In May 2016, astronauts aboard the International Space Station discovered a crack in one of their windows. The culprit? A speck of paint no bigger than a grain of sand, hurtling through space at 17,500 mph. This tiny fragment barely visible to the naked eye, carried enough kinetic energy to damage humanity’s most expensive laboratory […]
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Over 50 percent of the freshwater that is sourced, cleaned and pumped into municipal waterpipes either leaks out, is stolen or not paid for. This is Non-Revenue Water – NRW or Unaccounted For Water UFW. Most of India dumps its shit into septic tanks, which need cleaning out every few years. The sewage pipes that […]
If you’ve been hitting the gym regularly for years, you know that feeling when it starts getting repetitive. You’re still showing up because it’s become second nature, but the spark isn’t quite there anymore. You start wondering, what else can I do to make this more interesting? Maybe something competitive and that feels less lonely? […]
Most of us had sports as a subject in school that we actually enjoyed. Some of us liked this period even more than the theoretical classes; sports gave us instant dopamine that sometimes studying never could. Playing with friends on playgrounds and running tracks was pure fun. Gully cricket was even better. India’s cricket culture […]
We’ve always believed that playing sports is so much more than just games. It’s a powerful way to stay healthy, find your community, and push your limits. At Zerodha, sports is a shared language that connects all of us. That’s why, at Rainmatter, alongside our usual focus on fitness and preventive health, we’ve recently backed […]
When Kuldeep and his brother Shivam started exploring retirement planning in India, they uncovered a crisis hiding in plain sight. Traditional Indian families used to rely on children caring for elderly parents, but the shift to nuclear families has left many seniors financially vulnerable. As social structures changed, people stopped supporting their parents as much […]
If you live in Bangalore, the water crisis is a story you know all too well. As summer rolls in, the city starts scrambling to meet its water needs. Tankers become a common sight, crawling along the roads and headlines scream about the water crisis, skyrocketing tanker prices, and give dire warnings about groundwater reserves […]
Protein consumption in India is much lower than what is recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Almost 73% of the population misses out on the minimum dietary intake of protein. Needless to say, this has many health effects, like muscle loss and reduced physical strength. This is why we’ve been supporting entrepreneurs […]
The signs are all around us — from dwindling groundwater levels to erratic rainfall patterns — the water crisis is no longer a distant threat; it’s becoming a lived reality. Whether we call it a crisis or a turning point, one thing is clear: water efficiency is set to become a defining benchmark for responsible […]
It all started with a frustrating experience. When Vineet Singh sold his car to an online buying platform in 2019, they promised payment within 30 minutes. Instead, it took him 10 days of persistent follow-ups to get his money – and that was with his industry connections. For ordinary people, the situation would be far […]
Back in the 70’s, PET burst onto the scene as a miracle material. It was light, clear, strong, and perfect for packaging drinks and food. It quickly became part of everyday life, making bottles easy to carry and grocery packagng lighter, eventually weaving itself into the very fabric of our civilization. But as the years […]
Bamboo is green gold Bamboo is a sustainable and versatile plant. After putting down roots for the first three to five years, the bamboo forms a colony that can then be harvested for up to 15 years, some varieties up to 40 years. While growing, bamboo sequesters more carbon and produces more oxygen than equivalent […]
Hydrogen has been hailed as a possible solution to the world’s energy needs for a hundred years. While its role as a fuel is still being debated, hydrogen is also a key ingredient in a range of industrial processes such as petroleum refining, manufacturing ammonia for fertilisers, methanol production, treatment and production of metals. India’s […]
Sport is a fun and accessible way for everyone to get fit, and stay fit. For folks just starting out, this may be less about fitness and more about spending time with friends. Even for those further ahead in their fitness journey, sports offers a great way to get your steps in and meet your […]
Everything we see, read and observe around us is telling us that a water crisis is imminent. Some would argue it’s already here! Even if that’s not the case, it’s minutes to midnight on the doomsday clock anyway. As India, and the world at large, grows sustainably it’s only a matter of time before water […]
We are excited to partner with Allo Health, a leader in India’s sexual wellness space. Allo is addressing a critical gap in healthcare by providing structured, expert-led, and stigma-free care for sexual health—an area that has long been underserved and overlooked in India. They have a unique approach, combining medical expertise with technology to offer […]
In this post, we’re going to talk about a startup from Udaipur, Jovaki Agro Food India Private Limited (Jovaki). But before that, you’re going to need some context. Specifically, you need to know what Minor Forest Produce (MFP) means. The law (specifically, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, […]
People often ask us why we cheer for the startups we haven’t funded. It’s because we’re not just investors, we’re ecosystem builders. Rainmatter isn’t playing the old VC game—we’re here to change how India thinks about health, finance, and climate. Most VCs only love to talk about their portfolio companies. Some hype and obsess about […]
At Rainmatter, one of our focuses is to build an ecosystem of companies that are helping Indians stay healthy and fit. In this pursuit, we’ve invested in approx 35+ companies (only 27 announced) and continue to meet more startups and founders every week. A common question that is asked is our investment framework when evaluating […]
India can be the epicentre of organic & regenerative farming because it has the soil and climate and the skilled farming labour. India also has small land holdings; while this is a hindrance to industrial farming, it can be turned into an asset. Replacing industrial farming of wheat/rice/sugarcane with organic farming of a huge variety […]
We live in a world facing many challenges—economic, social, environmental, and more. It’s clear we can’t keep doing the same things and expect new results. There are plenty of great ideas out there, but they often don’t make it into our everyday conversations. That’s why storytelling is so important: it helps us see what’s possible […]
When we as a fund look at climate tech investments, we’ve primarily invested in solutions around water, integrated farming, alternative green energy solutions like hydrogen and solar etc. For various reasons, we have broadly stayed away from the EV and ancillary space. When we met Naxatra Labs, and learned more about what they were building […]
One of our big concerns at Rainmatter is how we, as a species, have gone wrong with the simple essentials of life. Take water. Water is really cheap. And that’s a problem because we’re treating it that way. We casually misuse or overuse water, even though it’s steadily getting harder to find. For the last […]
As Rainmatter approaches its 10th anniversary in 2025, we look back at a journey that evolved far beyond our imagination. Our Fintech origins In 2015, when we launched Zerodha Kite, we also built Kite Connect – a set of APIs that allowed users and startups to build platforms on top of our infrastructure. The idea […]
Rivers drive civilisations. Rains feed the reservoirs and groundwater. Of course, there are many factors that affect rivers and rains, like climate, weather, forests, agriculture, urbanization, industrialization etc, which in turn affect how much water we have to live on. India is endowed with more than 400 rivers originating from four main watersheds – the […]
