Meet The 10 Indian Startups Which Made Into WEF’s Tech Pioneers List

Atleast ten Indian startups, including Pixxel, Niramai and Sarvam AI, have made into the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Technology Pioneers list, which highlights 100 leading tech companies from across 23 countries. 

These startups are leveraging new AI breakthroughs in fields such as clean energy, healthcare, biotechnology, space and neurotechnology.

The Indian companies that made it into the list are Pixxel, Sarvam AI, Amperehour Solar, Cropin, Entri HealthPlix, International Battery Company, Niramai, NxtWave and String Bio.

Notably, previously recognised companies in this list include successful heavyweights like Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter and Spotify.

The 2024 Technology Pioneers cohort has the most representation from the largest entrepreneurship ecosystems in the world, the US and China, followed by India, which has more startups than ever before in this year’s cohort.

“The 2024 cohort will contribute cutting-edge insights and expertise to the Forum’s global initiatives over the next two years and help scale their impact,” WEF said in a statement. 

The list comprises nine space companies, such as Pixxel, four neurotechnology firms, and four clean technology startups, including Amperehour and International Battery Company from India. 

Of the 100 technology companies that made the list, one-third of them were led by women CEO. 

Here is a list of all the 10 Indian startups which made it to the WEF’s 2024 Technology Pioneers List

Niramai Health Analytix

Founded in: 2016 

Founded by: Geetha Manjunath

Headquarter:  

Sector: Healthtech 

Niramai is innovating with an AI-based test for early stage breast cancer detection that is affordable, portable and non-invasive.

Pixxel 

Founded in: 2019 

Founded by: Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, 

Headquarter: Bengaluru

Sector: Deeptech

Pixxel is building a constellation of hyperspectral earth imaging satellites to provide insights to sectors like agriculture, mining and environment, among others.

Sarvam AI

Founded in: July 2023 

Founded by: AI4Bharat creators – Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar – 

Headquarter: Bengaluru

Sector: Enterprise tech

Sarvam aims to develop custom-made large language models (LLMs), specifically designed for India-centric use cases.

AmpereHour 

Founded in: 2017 

Founded by: Ayush Misra, Harshal Thakur, Neehar Jathar, Rahul and Shelke  

Headquarter: Pune

Sector: Cleantech

AmpereHour builds hardware and software technology for mid to large-scale battery-based energy storage systems. It is creating dispatchable renewable energy plants. 

Cropin

Founded in: 2010 

Founded by: Krishna Kumar and Kunal Prasad

Headquarter: Hyderabad

Sector: Agtech

Cropin is a SaaS-based agtech startup which helps farm-to-fork businesses digitise their operations and make informed decisions that enhance farming efficiency, productivity and sustainability, which provides farm management solutions that enhance productivity and digitise farm records.

Entri 

Founded in: 2017

Founded by: Mohammed Hisamuddin and Rahul Ramesh

Headquarter: Pune

Sector: Edtech

Entri is a vernacular edtech startup that offers learning and skill development programmes in Indian languages.

HealthPlix 

Founded in: 2014 

Founded by: Raghuraj Sunder Raju, and Sandeep Gudibanda

Headquarter: Bengaluru

Sector: Healthtech

HealthPlix allows doctors to create a full medical profile of their patients, helping them during follow-on consultations. It is advancing AI-powered electronic medical record systems. 

International Battery Company 

Founded in: 2022

Founded by: Priyadarshi P

Headquarter: Sunnyvale, California

Sector: Cleantech

International Battery Company builds unique I-NMC Prismatic cells in India at its non-captive gigafactory. It provides large-sized, lithium-ion batteries for the small-mobility segment like two-wheelers, three-wheelers, light commercial vehicles, as well as industrial and farm equipment

NxtWave 

Founded in: 2020

Founded by: Sashank Reddy Gujjula, Anupam Pedarla and Rahul Attuluri

Headquarter: Hyderabad

Sector: Edtech

NxtWave offers AI-driven, vernacular-based coding courses, enabling thousands of previously unemployed students to secure jobs.

String Bio 

Founded in: 2013

Founded by: Vinod Kumar and Dr. Ezhil Subbian

Headquarter: Bengaluru 

Sector: Healthtech 

String Bio primarily manufactures raw materials for animal nutrition, agriculture, human nutrition and personal care sectors that are derived using a sustainable process. Besides, it is converting greenhouse gases into next-generation agricultural and nutritional products.

It is pertinent to note that the majority of these 10 startups are primarily AI-focused. This reflects the growing prominence of AI amid India’s evolving digital landscape. 

Today, GenAI has surpassed the mere realm of automation to encompass crafting intelligent solutions that enable the most needed breakthroughs. As a result, investors have been increasing their interest in the segment in recent times. 

Since 2019, over 100 startups in India have raised more than $600 Mn, fueling the growth of the Generative AI sector.