ET Startup Awards 2019: Atomberg Technologies wins the best on campus award

In a closely fought category, Mumbai-based Atomberg Technologies’ energy-efficient fans came on top to win the jury's vote for the Best on Campus award.

Conceptualised in 2011 when Manoj Kumar Meena was still pursuing his bachelor’s in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Atomberg was initially a research and development company helping others with its prowess in motor and motor-control technology.

The jury recognised the huge difference energy efficient fans could make to the country. Further, they noted how the technology that Atomberg has developed could be taken to small towns and rural areas if it was used across not just fans, but other products as well.

“This award will give us more visibility to educate consumers about the need to buy energy efficient appliances. It also helps us sell our story to our distributors and resellers who then go on to tell consumers the benefits of what we’re doing,” said Meena.

“We had a split vote in the Best on Campus category, but Atomberg was obviously solving one of the largest problems in India which is power consumption. There were discussions on how 60% of India’s energy consumption is because of fans in households, and Atomberg is taking a good stab at reducing that,” said Sriharsha Majety, a jury member and cofounder of Swiggy.

After bootstrapping the firm for the first three years, Meena along with cofounder Sibabrata Das decided that they needed to build a consumer brand. Today the company is one of the fastest growing brands in the ceiling-fan market with its Gorilla range of smart fans that use brushless DC motors.

While ceiling fans weren’t their first choice, the founders realised that among India’s entire consumer appliances market, this category held the biggest share and also consumed the largest amount of energy.

The startup made revenue of Rs 14.9 crore for the year ended March 2018, an almost three-time growth over the previous 12-month period. Atomberg is hoping this momentum continues and is also planning to diversify into more product lines which will help boost growth further.

Atomberg will next launch mixer grinders and coolers, before getting into other products lines where the market can be disrupted with its advanced motor technology. It has so far raised $2 million from Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal and IDFC Parampara, which has helped it setup its first manufacturing unit and innovate on a few product lines.

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