ET Startup Awards 2023: Nominees for Best on Campus

The award will showcase a startup whose impact can be judged both by the idea and the execution. The founders should have been students whose aim was to build a commercial enterprise. There must be some level of validation either through an investor or a customer.

Company Name: XYMA Analytics

Founded In: 2019

Founders: Nishanth Raja, Aswin Kumar Kathirvel, Krishnan Balasubramanian, Prabu Rajagopal (Technical Advisor)

Based In: Chennai

Key Investors: GAIL, Shell, 8x Ventures, Sophonos, Forge investment and Venture Catalysts

What it does: XYMA Analytics enhances industrial automation using its patented sensor technology. The company says it is currently the only startup in the world using ultrasonics to do multiparameter, multipoint temperature measurements at extreme temperatures of up to 1,600°C in hostile, hazardous environments.

Company Name: Digantara Research & Technologies

Founded In: 2018

Founders: Anirudh N Sharma, Rahul Rawat, Tanveer Ahmed

Based In: Bengaluru

Key Investors: Peak XV Partners, Kalaari Capital, Global Brain Ventures, Campus Fund

What it does: Digantara is deploying a constellation of SCOT (satellite communications onboard terminal)-enabled satellites. Once deployed, it will provide end-to-end services in terms of SSA and weather directly to customers through its own platform.

Company Name: Minus Zero Robotics

Founded In: 2021

Founders: Gagandeep Reehal, Gursimran Kalra

Based In: Bengaluru

Key Investors: Chiratae Ventures, Snow Leopard Ventures, JITO Angel Network

What it does: Minus Zero Robotics is one of India’s first startups building fully autonomous vehicles and recently launched its self-driving vehicle, the zPod. Minus Zero is targeting specific use cases initially, including deploying different variants of zPods in campus-like environments.

Company Name: Bunpai India (Rescript)

Founded In: 2019

Founders: Ashutosh Ananth, Naren Raj CS

Based In: Bengaluru

Key Investors: Bootstrapped

What it does: Rescript is a stationery brand with products such as copier paper as well as notebooks, journals, pens, and pencils, all made from waste and recycled materials. Over the past three years, the company claims to have saved over 4,600 trees and 9 million litres of water.

Company Name: Farmicon India

Founded In: 2022

Founders: Nikhil Panwar

Based In: Roorkee, Uttarakhand

Key Investors: IIT Roorkee

What it does: Farmicon is an agritech startup looking to build a single-click platform or super app. It aims to help farmers maximise profits by using its AI-integrated solution to source information, resources and guidance to save crops from diseases and mitigate fluctuations in weather.