Ankur Shrivastava is the founder and managing associate at Momentum Capital, the place he focuses on investing in mission-driven startups within the Indian local weather tech house and in Indian-origin ventures globally, with an emphasis on local weather and well being.
With twenty years of expertise as a founder and investor in India and the US, Ankur beforehand co-founded Globevestor, a know-how startup within the enterprise capital house, the place he led investments in over 40 startups.
He additionally spent a decade in technique consulting at Boston Consulting Group and Strategic Selections Group, advising shoppers throughout Asia and Africa.
Ankur holds graduate and post-graduate levels in mechanical engineering from IIT Bombay and now lives in Toronto.
Ankur spoke to indianexpress.com on challenges of local weather tech startups in India, his funding thesis, the startups he had invested in and their potential social impression. Edited excerpts:
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform us about your journey into the local weather tech house.
Ankur Shrivastava: I graduated from IIT Bombay in 2004 after which spent round 10 years in administration consulting in Asia and Africa.
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Round 2014, I began GlobeVestor, a platform for buyers. We enabled buyers, primarily within the US, to put money into early-stage firms in India. It was a platform like AngelList, however extra curated and managed. We referred to as ourselves a web based enterprise capital agency reasonably than an fairness crowdfunding enterprise. There was plenty of curiosity exterior of India to put money into these early-stage startups, and we’d handle the investments for them.
We wrote about 75 cheques for round 45 startups. We invested in Zoomcar, Springboard, Agnikul, Chakr Innovation, Oorjan and others throughout the local weather, well being and deeptech house.
These investments moved me in the direction of a typical classical fund reasonably than a mere tech platform. I additionally noticed success and objective in local weather tech investments, which led to Momentum Capital.
From Momentum Capital, now we have made round 21 investments in India and the US, primarily in local weather tech firms of Indian origin. We even have a number of well being tech investments.
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Venkatesh Kannaiah: Are you able to clarify your concept of impression? Do you contemplate your self an impression investor?
Ankur Shrivastava: Once we began, we checked out the place the carbon emissions are coming from and the place all of the funding in local weather tech was occurring.
A whole lot of funding in India has gone into the mobility sector, EVs and photo voltaic. Whereas the emission profile is from all industries, the constructed atmosphere, and plenty of different locations, the investments are concentrated. So our concept was to plug the hole, and we went into the marginally under-invested sectors in local weather tech. We picked founders who have been engaged on one thing transformative to decarbonise an business section. We aren’t classical impression buyers, however are very targeted on the founder’s mission.
The hope is that we’re in a position to give the identical return profile to our buyers as in the event that they have been investing in some other fund.
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Venkatesh Kannaiah: Decarbonisation throughout industries. Is it not too large a canvas?
Ankur Shrivastava: We see local weather tech as a horizontal play, with decarbonisation that must be solved throughout industries, and our vary encompasses electrical energy technology, power transition, in-built atmosphere, transportation, industrial use circumstances, in addition to circularity, atmosphere, meals and agriculture.
Taking a look at a wider local weather tech lens has been helpful for us as a result of we’ve been capable of finding sturdy investments throughout sectors, which, I consider, can seriously change every of these subsectors.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: What are your particular focus areas in local weather tech?
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Ankur Shrivastava: We primarily put money into mission-driven startups within the local weather tech house. We have a look at decarbonisation and sustainability throughout industries, together with hard-to-abate sectors, similar to metal and cement.
Total, we are able to bucket our local weather tech investments into 4 broad approaches.
First are startups which can be creating various and superior supplies that radically enhance the efficiency of or decarbonise conventional choices. Second are startups that scale back waste and improve circularity throughout sectors. Third are sturdy hardware-oriented options to enhance power effectivity and allow power transition. And the final bucket has all the opposite decarbonisation pathways we proceed to discover throughout sectors.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform us about your startups within the various and superior supplies house and the issues they’re fixing.
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Ankur Shrivastava: There’s Dharaksha Ecosolutions, which is into biodegradable packaging supplies. It appears to be like at changing thermocol as a packaging product. By changing farm residue into sturdy, moldable packaging supplies, the corporate tackles the environmental challenges of stubble burning and plastic air pollution. Its merchandise are positioned as replacements for thermocol and single-use plastic packaging, and thermocol, as you already know, is polluting and hard to recycle.
There’s Carbon Sturdy, which is engaged on low-carbon alternate options to standard cement in concrete manufacturing, one of the crucial emissions-intensive industries globally. Its constructing merchandise can change cement in concrete as much as about 50 to 60 %. And these various supplemental supplies are rather more carbon-neutral.
Climitra operates within the metal sector, specializing in decarbonising metal manufacturing utilizing bio-based carbon inputs similar to biochar. A whole lot of power is required to soften and create metal. Climitra is making a particular model of biochar, which can be utilized within the furnace as a feedstock in addition to for heating. So bio-cooling, so to talk.
Brisil is a supplies innovation firm growing inexperienced silica derived from agricultural waste, primarily to be used in tyres and rubber merchandise. Silica is a key efficiency materials in tyres, bettering gasoline effectivity and sturdiness, however typical manufacturing is energy-intensive. It is likely one of the largest inexperienced silica gamers in India, and I believe one of many only a few the world over that has been profitable in doing it.
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Cellarim is making an attempt to exchange the standard petroleum-based chemical substances in cosmetics. It’s a new wave of mobile agriculture and cell-free biotechnology utilized to cosmetics and private care. As an alternative of sourcing components from conventional agriculture or petrochemicals, the corporate works on producing bio-based or lab-grown compounds.
