IIIT Hyderabad social startups get funding

Hyderabad-based green energy company and Verdant Impact, a Jaipur-based animal husbandry platform for funding of Rs one crore each.

Hyderabad: Social Startups of the Atal Innovation Centre (AIC) of the IIIT-Hyderabad, Jivoule Biofuels, a Hyderabad-based green energy company and Verdant Impact, a Jaipur-based animal husbandry platform for funding of Rs one crore each. Another startup SunQulp Tech was selected for a grant of Rs 50 lakh from Biotech Ignition Grant (BIG) of the Department of Biotechnology.

Jivoule Biofuels, founded by Chandrasekhar Nandigama is working to set up a compressed biogas plant in Hyderabad. They recently started operating a biogas-based power generation plant in Tirupur. Verdant Impact run by founder CEO Manish K. Prahlad is a full-stack animal husbandry platform. It provides farmers with backward and forward linkages for purchase and sale of livestock and services like Animal ICU, a digital livestock healthcare ecosystem.

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SunQulp is started by Amit Panwar and Dushyant Kumar created SmartVest, a low-cost unique navigation solution for the visually impaired people to help them in their movement. It is a wearable vest that guides the wearer through voice while walking and gives them real-time information about their path and the obstacles to avoid.

Congratulating the Startups, AIC-IIIT Hyderabad Director Prof. Ramesh Loganathan said the financial investment granted to the three startups validated and reaffirmed the approach of using technology by social entrepreneurs to tackle pressing social and environmental challenges faced by India.