Villgro invests in three social enterprises – OneBreath, Ecozen Solutions and Artoo
Villgro today announced three new additions to their investment and incubation portfolio – OneBreath, Ecozen Solutions and Artoo. Villgro has made equity investments in all three companies and is providing mentoring, access to relevant networks and talent, to help these social enterprises.
Paul Basil, Founder and CEO of Villgro, said, “Villgro has always sought out innovative companies with the potential for tremendous social impact, run by passionate entrepreneurs. These investments mark the next stage of growth, not only in the journey of these companies, but also in Villgro’s own incubation and investment portfolio.”
OneBreath, co-founded by A.VijaySimha, Matthew Callaghan and Bryan Loomas, is a medical device company that is developing an innovative low-cost mechanical ventilator intended to improve acute ICU care for patients across all communities. Respiratory illness is a leading cause of hospitalisation and death in developing nations, with thousands of patients dying each year due to lack of early access to mechanical ventilation. Ecozen Solutions, founded by IIT Kharagpur alumni Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pandey, is a renewable energy company, focusing on the applications of distributed power generation for agriculture and rural communities. India, despite being the second largest horticulture producer in the world, is not able to meet the domestic demands owing to over 35% wastage of produce (worth Rs 13,300 Cr) per annum, due to inadequate infrastructure for storage. Ecofrost Technologies, an affiliate of Ecozen Solutions is working on a solar micro cold storage system to address this issue. The company also provides solar-based water pumping solutions for drinking and irrigation.
Artoo, founded by entrepreneurs Sameer Segal and Indus Chadha, has developed an Android and Cloud-based platform that allows financial institutions to take all field processes online and track their business with real-time input. Globally, 2.5 billion people do not have an account at a formal financial institution. Today only a few financial institutions are able to serve this population viably. Artoo’s platform intends to make these institutions more viable and hence more accessible and affordable to the end customer. As a next phase of growth Artoo is exploring international expansion of its financial inclusion product as well as expansion into Primary Healthcare and Rural Distribution.
Pinaki Bhattacharyya, Chief Investment and Incubation Officer, Villgro, said, “We are excited to find a potent combination of technology innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, financial viability and scalability in these three companies that will create long-term social impact spanning the healthcare, energy, agriculture and financial inclusion sectors.”