[100 Emerging Women Leaders] How Gayathri Kuppendra Reddy is powering deeptech climate and sustainability startups

In many ways, Bengaluru resident Gayathri Kuppendra Reddy learnt the ability to discern pressing climate needs from her family.

Nine years before she founded her company, NOW Venture Studios (No Other World)—a deeptech and deep-science venture studio focused on sustainability and climate tech—Gayathri’s father, D Kuppendra Reddy, filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court demanding the restoration and rejuvenation of Bellandur, Agara, and Varthur lakes in Bengaluru.

Besides successfully restoring these lakes, her family business, RJ Infrastructure, worked on rainwater harvesting and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified projects for large MNCs.

After finishing her Master’s in Advanced Management Practice from the University of Bath, UK, she returned home to join the family business before starting NOW Venture Studios.

“I had specialised in risk and change management in my Masters, so I was always looking at ways to anticipate and understand climate change from an academic perspective,” Gayathri tells HerStory.

“I can say that my first job working with my family business laid the ground for my foundational years as a professional in this field. The company’s commitment to addressing important climate challenges exposed me to the business and preservation side of things,” she adds.

Finding her path

A few years into working in the family business, Gayathri decided to branch off on her own, started a café, and made some small angel investments in edtech, student accommodation, etc., sectors.

“I was meeting entrepreneurs who wanted to solve some critical environmental problems and needed support. Many times, I wasn’t investing in their ideas, but validating them by helping them meet mentors and people aligned with them and their ideas in the real estate ecosystem,” she says.

In 2019, Gayathri started her non-profit, KReate Foundation, which works with stakeholders on urban planning and water management in Bengaluru.

The foundation partnered with Vishwanath Srikantaiah, a water activist, urban planner, and the brain behind the ‘Digging a Million Wells’ campaign in Bengaluru, and roped in startups solving the same issue.

“We planned events around lakes, discussed the importance of rainwater harvesting in cities and engaged with schools,” she says, adding, “We saw that despite policy changes, stakeholders did not know how to go about these visions.”

In 2023, Gayathri was chosen as one of the Davos50 young leaders, bringing a voice to the issues faced by their generation at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Summit.

“I became a trained Climate Reality Leader, through which I developed a scientific understanding of climate change risks, and how to approach them holistically in a way that would make a difference for our future generations,” says Gayathri.

Climate Reality leaders are trained by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, under his organisation, The Climate Reality Project.

Bridging important gaps with NOW

Gayathri’s sustained interest in these areas developed the blueprint for NOW Venture Studio, with built environment, advanced materials, and decarbonisation of hard to abate sectors like cement and steel as its focus areas.

NOW Venture Studio collaborates on developing deeptech sustainability and climate ventures, mitigating risks in the venture-building process and expediting their path to market.

It helps curate business opportunities, concept validation, MVP building, early customer adoption, and first institutional funding for climate action workers across the board—entrepreneurs, researchers, students, and industry professionals.

“It is critical for us to develop and amplify holistic solutions. We firmly believe that if we are not addressing climate challenges comprehensively at every level, it will only add to the existing problem. For example, when investing in last-mile delivery, we explore ways to decarbonise the process as well,” says Gayathri.

“In cities where people are constantly moving in for work and better opportunities, emerging places to stay and travel modes can lead to urban heat islands—concretised surfaces with increased temperature. “In such a scenario, we consider supporting and scaling innovative solutions in advanced materials, buildings and green spaces to offset this damage,” she explains.

At times, even with enough money and ready investors available, good ideas don’t get the support they need, Gayathri says, adding, “For example, a tech graduate from IIT Madras might have to go beyond their research to handle marketing, business registration, hiring etc for their startup. We provide funding and customised shared services to support such functions and co-build the business while the founder focuses on building the product,,”

Since its launch in January 2024, NOW Venture Studio has received 1,500 applications, over 130 investment partners, and several projects in the pipeline.

The role of women

Gayathri was recently selected to be a part of the Women Climate Initiative, a community empowering women-inclusive climate action in India.

Coming from a real estate background where fewer women participate in the sector, Gayathri says climate, which is a much newer space, will benefit from the empathy and lived experiences of women.

“This is a great time for women in climate action as there is enough support and opportunities for them to function as collectives and put their ideas into action,” she says.