We support early-stage climate and sustainability innovation by channeling India’s entrepreneurial energy and fostering global connections.
Why Pragati Earth Exists
Pragati Earth exists to catalyze thoughtful, practical, and sustainable action in India to solve our biggest challenges.
Building planetary solutions has never been more critical, but building for success from the get-go is tough. Despite growing awareness and support in India, true deep-tech innovation requires a holistic ecosystem that enables dreaming big!
Pragati Earth was created to respond to this gap.
We believe progress in the early-stage climate-tech ecosystem requires more than urgency or visibility. Deep-tech innovation in energy, materials, sustainability, and industrial decarbonization is complex. It requires careful thinking, alignment across disciplines, and the patience to work with complexity rather than against it. Our role is to support innovators and entrepreneurs working to solve these tough planetary problems.
How We Think And Work
Pragati Earth is a launchpad bridging the gap between breakthrough science and market-ready deep-tech ventures.
SYSTEMS BEFORE SILOS
Environmental and social challenges do not exist in isolation, and neither can the solutions. We approach planetary solutions by understanding how business, technology, capital, and human systems interact; and where meaningful leverage points lie.
INNOVATION THROUGH TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
We bridge the gap between academic research and commercial viability. By focusing on deep-tech and science-driven innovation, we support entrepreneurship that moves beyond traditional startups to tackle the world’s hardest energy and climate problems. We value the rigor of techno-economic analysis and the pursuit of breakthrough R&D.
CLARITY OVER NOISE
We prioritise clear thinking and intellectual honesty. Solutions are explored deeply, and with optimism, but evaluated for sustained scale and impact potential.
EXECUTION-LED VENTURE BUILDING
We catalyze the entrepreneurial and innovation journey with a bias toward action. Our platform is an experiential sandbox where startups are de-risked through rapid customer discovery, rigorous financial modeling, and the formation of elite, interdisciplinary teams. We move with the urgency the climate crisis demands, focusing on high-execution pathways to global scale.
Over time, this will include
≡ Identifying unsolved climate, energy and sustainability problems with business potential
≡ Establishing a platform for collaboration and shared learning across institutions
≡ Enabling global ambition and connection for solutions
Over time, this will include
≡ Identifying unsolved climate, energy and sustainability problems with business potential
≡ Establishing a platform for collaboration and shared learning across institutions
≡ Enabling global ambition and connection for solutions
Work
in Action
29 Jan 2026
Conversations and workshops with the Pragati Earth team at NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore.
29 Jan 2026
Conversations and workshops with the Pragati Earth team at NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore.
29 Jan 2026
Conversations and workshops with the Pragati Earth team at NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore.
Who This is For
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Institutions and organizations developing innovative climate solutions and seeking to commercialize academic research through university spin-outs or technology transfer.
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Founders and innovators who recognize that climate innovation requires collaboration, combining world-class engineering and research with strong business capabilities.
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Strategic investment partners interested in supporting entrepreneurs through the patient capital required for deep-tech climate solutions to mature.
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Corporates and industry partners seeking innovations in decarbonization, clean energy, advanced materials, climate resilience, and related areas.
Who This is For
∀
Institutions and organizations developing innovative climate solutions and seeking to commercialize academic research through university spin-outs or technology transfer.
∀
Founders and innovators who recognize that climate innovation requires collaboration, combining world-class engineering and research with strong business capabilities.
∀
Strategic investment partners interested in supporting entrepreneurs through the patient capital required for deep-tech climate solutions to mature.
∀
Corporates and industry partners seeking innovations in decarbonization, clean energy, advanced materials, climate resilience, and related areas.
Team
Pragati Earth is led by individuals with experience across climate, energy, deep technology, investment, and organisational leadership.
Ramya
SWAMINATHAN
FOUNDER
Ramya brings experience across executive leadership, scaling organizations, and advising technology-driven ventures. She has worked closely with founders, investors, and institutions to build durable organizations in complex, capital-intensive domains.
Ramya is the founder and former CEO of Malta Inc., which is developing utility-scale, long-duration energy storage technology. She led the spin-out of Malta from X, Google’s Moonshot Factory. She also served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee, as a Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy, and on multiple boards. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College.
Bharti
SINGHLA
FOUNDER
Bharti has worked at the intersection of climate innovation, entrepreneurship, and venture building. Her experience spans climate-tech startups, early-stage company formation, and working with global academic and innovation ecosystems to translate research into real-world outcomes.
Bharti is currently a Principal at Momentum Capital, an early-stage climate-focused VC fund investing in India and the U.S. Previously, she was Co-founder and COO of Chakr Innovation (a hardware cleantech startup in India). She led the company’s scale-up from inception to Series B, raising funds from global as well as Indian investors, including VCs, PE firms, and banks. She is a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi and holds a joint MBA and MS in Sustainable Energy Systems from Stanford.
Reja Amatya
Reja is the Co-Founder of Waya Energy Inc. and an energy systems specialist with over a decade of experience advancing universal energy access, energy transition, and national electrification strategies across emerging markets. Reja was a founding member of the Tata Center for Technology and Design at MIT, where she helped shape early initiatives focused on scalable technology solutions for low-resource settings. She also served as a core research staff member at the MIT Energy Initiative’s Universal Energy Access Lab, leading rural electrification efforts across Africa and Asia. Reja holds a B.S. in Engineering Science from Smith College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT.
Meera Gopal
Meera is a climate policy and legal strategist working across India, Asia, and the United States. She has supported governments, multilaterals, and funders in turning complex climate priorities into practical policy and institutional mechanisms that enable adoption and scale. Previously, Meera served as a Senior Program Officer (Climate) at the Asia Society Policy Institute and as an environmental litigator in India. Meera holds an LL.M. in International Law from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), and is a qualified attorney in India.
Our work is guided by advisors who have operated in complex global systems and understand what it takes to move ideas into practice.
Jane Woodward
Jane is the Managing Partner of WovenEarth Ventures, a fund manager specializing in early-stage U.S. cleantech through a multi-manager and co-investment venture strategy. A seasoned investor, advisor, and director, she supports a diverse portfolio of cleantech companies and funds. Jane also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and is a member of the Precourt Energy Institute Advisory Council.
Anantha Padmanabhan
Anantha is the former President for the India, Middle East, and Africa Cluster at Alfa Laval AB and a member of the Group Sales and Service Management Team. He has also served as Regional Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa, and held senior regional leadership roles in Indonesia across business and marketing functions.
Joseph Chaly
Joseph is the former Managing Director for India and Vice President for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa at LM Wind Power A/S, where he was also a member of the Group Management team. He has previously served as Vice President and Director, India at Vestas A/S, and as General Manager, India for the Thermal Business at Alfa Laval AB. He has spent nearly 20 years in the renewable energy sector and brings deep experience and insight into the industry.
Ankur Shrivastava
Ankur is the Founder & Managing Partner at Momentum Capital. He has two decades of professional experience, with the past decade spent as a founder and investor in India and the U.S. He previously co-founded and scaled Globevestor, a technology startup in the venture capital space, to a network of 1,000+ CXOs from 25+ countries and approximately $15 million in AUM. Previously, he spent a decade in strategy consulting at BCG and SDG, advising clients across Asia and Africa. He holds postgraduate and undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering from IIT Bombay.
Partners
We are proud to partner with world-class institutions in our quest to catalyze early-stage climate innovation in India.
