Bhat's Notes

As I walked into the ground floor of T-HUB, Startup booths with presentations on displays and prototypes on desktops welcomed me. The air around smelled a sense of accomplishment. Founders were getting ready to pitch in front of judges. Winning three out of these elite 10 indian Startups get a chance to spend in Silicon Valley.

T-HUB anchored IFDI 2.0 acceleration program is a solid proof that when government, tech giant Intel, corporates, mentors and consultants collaborate for a common goal of shaping India’s innovative founders, outcomes would be magical.

Here is small briefing on what these 10 Startups have done during the eight week acceleration program at T-HUB.

An agritech-tech startup built a prototype of a self navigating machine that kills the weeds through harmless radiation. Old age people are prone to fall. A health-tech startup prototyped a band that tracks the fall. A health-tech startup prototyped ear buds that track stress levels by reading brain waves. A health-tech startup prototyped a screening device for identifying thyroid disorder. A waste management startup partnered with scrap dealers, similar to the way Uber partnered with its drivers, to pick up household dry waste. Another waste management startup built a integrated system that works with municipality workers, bins and trucks.

An IoT startup built an application layer on top of LoRa network for sensors. A health-tech startup built systems in place to reduce Neo-natal mortality. An eco-friendly and fuel-efficienct auto-tech startup enabled their battery-powered bike with features such as locating the bike station and unlocking the bike with Uber like mobile app for customers on campuses.  An IoT startup prototyped a pollution tracking device using seven sensors.

Shanta from T-HUB: I relocated to India 6 months ago to work with Startups. Sooner I landed at THUB, I was made program manager for Innovate for digital India IFDA 2.0.

799 qualified applications. 4 days of panel sessions to finalize 20 finalists from which we picked top 10.

During the last 8 weeks of Nano-acceleration program, we got startups prepare prototypes. Chris and team of US Market Access Center spent a week here. Top 3 of today’s 10 startups go to Silicon Valley.

Mr. Ashish Deshpande did design thinking workshop for IFDI 2.0 cohorts. Suhit of Business Model Inc. did a Business Model workshop for them.

A small video was played with the following talking about the acceleration program.

Gaurav Dvivedi: MyGov

Sachin Helker APJ Developer

Raj Madangopal Banyan Nation (Startup)

Chinmay Mishra: Allizhealth (Startup)

Mohita from T-HUB: Here is a successful serial entrepreneur with two exits and 15 years in corporate experience. Privileged to welcome Jay, CEO of THUB.

Thete are only two kinds of pivots.

-Dreamers are job providers

-Employees are their dream enablers

Journey to Valley means nothing to you if you don’t succeed it with revenues. Revenue is the best form of capital.

China got great local innovation. 700 mile railway between Burma and China is built in a complex terrain area that got 30 degree temperature variation. Liquid nitrogen is pumped up to gravel under the tracks and the temperature is maintained the same in the summer and in winter. Just three people are behind it.

Mohita: Fortune India ranked her as 24th powerful indian. I welcome Ms. Debjani.

THUB is my favorite place. Though I haven’t spent a lot of time here, I see happiness and energy here. I go back much more energized every time.

This is the second year and I have to say this has become one of the most valued initiatives within Intel India.

Jay talked about dreamers. If you want to be part of national building, the most  important thing is to help dreamers and makers build new solutions to the same old problems.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the ranking. You are a change agent that none of us are doing. If India has to change, you guys have to drive that change.

Hari Hegde of Wipro: Global Head Operations Wipro. I am in disagreement with Jay. There are companies that let you live your own dream. Wipro enabled me to dream.

In the Indian context, urbanization is a large trend that generates immense fortunes. We would have urban migration of 400 million by 2050. City as a consumer of technology. There is going to be huge demand with 400 million.

Industries 4.0 is not about new production technology but ecosystem. It is about how do you organise.

Energy and construction: Energy efficiency and buildings that consume 40% of total electricity consumption. Envelop design, building systems and demand a management are the three.

Building envelope design and system efficiencies have improved by 50% in the last 8 years. LEDs and HVAC from systems and the envelop design didn’t really bring reduction in energy consumption they anticipated.

Take Germany. They have 3% renewal energy in 1999 all the way to 38% in 2015. Now their grid is far more stable grid. But, these are fully autonomous nodes that are connected to the network. We need systems of balance to keep the grid stable.

300000 MW is India’s installed capacity of electric power. Do you know what is the installed capacity  from diesel sets that are less than 15 hear old and have min 500W capacity in India? It is 100000 MW.

Integrated design: Wipro let’s me work with my dreams. The idea is whether we can put 30% of the building space run by natural forces. We did 6 months of model generation. We create 100000 sft of outdoor environment that get semi-actively cooled by mist and other natural ways.

This is not about prefab but it is about engineering, design, manufacturing and suppliers. Choose the home you want, like you pick a car in showroom, and you place an order and it gets delivered to you in two months. Then this is a game of logistics.

As a trustee, I spend time understanding the businesses we extend grants to. Water, energy, sustainability is what I focus on.

Having failed and being in the game again is an indication of courage and tenacity. Don’t overhype failure. It is only about going wrong sometimes but you raise from the wrongs. 

Frugal engineering is key for innovation in India

Challenges: Access to resources, authorities

Intel is committed to innovation. We have a maker lab in Bangalore to help translate idea to product.

Leena from GBI: I realize T-HUB is where dreams come true. Few years ago on an European commission project where we were bringing their technology to India, I was fortunate to go through few incubators. I worked with foreign tech but I couldn’t pinpoint local tech. My dear colleague Raghavendra insisted I visit T-HUB. When I came to T-HUB, I learnt and now I believe T-HUB is place to make dreams come true. Though we have dreams individually, we can’t do alone. We need to collaborate. This is great time for India. Thank Intel for giving GBI to work with IFDI 2.0.

GBI’s process of technology to commercialization evolved through failures. We have a silicon Valley startup wanting us to build a product in India for India. We helped the with R&D and funding too.

Some Takeaways (as told byvStartups):

They could work on tech product, scaling with Corporates, chance to test and sort out their strategy, understanding customer needs, redesigning and delivery. Internationalization means connecting local and global to co-build.

Satya Prasad: Ideas to reality

Shashi Reddy: Active angel, Sri Capital

Chris Burry: USMAC

Srinivas Modukuri: Finance and fintech investor

Vijay Nadimindi: Agri

Neel Vohra: T-HUB

Girish SHIVANI: Yournest