Planet Materials Labs is growing new varieties of supplies for the automotive and logistics sectors. So, they’re making an attempt to construct truck bins in addition to transport containers utilizing thermocytes or thermomaterials. These merchandise can change metal, lowering the general weight of the automobile, permitting increased cargo capability.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform us about your startups within the waste recycling and circularity house.
Ankur Shrivastava: There’s Past Renewables, which recycles previous photo voltaic panels and recovers helpful supplies.
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Photo voltaic panel recycling fee is low. And it’s performed primarily via mechanical crushing. It’s powerful to take out silver and silicon and different supplies from these panels.
A photo voltaic panel’s typical lifespan is 15 to twenty years. So, the earliest wave of photo voltaic installations in India is about to retire over the following three to 4 years. So, we’re going to see an enormous soar in photo voltaic PV waste. So Past Renewables is in the precise house.
Recove is a climate-tech startup targeted on chemical recycling of plastics, particularly focusing on low-value and hard-to-recycle plastic waste that usually results in landfills or incineration.
In contrast to conventional mechanical recycling, which degrades materials high quality over time, Recove makes use of superior processes to interrupt plastics down into their unique chemical constructing blocks.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform us in regards to the world startups out of your portfolio and the work they’re doing.
Ankur Shrivastava: One in all our investee firms, Focal, is lowering the immense power wastage in heating out of doors hospitality areas within the US and Canada. It has constructed an progressive AI-driven robotic heating system, eradicating the necessity for extremely polluting propane heaters.
Verne is tackling the issue of surging electrical energy demand from AI information centres within the US. Its built-in cooling and power provide permits 40% extra energy availability for computing in information centres. This will result in huge power financial savings and scale back the extra electrical energy technology capability wanted within the US.
EarthEn is a deep-tech startup targeted on long-duration power storage, one of many largest bottlenecks in scaling renewables. As an alternative of batteries like lithium-ion, the corporate is constructing a thermo-mechanical power storage system that makes use of CO₂ in a closed loop to retailer and launch power over lengthy durations.
Lastly, Vimano is constructing novel nanotech to create new sorts of membranes to allow environment friendly power storage and conversion. These membranes are key in scaling applied sciences like inexperienced hydrogen and long-duration power storage.
All of those are being innovated by Indian origin founders within the US.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform us in regards to the areas of alternative that local weather tech startups have in India.
Ankur Shrivastava: In electrical energy technology and transmission, we consider there are numerous issues to unravel for good grids, stationary storage and power decentralisation.
Second, inside circularity, a lot nonetheless must be performed in assortment and sorting, recycling, and various supplies.
Third, within the transportation sector, India has a excessive alternative for indigenisation of provide chains, city mining and sustainable aviation.
Fourth, there’s a enormous potential in India for materials substitution, course of decarbonisation, and energy-efficient cooling and heating in constructed environments.
And lastly, within the industrial sector, there may be an pressing want to impress industrial heating, discover various manufacturing pathways, and innovate new supplies.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: How is local weather tech seen by the brand new US administration?
Ankur Shrivastava: These days, within the US, local weather tech and fuel-related points are being checked out via the lens of provide chain dependencies and nationwide safety, and I see that even India is viewing it from the identical angle.
I believe the US administration’s reluctance towards renewable power tech comes largely from the way it would possibly result in dependence on China, say within the essential minerals house. The argument is that as a substitute of turning into depending on a quasi-adversary like China, the US might deal with its strengths and grow to be an oil-producing nation.
We additionally should recognise that the US is an oil-producing nation, per se, and India will not be, and therefore, views differ.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: How does the cooling down of the local weather change rhetoric impression local weather startups?
Ankur Shrivastava: Grants and authorities assist for local weather tech startups have, in some circumstances, begun to dry up. Giant oil firms that have been working plenty of pilots with startups on this house have lowered.
The local weather tech startups and the ecosystem are adapting by repositioning themselves as deep tech firms, which they are surely. There’s additionally an added curiosity in India. Many US-based startups that have been hoping for local weather tech pilots are actually caught and have began to have a look at India to operationalise these pilots.
Inside our portfolio, a number of firms are contemplating working pilots in India, as insurance policies listed below are extra renewable-friendly. There’s additionally the frugality mindset. If one can convey down the price of innovation, the pilots would possibly ultimately assist these firms take this tech to the World South and the world. If you happen to crack the price of innovation and the pricing level in India, you then’re prepared for the globe.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: How simple is it to promote local weather tech merchandise?
Ankur Shrivastava: At this time, nobody expects a inexperienced premium, as most startups are growing merchandise with an eye fixed on costs.
For instance, Carbon Sturdy’s concept is to decarbonise concrete, with out asking folks to pay a better value. Value is on all people’s thoughts, and each startup is conscious of that.
On the federal government aspect, there are initiatives like grid modernisation and good cities, that are constructive. Sensible metering is beginning to present its impression, however extra must be performed.
There’s a saying in local weather tech that the sector is one among ‘demise by pilots’. That is when plenty of pilots get began, however business viability will not be examined, and startups die a pure demise.
Venkatesh Kannaiah: Inform me your three asks from the Indian authorities as a local weather tech investor?
Ankur Shrivastava: India has been one of the crucial policy-positive nations of late in local weather tech. Nevertheless, much more could be performed.
First, we predict that the Indian authorities ought to deal with making a community of nationwide laboratories the place local weather tech startups can get house, tools and greater grants, similar to the nationwide laboratories within the US.
Second, there ought to be urgency in finalising insurance policies that catalyse local weather innovation and make it extra commercially viable, e.g. the carbon credit score coverage, incentives to assist decarbonisation within the hard-to-abate sector.
Lastly, simply as the federal government has supported broader deep tech innovation via funding, there’s a have to make extra growth-stage capital obtainable for local weather tech startups in India.