Five Indian start-ups were among the 100 new start-ups to join the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Technology Pioneers Community. These start-ups are expected to forge new paths in various sectors such as healthcare and food production.
Full stack labour marketplace for blue collar workers, Vahan, was one of the Indian start-ups to join the community. Along with it is Pandocorp, the world's first open-market freight management platform, plant-based protein ingredient innovator Proeon, Asia's first circular economy marketplace Recykal, and SmartCoin Financials, a tech-driven financial inclusion platform empowering the underserved.
Founded in 2016 by Madhav Krishna, Vahan is a technology company headquartered in Bangalore that companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Uber, Shadowfax etc. hire blue-collar workers. They are backed by investors such as Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and Airtel.
Pandocorp was founded by Nitin Jayakrishnan, Pandocorp offers “network-powered all-in-one freight automation for fast growing businesses”. Founded by Ashish Korde and Kevin Parekh, Proeon aims to “enable healthier eating, conscious consumption, and cruelty-free food practices for long-term impact”.
Recykal is an end-to-end digital solutions provider that facilitates transactions for all stakeholders across the country’s waste management and recycling value chain. It was founded by Abhay Deshpande.
SmartCoin Financials, co-founded by Rohit Garg, Amit Chandel, Vinay Kumar Singh, and Jayant Upadhyay, aims to solve the problem of financial inclusion through technology.
Saemoon Yoon, Technology Pioneers Community Lead, World Economic Forum, said, “The 2022 cohort of Technology Pioneers is already bringing great changes to industries around the world. By joining this community these emerging tech leaders can continue to show not only the impressive tech advancements within their firms but also how their companies are helping to build a better future for us all.”
The WEF stated that for the first time, over one-third of the selected firms are led by women, which is well above the industry average. The 2022 Tech Pioneers are based in 30 countries, with Vietnam, Rwanda ad Czech Republic being represented for the first time ever.
This year’s companies will join an impressive group of alumni including Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Spotify, TransferWise, Twitter and Wikimedia. The 2022 cohort will be invited to participate in the WEF workshops, events, and high-level discussions during their two years in the community.
Also read: Fintech platform Multipl raises $3 million in pre-series A funding
Also read: Neobanking start-up Open is India’s 100th unicorn with a $50 mn fund raise