Sustainability: A new focus area for startup funding

Building a healthier and more sustainable planet for our future generations has never been felt more urgently than now. 

Be it agriculture, or sustainable clothing, vegan products, climate change or environmental startups, investment funds are now focussing on businesses that can be built with the least impact on the environment. 

According to YourStory Research data, in 2020, a total of $67.29 million was pumped across 18 deals in energy, waste management, and cleantech startups. This year, about $6.46 million has already been invested in these sectors. 

Recently, Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr announced the launch of his venture fund FootPrint Coalition Ventures, which aims to combine high impact media with early-stage and opportunistic growth stage investments, with a focus on sustainable technology, AI, and robotics, among others.

Closer home, Nithin Kamath, Founder and CEO of the online brokerage firm, Zerodha, also announced the launch of Rainmatter Foundation in January this year. The $100 million Rainmatter Fund will be focussed on building a playbook for climate change solutions and livelihoods, taking risks with potentially scalable experiments, and lessening the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, to create an equitable society. 

In fact, in January, Tesla CEO and Co-founder Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce prize money worth $100 million for the development of the best technology to capture carbon dioxide. 

And, this is just the beginning.

The Interview

Last year, during YourStory’s flagship event TechSparks 2020, Gaurav Munjal, Co-founder and CEO, Unacademy Group, had said, “Our current goal is to compete with Netflix… We have a very audacious goal, which is 200X of what we are doing."

Continuing on that path, the edtech unicorn onboarded Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador. The cricket maestro will also drive the creation of sports learning content on the Unacademy platform. From chasing investors from all around the world to onboarding the master blaster of Indian cricket, Gaurav Munjal and Unacademy have come a long way. 

Editor’s Pick: Product Roadmap

It was a simple value proposition. Could someone get their favourite dish or meal delivered to their doorstep — without any hassle like minimum order value or delivery time? This single question led Sriharhsa Majety, Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini, to start foodtech company Swiggy with six delivery partners in 2014. Today, Swiggy has gone beyond delivering food; it is now a force to be reckoned with – and the numbers do all the talking. Read more. 

Startup Spotlight

Tapping a new revenue stream amidst COVID-19: the story of CashKaro

When CashKaro, an online cashback and discount coupon website, saw sales dwindle during the lockdown last year, it decided to take the plunge it had been contemplating for quite some time — expanding into new digital categories. The Gurugram-based startup pivoted into offering deals on online consumption-based options such as OTT, gaming, audiobooks, and e-learning. Read more.

News & Updates

• Unacademy has inked a strategic partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. The cricket maestro will not only serve as the brand ambassador of the startup but will also drive the creation of sports learning content on the Unacademy platform. 

• Hyderabad-based molecular diagnostics startup Mapmygenome has now enabled the inclusion of QR codes in all COVID-19 reports to help authorities scan and verify the report online. These reports will also have information on the date, time of sample collection, and sample reporting. 

• Bengaluru-based spacetech startup Pixxel said its plan to delay the launch of its first satellite Anand by a few weeks. The announcement comes five days before the scheduled launch on February 28 via ISRO’s PSLV-C51. 

• Agritech startup DeHaat announced the acquisition of B2B SaaS platform FarmGuide. As part of the acquisition, FarmGuide's spatial technology and data science will be integrated with DeHaat's existing platform to build a full-stack platform for agribusiness.

• Amazon India and Mahindra Electric announced a partnership under which the ecommerce major has deployed the latter's electric vehicles in its delivery network as part of a commitment towards strengthening electric mobility in the country.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

"Focus on solving a genuine problem for a large section of the population, as there would be no large business without it."

— Anup Jain, Managing Partner, Orios Venture Partners 

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