Rainmatter

The Plastic Recycling Gap Globally, less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled today. Mechanical recycling, which dominates current practices, depends on relatively clean and well-sorted streams such as PET or HDPE bottles and converts them into secondary recyclates. While effective for select applications, these recyclates are generally lower in performance and purity than virgin […]

Sanitary waste is a large, invisible problem. Over 12 crore women in India use sanitary pads. This results in billions of pads being generated every year, most of which end up in landfills or are burned. The bulk of used sanitary waste is disposed of in an unsafe and unscientific manner. This has an impact […]

Last month, we had dinner with some of the founders we have backed through Rainmatter. This was in the backdrop of GFF, so the meetup was largely with founders from the fintech ecosystem who were in Mumbai then. Btw, if you’ve not been tracking, we have over 130 startup investments of which a third are […]

The last few years have made something clear: climate volatility is no longer an exception; it’s the new operating environment for our cities. Flooding after routine rainfall, heatwaves that push public systems to their limits, and air quality that shifts dangerously within hours have exposed a simple truth: urban resilience is now a real-time challenge. […]

Most Indians will live 10–15 years beyond the traditional retirement age. Yet a large share of the workforce has no structured pension or long-term retirement plan. Over the next 25 years, nearly 20 crore people will reach retirement without adequate savings. The National Pension System (NPS) is one of the strongest retirement products available. It’s […]

Booking an FD with a bank where you don’t already have a savings account is still much harder than it needs to be. Every bank has its own onboarding and KYC flow, most of which are not designed for someone who only wants to open an FD. This friction keeps most people tied to their […]

At Rainmatter, we’ve often talked about how it’s increasingly difficult to eat healthy, especially for younger people living away from their families. Cooking regularly is tough, and the traditional dabba services rarely deliver food that’s nutritious and appetising. Ordering out every day isn’t a long-term solution either. That’s where The Kenko Life comes in. Kenko […]

Our planet was once alive with abundance. Herds of herbivores thundered across vast grasslands, swamps echoed with the croaks of amphibians, and forests rang with the calls of primates swinging freely through the trees. Today, that richness is fading. We are living through the sixth mass extinction, a crisis unlike any before. Extinction itself is […]

Every year, the world consumes 111 trillion tonnes of textile fibers. Over half of this comes from polyester, essentially plastic – that pollutes our oceans and soils with microplastics. Around a quarter is conventional cotton, which is notorious for its massive pesticide use and water consumption. Another 6.5% are man-made cellulosic fibers (MMCs), created through […]

Many of us in India have grown up without having open conversations about sex, seeing it as taboo or sometimes even feeling guilty about the little that’s spoken. Hence, sexual health challenges are far more widespread than most people realize. Male infertility now accounts for 50% of infertility cases in India, which is a significant […]

India is a water stressed country, inching towards becoming a water scarce one. While forming only 8 percent of current water demand, ‘industry’ is probably the most able to achieve water efficiency. Industry probably has the most incentive to optimise water use because it is aware of the risks it faces, in terms of business […]

Any building we walk into, be it apartment blocks, office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, movie halls, etc., all use water for air-conditioning, kitchens, washrooms, and landscaping. Currently, this operational aspect of buildings is highly inefficient. In some cases, such inefficiency can even lead to public health issues. Some buildings can improve efficiency by becoming “water […]

Visit any Indian supermarket, and the chances of finding healthy, low-carb, functional, or nutritionally balanced foods are still very low. Most walkways are dominated by products packed with refined flour, excess sugar, and empty calories. In contrast, supermarkets across the US and EU offer far more accessible options: protein-rich snacks, low-carb alternatives, and functional foods […]

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 […]

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 […]