Modi to interact with startup entrepreneurs

Focus Areas

- We360.ai is a B2B SaaS -based startup for employee productivity monitoring

- Swayat Robots enables Swayat driving in India

- Umang Sridhar Design aims to empower weavers, artisans & women in rural areas

- Shop Kirana is an e-trading B2B with supply chain innovations for the unorganized retail sector

- Gramophone profives agritech solutions

- Enviraj Consulting working in the field of environmental protection using innovative technology

Mumbai: PM Narendra Modi will interact with 6 startup entrepreneurs of Madhya Pradesh on May 13. They include Arnav Gupta of Bhopal, Sanjeev Sharma, Umang Sridhar, Tanutejas Saraswat of Indore, Tauseef Khan, Nishant Vats Mahatre and Rajdeep Pandey of Gwalior.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, P Narahari, Commissioner of Industries, Madhya Pradesh, said: "Madhya Pradesh boasts of having tremendous possibilities for the startups to grow and Indore has got the potential to become startup capital of the country. The only thing is that an ecosystem needs to be developed for the startups."

"Technology-driven and agri-tech and women-oriented startups must be promoted and encouraged with more facilities and grants. Governments, at the State and Centre, should act as a mediator between those entrepreneurs and help them get the right investors," says Sarman Nagele, Editor, MP Post.

The startup entrepreneurs PM will meet

Arnav Gupta:

A 21-year-old entrepreneur, he founded We360.ai which is a B2B SaaS software-based startup developed for employee productivity monitoring. It helps business owners accurately measure employee productivity by using real time analysis.

With this help, businesses can download over 200 reports for better decision making. At present WE360.ai has more than 20,000 users and more than 1500 companies registered all over India which mainly include Patanjali, IRCTC, Hinduja Global Solutions and Tata AIA.

The startup has received over 50 global awards and is currently ranked second in the world ranking on G2, Capterra and other global software listing platforms. It recently raised Rs3.8 crore as seed funding from global venture capital firms.

Sanjeev Sharma:

He set up Swayat Robots to enable self-driving in India. Sanjeev has been doing research on Swayat Navigation for the past 12 years, focusing on 'Machine Learning Training' and 'Robotic Motion Planning'. The startup has been developing Level 5 Swayat driving technology to help develop the most advanced self-driving cars. His secondary research focuses on enabling Swayat vehicles and robots to understand India's environment.

Globally, the market for Swayat driving vehicles is estimated to be $8 trillion by 2030 and $600 billion by 2040 from India's perspective. The technology being developed by Swayat Robots has immense potential to modernize the Indian Armed Forces. Swayat Border Patrol Robots, Swayat Tanks, Swayat Aerial Vehicles can be used for offensive and defensive operations developed using the technology. Swayat Robots has received an investment of $3 million in July 2021 from a US investor.

Sanjeev has done B Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Roorkee and MS (Thesis) in Computing Science from University of Alberta. He has been honoured with the prestigious 40 'Under 40' Data Scientist in India Award and 51 Most Impact Smart Cities Leaders Award in the year 2019.

Umang Shridhar

He is the founder of a business-to-business fabric supplier platform, Umang Sridhar Design, that aims to empower women/artisans in rural India who know how to make traditional/amber charkha and weave on handlooms. Growing up in a small village in India, Sridhar was determined to work towards improving the lives of women in these remote areas. Their robust model supplies large Indian stores including Reliance. The team now plans to use IoT (Internet of Things) to bring artisans on a single platform. It aims to help weavers access real time data to create a fair and equitable market for them. The startup has received funding of around Rs1.5 crore.

Tanutejas Saraswat

He is founder of Shop Kirana e-trading B2B with hi-tech and supply chain innovations for the unorganized retail sector e-commerce platform. Reaching 30 cities, 1 lakh retail outlets and 5 crore consumers in 6 States of the country. Direct employment to 1,000 persons and a turnover of Rs 800 crore per annum. The startup has received Rs 400 crore funding from leading start-up investors from Japan and India.

Tausif Khan, Nishant Vats Mahatr

IIT-Kharagpur alumni hailing from Indore, Tausif Khan and Nishant Vats Mahatre introduced Gramophone in 2016 when agritech was a nascent sector in India. Agriculture was done by traditional methods, most of the farmers in India were deprived of the latest technology, and most of the agricultural land in the country remained untouched by modern agricultural trade. Tausif, who worked at agri-focused VC funds such as Omnivore Partners and Aspada Investments, was well aware of the critical issues of the agriculture sector, which contributes 17-18 per cent to India's GDP. His co-founder Nishant also had experience in agricultural consultancy and investment. The co-founders of Gramophone, Harshit Gupta, Tauseef Khan, Ashish Rajan Singh and Nishant Vats Mhatre, have took the valuation of Gramophone to around Rs137 crore.

Rajdeep Pandey

He established Enviraj Consulting in 2019. It is a company working in the field of environmental protection using innovative technology. The main objective of the company is efficient use of water in diverse areas while maintaining the quality of water. The company is committed to providing high quality and time bound sustainable solutions. It has work experience in more than 100 projects in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in which they have conserved more than 2 crore litres of water and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 4.5 tonnes. Apart from consultancy services, the company is also developing innovative products in water projects whose research is funded by various institutions including IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, IIT Kanpur, Engineers India Limited. Enviraj Consulting has received various recognitions and support for incubation from IIM Kashipur and IIT Roorkee over the years.

Madhya Pradesh boasts of having tremendous possibilities for the start-ups to grow and Indore has got the potential to become startup capital of the country. The only thing that an ecosystem needs to be developed for the startups

- P Narahari, industry commissioner, MP state