Here we discussed Top start-ups of Assam. Assam is a land known for its rich culture and heritage but from past few years its now gaining recognition for its thriving start-up ecosystem. The state’s entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative solutions, reshaping industries, and creating impactful businesses that go beyond the borders of the Northeast. From eco-friendly brick manufacturing and AI-driven 3D modeling to agri-tech solutions and affordable eye care, these start-ups are solving real-world problems while generating impressive revenue. Here’s a look at some of the top start-ups from Assam that are making waves in diverse sectors, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Zerund
Alright on our Top startups of Assam we got Zerund. It’s a brick manufacturing start-up, founded by Rupam Choudhury, Mousum Talukdar,and CEO David Pratim Gogoi in 2018, they making bricks that are 20 to 15% cheaper then traditional bricks, their bricks are earthquick resistent , lightweight and even eco-friendly.
How they managing to do this
they’re actually making their bricks out of fly ash which is a byproduct of burning coal and other plastic waste materials cement and water and moulded the mixture into eco-friendly bricks.
They started making those bricks in a small facility that they leased in Guwahati, making 7000 bricks every month and in just seven months of their operation they were able to generate 32 lakhs of revenue but was just the start they have presently 6 investors including DLF group, NEDFi VC, Dreamweaver investments and business solutions, Gruhas, and in total they have raised $10.3M, they used this money to expand their production capacity from 7000 bricks per month to 1.5L bricks every month and they sold bricks worth of 2.5 cr in FY 2022.
According to the founders, as compared to FY 19-20, the startup has seen an increase of 8 percent in revenue in FY 20-21. From Rs 69 lakh in FY 19-20, the startup has generated a revenue of Rs 75 lakh in FY 20-21. With Rs 2.5 Cr in FY 21-22, the startup is projecting a revenue of Rs 11 Cr in FY 22-23.
Chfmart
Next on the list of Top startups of Assam, we have Chfmart which a B2B e-commerce platform for resturants, founded by Maninder Kalsi and his Wife Kabita Verma in 2020.
In 2016 Maninder and his wife started a restaurant called as “Three Guys” the faced a problem which every other reataurant owner do, talking to multiple vendors to get a reasonable price for the ingredients and other one is, getting those fresh ingredients delivered on time without any hassle.
In march 2020 they shutdown “Three Guys” and start working on a B2B platform called as “chfmart” and in 2021 they lunched their online platform where restaurant owner can order their ingredients like vegies, egg meat and fish, beverages, grocery , daily etc hassle-free and gets delivery on time.
They solving a large-scale problems of restaurant owner, and that’s why they have more than 350 restaurants, ordering their daily needs from “chfmart”. In first year, company was able to generate 1.5CR and in FY22 it went upto 4.2CR.
My3dMeta
There is no reason not to put this startup on my Top startups of Assam list, My3DMeta is a 3D modeling startup based in Guwahati, founded by Harsha P. Deka. Their journey begins in 2010 when Harsha was in the USA, there he started MyWear Solutions, a company offering 3D modeling services. However, a personal tragedy inspired a new direction for his work — after losing a close friend, Harsha wanted to create a 3D figurine of his friend with his photographs to gift to the family.
At that time, the technology needed for this process was not readily available, so in 2016, Harsha launched My3DSelfie, a startup focused on creating custom 3D figurines using just 2D photos. While still in the USA, he and his team faced challenges, spending days to produce a single 3D model from multiple 2D images. Harsha realized that they could eventually use this various amount of data they had collected to train an AI model, making the process faster and more efficient.
In 2019, Harsha went back to his hometown Guwahati to continue developing this AI model. with his relocation My3DSelfie evolved into My3DMeta, a company now focused on developing its latest product, “ThreeDaily.” This platform is designed for game designers, allowing them to quickly create AI-generated 3D models for gaming avatars and characters at a reduced cost. My3DMeta’s innovative approach has attracted significant investment, raising ₹20 crore to further advance its technology.
