Can This Chennai Startup Finally End Manual Scavenging In India?

In the startup world, an entrepreneur’s primary objective is to either identify white space for disruption or solve a real-world problem. However, not everyone is bestowed with the vision to identify disruption opportunities and provide a solution thereof.

While that could be true for a majority of startup founders and the ones to be, Solinas Integrity, a deeptech startup born out of IIT Madras, has been laser-focussed on solving multiple problems related to water and wastewater management since 2018.

Founded by Moinak Banerjee, Divanshu Kumar, and Bhavesh Narayani, the startup began its journey with a pipeline inspection crawler and claims to have developed India’s first robot for septic tank and manhole cleaning.

But here’s the intriguing part: Two of the founders originally had completely different aspirations, which somehow converged to pave the way for Solinas. Today, the startup works in tandem with multiple government departments, including municipal corporations. Alongside its public sector clients, Solinas also serves private sector giants like Suez, Veolia, Volvo, Hyundai, and Mahindra.

In a conversation with Inc42, cofounder Banerjee revealed that his path to Solinas was quite different from that of his cofounders. Reflecting on the inception story of Solinas, the cofounder said that while living in Sweden, he often wondered that the quality of water being made available to Indian households was hardly on par with any European country.

“There is no concept of water filters there, and one can directly drink tap water. I realised that India was nowhere closer to the amount of technology intervention these countries have in maintaining water pipelines. This hit a nerve, and I left my job at Scania to build a similar solution for India,” Banerjee said.

The Twist In The Solinas Inception Story

At a time when Banerjee was contemplating a solution that could clean water pipelines in the country so that Indians do not have to rely on overly expensive water filters, he met his old friend Kumar, who wanted to solve India’s water and sanitation problems too but in a different way. 

Well, Kumar’s focus was largely on putting an end to the inhumane practice of human scavenging that has persisted long enough to bow the nation’s head in shame. 

For the uninitiated, manual scavenging involves the manual cleaning, handling, and disposal of human waste and other materials from dry, open drains, sewers and manholes. Adding pangs to the problems are the deaths that happen due to this work every year.

For context: As many as 330 individuals died in accidents while cleaning sewers and septic tanks between 2017 and 2021. Notably, this is just the reported data, which may not agree with the actual one.  Filled with despair and resentment observing the state of night soil carriers, despite an official ban since 1993, he was too engaged in using his technical prowess to put a stop to this practice once and for all.

“Coming out of his master’s program at IIT, Kumar was passionate about developing a solution to the problem of manual scavenging. What fuelled his hopes was the fact that while there were various solutions and technologies, none were affordable or effective enough to address the root cause,” Banerjee said. 

At the time, as per Banerjee, Kumar was developing a solution to address everything that was otherwise missing from the market. Also, as luck would have it, the two happened to meet to discuss the prospect of Kumar’s project, leading to the realisation that the tech solution could be built to effectively cater to both problems.

From there on, it was just a matter of time before they found themselves working on Endobot, a pipeline inspection crawler. Also, they had a clear vision to rope in municipalities and public facility departments as their clients. 

Solinas’ Initial Hiccups

At the outset, the cofounders told Inc42 that as engineers, they had some technical knowledge but lacked a clear understanding of how to build a business.  Therefore, they focussed on developing solutions, like robots or software. While the tech was in place, they struggled to create a sustainable business model. 

“For the first year and a half, we were trying to figure out how to ensure our company’s survival and turn our solutions into a viable business. When we launched our first product about two and a half years ago, we were still operating more like students running small pilots rather than as a business,” the cofounders said. 

However, these pilots, conducted with companies like LMT and Suez, taught them valuable lessons about how to structure their business model and refine solutions.  As they moved forward, they realised that their initial approach needed significant fine-tuning to make it scalable across India and to build a successful business.

Also, working with the government in the early stages was particularly challenging. “It wasn’t just difficult; we were also uninformed about how to navigate business dealings with government entities. Over time, we built a network of channel partners who helped us engage with the government more effectively. Through trial and error, we began to crystalise our business model, and that’s when our real journey started,” they said.

The Solinas Product Stack

Currently, the startup has three patented technologies — Endobot for sewer and water management; HomoSEP for septic tanks and manholes, and Swasth AI.

The startup has designed its Endobot sewer robots to unclog pipes ranging from 120 mm to 1,000 mm. Equipped with GIS positioning, visual analytics, and digital reporting, these bots provide comprehensive solutions for sewer maintenance.

On the other hand, the EndoBot for water is engineered to efficiently manage and maintain water pipelines. According to the company’s website, this bot navigates through pipes and conduits, detecting issues like illegal water connections, contamination, and other failures that could disrupt water supplies.

Moving on, with HomoSEP ATOM, which the startup claims to be the country’s 1st septic tank cleaning robot, Solinas is on a mission to end manual scavenging once and for all. The tech also allows industries, societies, private water supply bodies, and the government to effectively process and separate the sludge of septic tanks and manholes with little to no impact on the environment.

Meanwhile, the startup’s product stack also comprises a cloud-based storage and data management solution, Swasth AI. Notably, the data collected through EndoBot is processed for defect localisation with GIS tagging, and a customised report is generated in the Swasth AI dashboard.

“We leverage AI to identify when the pipelines will fail and figure out the remaining life of the pipelines. This predictive approach enables proactive maintenance, potentially saving municipalities significant resources in the long run,” the cofounders said.

Solinas And Its Tryst With The Sharks 

It is imperative to note that the cofounders appeared on Shark Tank India’s Season 2. The startup was able to secure a deal of INR 90 Lakh for a 3% equity stake from sharks Anupam Mittal and Peyush Bansal.

“At the time, we were at a very early stage in our journey, and our primary motivation for applying was that we were fundraising. Even though the types of companies that usually appear on Shark Tank are quite different from ours, we saw it as a great opportunity to raise awareness. Being on national television allowed us to shed light on the critical issues in India’s water and sanitation sector,” the founders said.

The show provided the validation that they were looking for and catapulted them into the high-growth trajectory. The opportunity also helped the startup unlock the world of really good deals, reassuring them that they were building something scalable.

Notably, this was also the year (FY23) when the startup generated a total revenue of INR 4.93 Cr, achieving profitability with a PAT of INR 18.71 Lakh.

Solinas’ Road Ahead

Operating in a market filled to the brim with water and waste management challenges, Solinas’ key USP is its complete product stack.   

“We not only provide hardware but also software solutions to analyse data. This end-to-end capability sets us apart in the market,” the founders said. 

Overall, the startup competes with Bandicoot robot parent Genrobotics, which is about three years older than Solinas. Bandicoot has also seen heavy backing from the Kerala government. It is engaged in culling various manual scavenging activities across 14 states in India, including UP, Maharashtra, and Punjab. The company is also exploring international markets, particularly in Dubai and Malaysia.

Recently, in May this year, the startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Neev Fund II, a fund managed by the State Bank of India’s private equity arm SBICAP Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from fintech unicorn Zerodha’s Rainmatter Capital.

In the short term, the startup plans to use the funds to strengthen its water pipeline and sanitation infrastructure to drive climate change adaptation and sustainability.

As of now, the startup is working hand in glove with the municipal corporations of Aurangabad, Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, and Mangalore. However, a pain point of working with government departments is that their budgets are quite skewed. While the startup may not feel any additional burden in the short term, a long-term association with departments that separately miserly may not bode well for Solinas.

Edited By Shishir Parasher