DNA data storage start-up BioCompute gets climate entrepreneurship grant of Rs 31 lakh

BioCompute, a startup using DNA for data storage to combat emissions from data centres, won India's biggest non-equity climate entrepreneurship grant worth Rs 31 lakh at the SusCrunch 2024 event organised by the Sustainability Mafia (SusMafia).

The "Big Pie" grant, offered jointly by the Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Society and SusMafia, aims to propel BioCompute to the forefront of the global fight against climate change, organisers said in a statement.

The summit, supported by government and private partners, also featured pitches from 10 other climate action startups in India that are generating revenue and ready to scale their solutions.

"We aim to catalyze USD100 million in investments into Indian climate tech startups on behalf of individual and angel syndicate investors by 2030," said Priya Shah, general partner at Theia Ventures, a seed-stage climate tech fund.

Theia is the investment partner for SusCrunch 2024.

Gagan Agarwal, founder of Planet Electric, unveiled high-performance electric trucks at the event, while Kuldeep Jain, founder and managing director of CleanMax, shared insights about building a large renewable energy company in India.

The summit also marked the graduation of the first cohort of SusVentures, a SusMafia program in collaboration with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani) mentoring early-stage climate entrepreneurs.

In the first batch, 48 student entrepreneurs from BITS campuses built 14 startups in sectors like circular economy, energy efficiency and electric vehicles.

Five student startups mentored by SusMafia were showcased, including AgriVolt (agri-voltaics for industries), Positive Zero (software for sustainable fashion brands), JouleLess (wireless IoT devices) and SwiLato (an app to reduce vehicle emissions).