Akamai Launch Cohort 2 of Accelerator Program for Early-Stage Innovations in Water

Akamai Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. has chosen the grantees for Cohort 2 of Accelerator Program for Early-Stage Innovations in Water. The Accelerator Program enables grantees to ideate their technology-based solutions for water conservation. This year, two grantees – SmartTerra and Jaljeevika – have been onboarded as part of Cohort 2.

Together with our technical and mentoring partners – the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT M) and the International Centre for Clean Water (ICCW) – we evaluated more than 50 applications.

A comprehensive application and interview process was followed to screen applications based on the proposed solution, technology readiness, sustainability roadmap, etc. Consequently, six technology startups were identified to participate in the Bootcamp, a pre-final evaluation process. In collaboration with ICCW, a three-week intensive learning program was organized for innovators to elevate their business model for financial viability and their Mission Model for social impact metrics. The final selections for the Cohort 2 were determined by a selection committee of the Akamai Technologies India CSR Trust.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth and the depth of the ground level innovation and the potential social impact. It made our job even more difficult to select the finalists,” stated Gourishankar Gudla, VP of Platform Delivery and Chair of Akamai Technologies India CSR Trust.

About the Cohort 2 Grantees

SmartTerra, a Bangalore-based water technology startup provides water utilities with AI-powered cloud-hosted analytics tools for reducing water losses. Most cities in South Asia and Southeast Asia face severe water shortages and are unable to provide piped water supply to 350 million people. And yet, these cities lose an estimated 82 billion liters of water every day. SmartTerra uses data analytics to locate leaky pipes and faulty meters in the water network, and help utilities reduce water losses and improve sustainable access to water for all.

“We are greatly excited and honored to be part of Akamai’s Accelerator Program. With support and guidance from Akamai and ICCW, we plan to accelerate scale-up in India and help water utilities in their journey towards reducing losses and improving water access,” said Gokul Krishna Govindu, founder and CEO SmartTerra.

Jaljeevika will work to develop a self-reliant integrated aquaculture model to ensure food and livelihood security. Jaljeevika’s mission is to scale impact through data analytics to ensure livelihood security to one million small and marginal farmers through water value chain and micro-entrepreneurship.

“Akamai support will help us bring our vision to reality and integrate affordable water-related technology and community-driven processes to create societal value and a replicable model for scaling impact,” stated Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Enabler at Jaljeevika.

Akamai continues supporting Cohort 1 Grantees, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Foundation for Environmental Monitoring (ffem), to help them achieve their missions and business goals to drive citizen engagement to conserve local water bodies.

Additionally, a team of driven Akamai engineers are volunteering to support the Cohort 1 grantees to help them integrate tech-based solutions in their innovation, which truly reflects the Akamai values of innovation and corporate citizenship.

“We envision establishing a group of active alumni of Cohorts that we would support via mentoring even after the grant period.We shall build a dynamic platform for innovators to come together and work on active integration of best practices on water conservation projects,” said Neha Jain, Director of Program Management and Co-Chair of Akamai Technologies India CSR Trust.

“Akamai will award grants of up to INR 60 Lakhs in total for Cohort 2 grantees to facilitate the development of their solutions,” said Anup Chakravarthi, Director of Finance and Finance Chair for Akamai Technologies India CSR Trust. Cohort 2 grantees will receive active mentoring through ICCW and IIT M to innovate sustainable and scalable water technologies.

Watch this space for more updates.