In India, air pollution has almost an apocalyptic effect. The competitive urbanisation and industrialisation have extended the pollution stage even in addition. Come winter, Delhi and its adjacent areas suffocate with smog.
A Greenpeace India document says that as many as 47 Mn kids stay in regions with pollutant PM10 or with particulate be counted inside the air with a diameter less than 10 microns. In the current times, some of the cities which have had the worst cases of pollution consist of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra.
Taking word of the state of affairs, Odisha-primarily based IoT startup Phoenix Robotix got here up with Aurassure – an modern environment monitoring device that facilitates industries recognise the extent in their pollutant emission.
The tale goes as such!
In 2015, Amiya Kumar Samantaray along with Kishan Kumar Patel, Akanksha Priyadarshini, Asish Sahoo, Nataraj Sahoo and Ashutosha Sarangi based Phoenix Robotix from NIT Rourkela.
The startup works inside the discipline of Industrial Internet of Things aka IIoT and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). It released Aurassure which gives a whole solution for real-time air and climate pleasant monitoring in Smart Cities.
In quick, Aurassure got here into life to assist cities to monitor and to better apprehend the micro-environments in real-time the usage of sensor-based totally IoT tool and facts analytics.
What Triggered Aurassure?
The IoT startup became found during the BIGShift event collection organised by Inc42 in affiliation with Amazon India. Its product, Aurassure, captures different air great parameters from extensively disbursed locations and showcases in an internet platform with a cell app to visualise and analyse the ambient air first-class.
The product changed into to start with geared toward a solution for industries, keeping in thoughts the mandated Central Pollution Control Board hints of ambient air high-quality tracking via the industries themselves, but Aurassure determined a larger scope with the inception of clever cities.
The founders diagnosed a few key problems in the air tracking gadget, Amiya claimed, “The current equipment and device used for pollutants monitoring by means of the authorities organisations the world over are not scalable and sustainable. These devices are highly costly, occupies exorbitant area, are cumbersome and consumes immoderate energy.”
Apart from this, the gadgets use consumables ensuing in needs of ordinary preservation by using educated specialists adding to the operational value. Due to such excessive cost of implementation, maximum of the growing countries like India grow to be with sparsely disbursed devices leading to lack of visibility, granularity and giant monitoring of air excellent.
Due to the sparsely allotted devices across the us of a, the government is facing demanding situations to know-how the adjustments of their micro-environments because of loss of information. Lack of proper records is main to unsuitable coverage frameworks, town planning and at times, become with improper choice making, which in the end outcomes within the public disinterest.
According to Amiya,
“The real causes of air pollution in special cities still stay unidentified and therefore, because of the lack of understanding, residents fail to realize the intensity of this exponentially growing problem.”
The air first-rate monitoring became a section that lacked a whole cease-to-quit answer to fulfill all the requirements for the hassle and the crew already had a few revel in running with diverse industries within the pollutants tracking section, in order that they decided to expand a whole integrated IoT based totally answer for tracking the air nice of the cities in real-time.
Hence, the crew of Aurassure felt an pressing need of a scientific and properly-connected network of green air first-rate monitoring structures in huge deployments for setting up sound city making plans and smart metropolis implementation, and in flip spreading cognizance among citizens with the aid of accomplishing their personalized ranges.
Aurassure is working on the difficulty of air tracking trouble with distinct purchaser segments; one being the medium and massive scale industries and the other one being Smart Cities.
Amiya motives why this was the technique, “We decided to start with providing a few solutions to the industries as Rourkela is surrounded by way of a huge range of industries. We made visits to special industries and desired to understand approximately their requirements for any customised solutions.”
Then the Government of India had also announced various Smart Cities. Amiya further stated, “We desired to be a part of the rising market. We studied the requirements of numerous answers proposed for the Smart Cities.”
From Aurassure To Oeuvre
Today, Aurassure is supplying its air and climate excellent tracking answers in clever cities. The group is also planning to feature more sensors for a couple of packages for smart-towns underneath Aurassure vertical.
Delightedly Amiya stated,
“We had started out from an absolute 0. We’ve generated a revenue of approx. $35K before receiving any outdoor funding.”
