Women redefining the climate tech landscape in India – Founders

ClimateAngels | Mar 08, 2022

This International Women’s Day, Climate Angels is featuring pioneering women leading the fight against climate tech In India.

In the fight against the impending and ongoing climate change crisis, innovation and entrepreneurship need to take the driver’s seat. This article covers women who are working tirelessly to build companies that would help to overcome the drastic effects of Climate Change. The following women embody the second prong of the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day “Climate action for women, by women,” exceptionally well.

Abhilasha Purwar

CEO, Blue Sky Analytics

Abhilasha has worked as a researcher for most of her adult life. She has been involved with the cutting-edge semiconductor research operations at TIFR and IIT Delhi. During one of her research projects with J-PAL Abhilasha came across a river in rural Maharashtra that had turned orange, she believes that it was a turning point that led to everything that followed.

An engineer by training, Abhilasha has always believed in the power of data to solve big problems. An ideology that led her to start Blue Sky Analytics. Her venture is building an Environmental Data Stack using Geospatial & IoT data from existing infrastructure for governments and companies across the globe to assist in climate decision making. People at Blue Sky Analytics fondly refer to themselves as builders of Bloomberg for Environmental data or more modestly the Digital Twin of the Planet.

Ezhil Subbian

CEO, String Bio

Ezhil is a scientist by training. She has spent the last two decades developing bio-based products and taking them to the market for various startups in different stages of their growth in Silicon Valley.

Ezhil’s appreciation for the intricacies of biology led her towards her entrepreneurial journey. She started String Bio to solve the biggest problems in the world sustainably and affordably by using the biological toolbox. String’s proprietary technology uses microbes to convert waste, particularly methane, to high-quality ingredients which can then be used to produce biodegradable plastics and single use proteins among other things. String proposes a solution that could diminish the waste management problem in India by a huge margin.

Ezhil has received the Women Transforming India Award from United Nations/NITI Aayog for her work at String Bio.