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Surabhi Shah remembers being shaken upon seeing the image of a helpless tortoise with a growth deformity because it ingested the cap of a plastic bottle. 

This made her realise the need for affordable eco-friendly products. While there are several eco-friendly brands making sustainable products, Surabhi believes there are few that provide eco-friendly packaging solutions.

“The so-called reform movements and eco-friendly products were either heavy on the pocket or confined in terms of their reach,” she tells HerStory.

The entrepreneur started Carragreen to produce biodegradable stationery and packaging solutions. Later on, her mother-in-law, Chetna Shah, joined the startup as a partner. 

Incubated at IIM-Bangalore, Carragreen was also among the top 100 women-led startups out of 6,000 selected for a course by NSRCEL (Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning). 

The startup recently raised Rs 50 lakh in funding on Shark Tank India from judges Peyush Bansal (Co-founder and CEO, Lenskart) and Anupam Mittal (Founder and CEO, People Group, Shaadi.com). 

The duo had earlier received around Rs 6.5 lakh in a grant from IIM Bangalore.

Editor’s Pick: The Turning Point

While India has seen a spurt in the growth of ecommerce brands, many of these brands hit a threshold, after which it becomes difficult for them to scale.

Supam Maheshwari and Nitin Agarwal sensed a business opportunity and launched GlobalBees in 2021. The Delhi-based startup acquires digital-first brands that have a revenue rate of $1 million to $20 million, and helps them scale-up and grow. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Making weather forecasts more accurate

When Vanya Arikutharam relied on a weather app to gauge the day’s climatic conditions, she ended up getting drenched. She realised there was a gap in the way weather is predicted.

Along with Anantha Krishna, Abhilash V, and Rishith Bhowmick, she started Frizzle, an internet of things (IoT) firm building the “next-generation of hyper-local weather forecasting services.” Read more. 

Democratising IT and job-ready skills

Gaurav Kamath, Rakesh Kothari, and Manikanta Nair founded Mangaluru-based MicroDegree to help students from Tier II, III+ cities learn coding in vernacular languages and job-ready skills with its online programmes.

The edtech startup aims to make emerging tech affordable for students irrespective of their educational backgrounds and languages. Read more.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Equality is a commitment; a movement and we would like to encourage everyone to join us in creating an equal and inclusive world.”

— Susanne Pulverer, CEO and CSO, IKEA India

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