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Landspeeder from Star Wars. Photo credit: Rowan Peter.

Remember the hoverboard from the movie Back to the Future, the teleporter from Star Trek, or the landspeeder from Star Wars? How about a multi-touch table out of a James Bond film? Talk about hardware technology innovation, these are some of the images that rush to the mind of India’s top venture capitalist and founder of Kalaari Capital, Vani Kola.

Well, the products we saw at Nasscom’s TechMarch initiative for hardware technology innovations were nowhere near as mind-blowing as Vani’s dreams, but three startups did manage to impress the investor.

The presentation session by the startups lasted about an hour, and that’s all the time Vani took to commit an investment of US$100,000 by Kalaari in each of the three innovations. This is the first time that Kalaari Capital is investing in hardware startups.

Here’re the three that got Vani’s attention.

Velmenni

Velmenni is working towards eliminating the woes of wifi, ranging from low bandwidth to congestion and high costs. Instead of wifi, Velmenni’s devices use LiFi technology or light waves from your LED bulbs or tube lights to provide high-speed, highly secure wireless communication system. LiFi uses the visible light spectrum to facilitate high speed data communication of up to 1Gbps, which is faster than present day wifi.

Volta Motors

This Chennai-based startup unveiled a crossover electric bike, which is also a bicycle. Developed and designed in India with Indian climate and road conditions in mind, Volta Zap is an electric vehicle that can run for up to 60km without pedalling on a single charge. It comes with a very light battery weighing around 3kg.

What if the charge is over? No worries. There’s a ‘Pedal Assist’ feature that gives you three full turns of the wheels every time you pedal. Key highlights are its super low running cost – just 7 Indian paise per km (1 US cent is over 50 Indian paise), battery range extender, 4x faster charging, universal charger, and disc brakes. The vehicle is also smartphone integrated via Volta app connect – so you can ride and track your heart rate and blood pressure statistics on your phone.

Cyclopsmed

Cyclopsmed is a medtech startup that works on diagnostic solutions for episodic neurological events like vertigo, using eye tracking technology. Episodic Neurological Events (ENE) is a group of very commonly occurring and widely prevalent conditions, but grossly under-diagnosed. Close to 100 million people globally are chronic sufferers of vertigo, which is one of the most common ENEs. Its diagnosis is usually based on patient inputs in the absence of any technology to accurately capture the problem.

Cyclops aids instant diagnosis, right in front of the doctor, through a spectacle device that has eye tracking cameras and a few other sensors and works in a cloud-based environment.

“I have always been inclined towards software. Overall, there aren’t many hardware startups in India that are being funded. The onus of hardware innovation and manufacturing has moved to other shores. But hearing out these innovations was interesting because it means there is innovation happening in India, but it is not coming to the fore as much as we would want,” Vani Kola said.

According to venture capital database Tracxn, at least 122 hardware-led tech startups were founded in 2014 and 85 in 2015. Total funding in hardware startups in the last two years added up to about US$140 million. The highest leverage is enjoyed by fitness and wellness tech startups. Over US$3.9 billion was invested in wearable tech 2015-16, and US$1.2 billion invested in 2016 alone, as VCs place their bets on the future of entertainment and fitness.

However, Vani warns that venture capitalists must be patient, as the gestation period in hardware is longer than in software. “There are several things to keep in mind. It will be at least seven to eight years before you exit. With hardware you will have to take care of distribution and logistics. Most importantly, affordable pricing is crucial,” Vani said.

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