In 2016, the organisation went on to raise Seed funding of $55K from 3 neighborhood angel traders consisting of Manoranjan Mahapatra, Amit Gupta and Amrit Biswal. Currently, the crew is making plans to raise a Pre-Series A spherical of approx. $700K to $800K in the subsequent six months time body.
A foremost thrust to its success tale is given by the truth that PSU major Steel Authority of India has carried out Aurassure in its Rourkela plant after it acquired several lawsuits from neighbouring townships and villages about emission of harmful pollution.
With permission from the regional workplace of State Pollution Control Board, Odisha, and Rourkela Steel Plant, Aurassure was installed close to the fencing of the plant to allow fence-line monitoring. Acting on the facts, the plant government had been capable of cut down probabilities of in addition emission. The answer additionally supplied a pollutants fashion evaluation, assisting the plant authorities to plot their operations if you want to minimise pollutants to neighbouring residential places.
Aurassure claims to were a hit in maintaining a boom rate of 300% for the final years and this yr, the crew claims, it'll be last with approx. $400K in sales.
Amiya asserted, “We are already profitable from the primary year itself due to decrease operational expenditure and being installed at Rourkela, that's closer to our consumer geographies. We are usually targeting essential marketplace segments – Industries & Smart Cities.”
As claimed, the IoT startup currently has greater than 70 paying clients along with pinnacle manufacturers like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, Aditya Birla Group, Honeywell Automations & Dalmia Cement etc.
This is the tale of a startup that has grown from a team of six individuals to extra than 25 participants inside last two and half years. The startup has also been successful in being counted in the top ten innovations for smart towns in “Innovate for Digital India Challenge (IFDIC) 2015” hosted by using DST and CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad and mentored by using Intel and UC Berkeley. This turned into a turning factor for the team as it gave the group a commercial enterprise-orientated route and helped them in converting the concept into a robust commercial enterprise proposition.
The IoT startup changed into also selected some of the pinnacle three startups inside the effect task for growing a solution for water first-class tracking and provided by way of the honorable leader minister of Karnataka. Adding to its galore of achievements, the IoT startup was also shortlisted to participate within the “Leader in Innovation Fellowship (LIF)” programme organised in the United Kingdom funded with the aid of the United Kingdom Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2017.
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As far as competition is worried, on one hand, the tool is competing with high-quit ambient air great device made from across the globe together with Thermofischer Scientific, ABB, Chemtrols, Aeroqual, Horiba, and so on.
As maximum of these devices have a foreign starting place, the customers are paying a heavy technology price without proper services and upkeep assist.
The conventional gadgets require in-intensity know-how as a way to hold and perform. Whereas, Aurassure device is a small, light-weight and easy to operate. It also can be powered via solar energy in a road light pole set up. It will permit monitoring of road resolution pollution data for smarter and livable metropolis.
“We have carried out for one patent and a few more is in the pipeline. Two trademarks and one layout registration has already been granted,” says the founder. Currently, the startup is operating with Honeywell and ICLEI for one of a kind clever towns of India.
Amiya says, “Though our product is competing with their product line, we are absolutely different in phrases of era used to make those devices, in turn decreasing the price almost by means of 20-30 times compared to the present gadgets.”
On the opposite hand, the device is likewise competing with companies using similar technology. To call a few are manufacturers like Bosch, PAQs, Oizom, AQmesh, Libelium, and so forth. Who're presenting similar solutions. “Our answer is competitively higher as it may aid customisable sensor selection depending upon the utility requirement,” tells Amiya.
The crew claims that the solution may be very smooth to operate and calls for 0 technical information. The device comes with remote calibration and configuration capabilities and consists of no movable elements leading to 0 wear and tear.
The Ecosystem And The Future Market
In India, there appears to be a postpone or sluggish boom in the preliminary section of air tracking system right now because of lack of awareness and technology adoption the various humans.
Amiya states, “Considering the section in which we are running proper now, i.E. Real-time Environmental Monitoring, people don’t recognise the need of one of these system. But if we evaluate it to different advanced economies just like the US, UK, Europe, and so forth. And how they don't forget weather exchange as one of the predominant problems. They have loads of focus approximately surroundings protection and the Govt. Is spending lots of resources for numerous rules closer to surroundings protection.”
