A group of engineering students always wanted to do something to contribute to the country’s development. Finding a cusp between their academic background and interests, they developed an initiative that specializes IoT nodes, currently the product under test Avartan has are Solar Battery Monitoring System and Agri Monitoring System.
- Could you give us a brief introduction to your business?
Our journey began from our university, where we worked together in the student club. During that time, we formed a strong bond among ourselves. Instead of shifting to a foreign country as the trend seems to be, we collaborated with the very thought of doing something for the betterment of our home country, Nepal. After a lot of contemplation and heavy discussions to derive the subject we’d really like to specialize in, we finally realized Internet of Things (IoT) based analytics was the one.
We are trying to develop this IoT based data analytics company in Nepal as it is difficult for people to understand technical terms such as IoT here. During the CG incubation, we were confined to only 2 products in our prototype phase.
The first product is the Solar Monitoring System. This product monitors the status of the battery, and on connecting it to the solar power, it monitors the battery if it is being charged or discharged. It also offers information about energy consumption and generation, optimizing energy usage, and any damage to your solar system and further tests are being conducted to generate predictive forecast about battery life and health.
The second product is the Agri Monitoring System which is a monitoring system for agriculture. It is a device for soil analysis which measures the value of the soil and provides a report to the farmers; a provision for them to enhance their productivity. Our current system is more focused into new agricultural techniques like Aeroponics and Aquaponics. These systems heavily rely on technology and our system is soon to be in final forms for the same.
We registered our company under the name Avataran Technology Pvt. Ltd about a year back.
- What challenges did you face in your endeavors with the company to reach at this stage?
The ideation phase was the time we faced some of our major challenges. We had no idea about business planning. We attended a lot of events to learn more about this arena and filled our information gaps. Another challenge that has always been and remains is making people understand the use of our products as they do not understand the technical terminologies.
As a startup, it is not easy to start any business. We faced a lot of challenges in the economic realm. The biggest challenge we are currently facing is in the financial area, since our teammates are from the engineering background and we have very minimal knowledge about finance.
- What social issues are you trying to target with your enterprise?
There is no particular SDG that we are targeting, but since our focus is to help increase the productivity of the farmers at grassroots level while promoting the use of the solar energy systems; our product is bound to make a huge impact on the society. We have always been focused on catering to a ‘Smart system for Smart cities’. Our approach pivots on the grassroots level to contribute in the development of our nation, especially in agriculture.
- How was your experience with the CG Smart City Challenge?
We had a wonderful experience in the 8 weeks at the incubation as well as in the levels of training. We were given training sessions in HR, Finance, Economics and many other aspects that are required to start a business. The best part was we got an opportunity to meet and speak with various groups of people from various fields. The experience with CG was fruitful for us.
- Was the investment for your company funded or was it your own outlay?
Our company is bootstrapped. The major expenses incurred during the registration and on the prototype which were covered with contribution from the founders. In total, we have invested around 2 Lakh rupees in our company, till date.
- What are your plans in the near future with the company?
We are working on multiple areas. One focus area is creating a generic IoT for all our products. We want to go ahead and introduce our product to the market since we have a ready prototype for both solar and agri monitor system under test. We also have clients like “AeroRoots” eager to test out our systems. Our aim is to launch the final product within a couple of months from now. Meanwhile we are also hunting for seed funders.
Krishna Sharma, current CEO of Avartan can be reached at ‘akrishna602@live.com’
Originally published on blincventures.com
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