AgriThink Services
Next on our Top startups of Assam list we have an AgriTech startup called as AgriThink Services. The story began when Dr. BijayLakshmi Goswami completed her PhD in biotechnology, then started helping low-income women make a living through sustainable farming. However, she wasn’t fully satisfied—she wanted to do more, to make a larger impact. She soon realized that only way to improve farming yields was through a technique called precision farming.
It wasn’t until 2018, when she meet Toufiq Ahmed, an IT professor, that she found a partner to help her achieve that goal. the duo then starts Agri Things Services in 2019, aiming to create IoT-enabled precision farming products to assist farmers. And Their flagship product is a smart microclimate monitoring and control system, that enables farmers to manage irrigation on their farms with just the click of a button on their smartphones.
They have successfully raised funds from the Assam government and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, which helped them to develop their first product, a smart soil health management system. Today, more than 10,000 farmers are using their products to improve crop productivity.
ERC Eye care
Another startup on my list, we have a healthcare startup called ERC Eye Care. Dr. Parviz Ubed was working as an ophthalmologist in Assam when he realized that 2.2 billion people around the world could improve their eyesight simply by getting eyeglasses. Unfortunately, many people cannot afford a decent pair of glasses, and this is the problem Dr. Ubed wanted to solve. So, in 2011, he founded ERC Eye Care to deliver affordable eye care solutions, particularly for low-income communities in eastern India.
Since then, they have opened eight hospitals where they perform cataract surgeries for patients and sell eyewear through their website. While other hospitals in tier-2 cities charge an average of ₹10,000 for cataract surgery, ERC Eye Care offers the same surgeries starting at just ₹3,327, which also includes travel, accommodation, and food. Additionally, their eyeglasses are priced as low as ₹300. Actual reason their prices are so affordable is their mission to make eye care accessible to everyone. In fact, 75% of their customers earn less than ₹15,000 per month.
In first glance , I honestly didn’t even think that ERC Eye Care was even making money; it seemed impossible give such low prices. According to Dr. Ubed, that not only they close FY23 with $2 million in revenue, but the company is also profitable.”
Encamp Adventures
Now, we have the final company from Guwahati on this list, an eco-travel startup called Encamp Adventures. The company was founded by Rotan Kumar in 2019 and began its journey at the Ziro Music Festival, where they hosted 50 people in their tents. Since then, Encamp has evolved into offering eco-friendly and personalized travel experiences for environmentally conscious travelers.
In fact, they’ve even developed a carbon footprint tracker that shows travelers their environmental impact based on the choices they made during their trip, from the mode of transport to the length of their stay. Encamp also allows customers to donate to one of the climate action projects they are working on within the community, helping them offset their carbon footprint.
So far, this startup has served 10,000 travelers and has raised ₹1.2 crore from investors to expand its operations into Nepal and Bhutan.
Bahhi
Alright! in the list of Top startups of Assam, now we’re heading over to the city of Dibrugarh, where we have an Assamese music streaming platform called Bahi. The story of this company actually begins in Odisha, where Rinoy Kumar, while studying engineering, dreamt of becoming a civil servant. Still, he later realized that while platforms like Spotify had music in English and Hindi, there wasn’t any major platform for regional music in India.
In 2019, Rinony and his three friends began working on a prototype for a regional music platform called Bahi. By 2020, they had launched the platform on the Google Play Store, making it Northeast India’s first regional music streaming platform. Thanks to Assam Startups – The Nest, Bahi was incubated at IIM Kolkata’s Innovation Park and managed to secure ₹56.5 lakh in funding. This capital allowed them to scale their business and launch their own music production arm, Bahi Originals.
Today, Bahi has a library of 20,000 songs and a subscriber base of 200,000 users. Initially they started with Assamese music, now they aim to become the go-to platform for all regional music streaming in India, starting with Northeast India.
If you’re interested blogs like this, you can read my other blogs too,