Apparently, the adoption of generation and information-pushed decision making is likewise a whole lot faster in the advanced international locations. But the scenario is enhancing progressively and those are becoming increasingly more aware about the consequences of environmental changes.
Amiya concurs,
“The era adoption time-lag is likewise decreasing. We also are arising with extra range of answers inside the subsequent two years under the umbrella of Aurassure. Also, we are developing our purchaser base to industries, research institutes, NGOs and diverse Environment Consultants.”
Speaking on the startup environment of India, Amiya recalls that there had been no fundamental startups in Rourkela on the time while he and his team have been beginning. He provides, “But it’s getting higher day by day with the help from both the Govt. Of Odisha in addition to the Govt. Of India. Nowadays, some of startups are popping out of small towns of India, Rourkela being no special.”
But Rourkela continues to be in the back of other pinnacle startup hubs of the us of a like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, and so forth. It is indeed a big venture to be an entrepreneur in a rustic which is yet to do a good deal extra to enhance the surroundings.
Reiterating the same, Amiya says, “Yes, it’s surely difficult to be an entrepreneur in our u . S .. In other developed economies like the US, UK, Europe, and so on. The start-up environment is much more vibrant than it's miles in India, with the scholars being extra interested in beginning their personal ventures and the entire atmosphere helping the tradition. In India, it’s comparatively harder for a student to observe his passion and start his very own mission and getting the proper opportunities for the equal after completing training. But the time is converting and the Govt. Of India is encouraging increasingly begin-u.S.In the united states of america through growing attention and promoting numerous rules.”
With India establishing up to the startup idea and industrialisation scaling up, products like Aurassure will sincerely go a long manner.
Markets and Markets in its studies titled ‘Air Quality Monitoring Market’ has given a forecast duration of 2016 to 2021. The market is predicted to attain $five.Sixty four Bn through 2021, at a CAGR of eight.5% from 2016 to 2021 in India. Along with different startups inclusive of Sameer Air Pollution Control, Air Quality Index, AirVisual, etc. Aurassure could be able to tap into the market opportunities.
Editor’s Note
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a statutory business enterprise under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, provides actual-time air first-rate measurements across all states and UTs through its 683 established stations, freed from cost.
The stations are further run with the assist of best environmental research institutes such as the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IITB. Maintained at the research and policy-framework degree, these stations typically measure atmospheric pollution thru all to be had strategies along with gravimetric, moist-chemical in addition to non-stop online methods.
However, the CPCB’s air-fine monitoring gadgets and their measurements are not hyperlocal and value-powerful as required by most of the industries consisting of Pharma and healthcare.
Blume Ventures’ Partner Sanjay Nath is all ears for investments in surroundings-related startups, given that those startups are trying to remedy the united states of america’s burgeoning pollutants hassle.
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Claiming to meet the hyperlocal needs, it received’t be an clean and inexperienced turf for Aurassure to grazing in.
With the primary mover within the market, massive players like ABB and Thermo Fisher have advanced and patented some of sensors and technologies. However, adopting their solutions in the real world isn't everybody’s cup of tea, as they normally offer CMC/AMCs only which are very high priced.
To meet the value-effectiveness criterion, Aurassure makes use of sim card-enabled wireless smart sensors with small form elements that would effortlessly in shape anywhere and broadcast facts. Inc42 has not been capable of verify whether or not they meet CPCB/NAAQS issued strategies of size and accuracy requirements for all the 12 number one pollutants.
What’s more interesting is that the IoT startup Phoenix Robotix product – Aurassure deploys solar panels to preserve the air best monitoring technique green. Recently, some of businesses have jumped the pollutants bandwagon. Enriching their facts journalism, India’s data journalism behemoth India Spend has also commenced offering unfastened actual-time air fine index throughout the united states.
The company has deployed forty low-value quality sensors outfitted with GPRS transmitters throughout main cities in India. Non-earnings platform IODA and Chennai-primarily based Sensors Without Borders have also deployed comparable low-price first-class sensors to offer actual-time air great index.
In a situation, where records is becoming free, the point of interest is rapid moving from monitoring to control, from obtaining records to present day generation implementations like dice sensors and smoke sucking towers.
As the attention concerning air pollution is speedy increasing, so is the mushrooming of startups in the vertical. In the sort of scenario, for the Aurassure group, the product should stay at the centre in their layout questioning.