 "Kalaari Capital offers $100,000 each to 3 hardware start-ups in an hour")
Remember the hoverboard from the movie Back to the Future, the teleporter from Star Trek, or the landspeeder from Star Wars? How about a multi-touch table out of a James Bond film? Talk about hardware technology innovation, these are some of the images that rush to the mind of India’s top venture capitalist and founder of Kalaari Capital, Vani Kola.
Well, the products we saw at Nasscom’s TechMarch initiative for hardware technology innovations were nowhere near as mind-blowing as Vani’s dreams, but three start-ups did manage to impress the investor.
The presentation session by the start-ups lasted about an hour, and that’s all the time Vani took to commit an investment of $100,000 by Kalaari in each of the three innovations.
Velmenni
Velmenni is working towards eliminating the woes of WiFi, ranging from low bandwidth to congestion and high costs. Instead of WiFi, Velmenni’s devices use LiFi technology or light waves from your LED bulbs or tube lights to provide high-speed, highly secure wireless communication system.
Volta Motors
This Chennai-based start-up unveiled a crossover electric bike, which is also a bicycle. Developed and designed in India with Indian climate and road conditions in mind, Volta Zap is an electric vehicle that can run for up to 60km without pedalling on a single charge.
Cyclopsmed
Cyclopsmed is a medtech start-up that works on diagnostic solutions for episodic neurological events like vertigo, using eye tracking technology. Episodic Neurological Events (ENE) is a group of very commonly occurring and widely prevalent conditions, but grossly under-diagnosed. Close to 100 million people globally are chronic sufferers of vertigo, which is one of the most common ENEs.
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here