized in high quality packaging purposes reminiscent of shampoo, detergent and lotion bottles.

Co-founded by Mani Vajipey and Raj Madangopal, it was at Columbia Enterprise College, the place Mani, who was pursuing an MBA, got here up with the concept for Banyan Nation. He discovered that aside from water bottles, he knew that the majority plastic waste in India was downcycled.

The startup has produced over 300 million FMCG bottles from recycled plastic previously yr for main purchasers like Hindustan Unilever, Shell, HPCL and Reckitt. Additionally they recycle 1,000-1,200 tonnes of plastic waste per 30 days at its recycling facility in Hyderabad.

4. AgriVijay

Vimal realised that whereas there are improvements obtainable, there is no such thing as a area for farmers to grasp how the expertise works and purchase them. To bridge this hole, the concept of AgriVijay was born.

Moreover, he wished to extend the revenue of farms and farmers by slicing down dependency on costly fossil gasoline merchandise and stopping local weather change. Based mostly out of Pune, the startup is the primary market of renewable vitality merchandise for farmers and rural households.

AgriVijay gives greater than 200 kinds of inexperienced vitality kinds of tools — together with photo voltaic water pumps photo voltaic inverters, biogas digesters, photo voltaic water heaters, photo voltaic chilly storage, and photo voltaic dryers.

5. Karya

Specialised AI, reminiscent of Chat GPT, primarily makes use of English as a result of abundance of textual content and audio knowledge obtainable. Nevertheless, there’s a rising want for databases containing languages spoken in India apart from English.

Tapping this want, Manu Chopra began ‘Karya’ which collects and sells such knowledge in numerous languages to its purchasers. The strategy to the gathering of knowledge is what units the startup aside. After protecting its prices, the income from these gross sales are channelled straight into the accounts of the employees, Manu informs.

These staff are from rural India and the startup is giving them an opportunity to earn a second revenue by working from their properties. With solely three years in enterprise, the corporate has made a considerable influence. Thus far, they’ve labored with 32,000 individuals from rural Indian in 22 states reminiscent of Maharastra, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

6. Gud Mother

Sharmila Jain’s record of achievements encompasses years of devoted efforts to carry vitamin to rural India, establishing a non-profit organisation, and creating her millet-based model ‘Gud Mother’.

The catalyst behind all these endeavours was a pivotal NCRB report that perpetually altered her perspective. The report, launched in 2006, revealed a distressing statistic — 17,060 farmers within the nation died by suicide, with 1,427 instances reported in Maharashtra alone.

This revelation profoundly affected Sharmila, a profitable lawyer in Canada. Motivated by a want to make a constructive influence on the lives of farmers, she determined to return residence and contribute to their well-being.

By way of her NGO and startup, Sharmila has positively impacted over 1.5 lakh farmers throughout 5 states, serving to them generate a constant revenue. She imparts data on numerous avenues for making and saving cash — together with cultivating unique greens like zucchini and practising water conservation by the cultivation of millets reminiscent of ragi, jowar, and proso millet.

7. The Goodfellows

Backed by Ratan Tata and based by Shantanu Naidu together with Niki Thakur and Gargi Sandu, the startup serves as a secure haven for senior residents. The trio, impressed by their love for spending time with their grandparents, aimed to create one thing particular for seniors, affectionately referring to them as ‘Grandpals’.

Established in 2021, the corporate’s major objective is to supply companionship and numerous types of assist to senior residents. The younger group members, who act as companions, are affectionately referred to as Goodfellows.

With over 65 Goodfellows between the ages of 18 and 24 as a part of the group, and impacting the lives of over 400 Grandpals, the trio envisions a future full of hope.

8. Bihart

When Sumati Jalan left her residence in Bihar, she confronted the standard stereotypes that folks from the state typically encounter. She continuously heard feedback suggesting that she didn’t ‘look’ Bihari in a complimentary approach.

Motivated by a want to problem these stereotypes and contribute positively to her residence state, Sumati returned and based ‘Bihart’. At present, she collaborates with 15 full-time workers, together with a community of 18 artisans and 12 weavers.

Collectively, they create a variety of merchandise together with kurtis, crop tops, tote baggage that includes applique collectible figurines, handmade Sujani dolls, and additional weft cushions.

Bihart has achieved a month-to-month gross sales income of Rs 1.5 lakh, and the model has established its presence in shops situated in Goa, Bengaluru, Delhi, Udaipur, and Rishikesh. Nearly all of gross sales are concentrated in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Goa.

(Edited by Pranita Bhat)