Bangalore's social enterprises – 2020 redux

This 2012 piece where I catalogued Bangalore’s social enterprises (30 of them) continues to be a popular destination for Google searchers. This is a redux post – essentially a 2020 update just by looking at their websites and media mentions.

1. Artoo: Disburse a loan. In 40 minutes. With a single visit. At the doorstep. Bringing with us the experience of 2,000 crores in MSME lending. Partnering with Ujjivan, Grameen Koota, RBL Bank, Muthoot. KYC verification, eKYC, eSign, eNACH.
2. Ayurvaid Hospitals: India’s 1st NABH Accredited Ayurveda Hospital, now expanded to Cochin, NCR and Uttarakhand. Over 1,00,000 patients served.
3. Babajob: In Jun 2017, Babajob (with presence in 20 cities) acquired by Quikr.
4. Desicrew: Appears to have undergone a significant pivot towards Super 10 – Presenting, the Super10 Package, a complete project delivery model to ensure optimum performance and on-time results. 10 select individuals who will work 24/7 for 10 days encompassing 100 hours to ensure 100% delivery. All this efficiency at the price of $2999.
5. DESI Power: Website continues to be underwhelming.
6. Embrace: Continues to chug away although their founder/CEO (Rahul Panicker) and head of Sales moved to Wadhwani Institute for AI. Website claims 300,000 babies reached across 22 countries.
7. Envirofit: Office listings in Bangalore show up in Google searches but global website only shows only the Pune location.
8. Head Held High: The list of formidable partners has grown.
9. Intuit Fasal [new URL]: Most recent blog post from Mar 2018 on Fasal Impact Stories – Grover Zampa vineyards and more.
10. Janalakshmi (Jana Small Bank): From 66 branches in 44 cities & 11 states (2012) they now have a whopping 202 branches across 20 states.
11. Kinara Capital: Seems to have gone gang busters in the past 7 years. $5 million round in Jul 2018 followed by a $14 million round in May 2019. Cumulative loans disbursed to date: Rs. 1,160 crores. Loan ticket sizes seem to have increased — now in the 2-20 lakh INR range.
12. LabourNet: enables sustainable livelihoods in urban and rural areas by bridging the gaps in Education, Employment & Entrepreneurship. Their traction numbers are quite impressive with presence in: 10 lakh livelihood centers, 800+ schools, partnerships with 2000+ organizations and over 12,000 pin codes covered.
13. Logistimo: continues marching on with its mission to improve lives and businesses by strengthening supply chains to connect remote communities with access to essential products, services and opportunities. Last time when I spoke to their CTO, they were testing the waters in Africa. Their international footprint now spans Senegal, Angola, DRC, Zambia, Uganda, Somalia, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Product portfolio includes supply chain management, transportation and logistics. Their sweet spot is vaccines delivery.
14. mDhil: With their Founder (Nandu Madhava) moving on in Sep 2015, safe to conclude mDhil has had some kind of exit.
15. Maya Organic: Still around but unable to assess growth in past 7 years.
16. Micrograam: Website numbers suggest modest traction: 30 crores disbursed, 17,256 borrowers, and 3,598 lenders. LinkedIn search shows low single-digit current employees.
17. Milaap: Per Crunchbase, they have acquired several new investors so their core crowdfunding model must have demonstrated traction. This is also reflected as sizeable number of employees on their LinkedIn page.
18. Industree Crafts: The evolution of Industree is captured here. Bragworthy numbers from their website: 30,000 women entrepreneurs trained, two producer companies Bangalore Greencraft and Ektha incubated and hit profitability; 2000 producers across their value chain.
19. Pro Nature Organic Foods: Alive and kicking.. though unable to discern their traction in past decade.
20. Orb Energy: On the back of an A-list leadership team, a roster of blue chip investors (Shell, FMO Capita & others) and apparently solid execution, Orb Energy has these bragworthy stats on their website: 160,000 systems, 75 Megawatts, 20 million liters per day, and 211,000+ tonnes carbon emissions offset.
21. Water Literacy Foundation [previously Rainwater Concepts]: Ashoka Fellow Ayyappa Masagi continues to inspire and execute. His story most recently covered by TheBetterIndia in 2016 – here.
22. Rangde: Rangde.org is dead, long live RangDe.in. Their metamorphosis is best described by cofounder Smitha Ram – the making of RangDe 2.0
23. Rural Shores: Per LinkedIn company page, over 400 current or ex employees which appears to be a healthy number. Website locations page doesn’t load. Per Wikipedia, they have 19 delivery centers in 8 states (which sounds dated). Lok Capital sold their stake in 2014 to an unnamed investor.
24. Samhita Academy: School#2 started at Coimbatore. 57% of their Grade 10 students and 32% of Grade 12 students (2018-19) scored over 90%.
25. Selco Solar: Founded in 1994 by Harish Hande, to date Selco has sold, serviced, and financed 135,000**+** solar home lighting systems. The growth in the past 7 years seems to be greatest in the Selco ecosystem.
26. Simpa Networks: Simpa pioneered the pay-as-you-go pricing model for rooftop solar with its patented IoT enabled SmartPanel technology. Clean energy access to over 250,000 people and is live on 50,000+ rural rooftops in over 5,000 villages across 21 districts and three Indian states. In Nov 2018, ENGIE acquired a controlling stake in Simpa. Simpa HQ changed from Koramangala to Noida.
27. Jana Care: low-cost, diagnostic tests with proven lifestyle management coaching, all delivered through a mobile phone to deliver actionable information to patients and health care providers. Primary care focus areas: diabetes and congestive heart failure. Nearly $10 million in funding and 50+ employees on LinkedIn and a very impressive array of technologies listed on their website, Jana Care (Bangalore + Boston) seems to have arrived for the long haul.
28. Sustaintech India: Headquartered in Madurai so either they relocated from Bangalore or I had it wrong 🙂 An Apr 2016 Inc article profiles the Savita Bhogale and Sustaintech.
29. Ujjivan is now a Bank: Founded by Samik Ghosh, Ujjivan Bank now boasts following stats: 24 states/UTs, 233 districts, 43 lakh+ active borrowers, 49 lakh+ customers, 552 banking touchpoints, 16,000+ employees.
30. Vaatsalya Healthcare: India’s first hospital network across Tier 2/3 towns. Their founder/CEO exited in 2015 and Aavishkar (their 1st investor) took majority stake in 2018.