Tamil Nadu, lengthy acknowledged for its manufacturing power, is now main a quieter however extra impactful revolution the place innovation and sustainability progress hand in hand.
From good agri-tech and round design to waste-to-energy breakthroughs, a brand new technology of founders is proving that financial development and environmental accountability can co-exist and thrive.
Because the Tamil Nadu World Startup Summit (TNGSS) 2025 turns the highlight on climate-conscious innovation, ventures like GreenPod Labs, HVA Power Answer, Fabrula, and iYarKai Tech Lab stand out for redefining how Tamil Nadu grows, makes, and sustains its future.
Retaining meals brisker, longer: GreenPod Labs
In a rustic the place almost 40% of vegetables and fruit are misplaced earlier than reaching customers, GreenPod Labs, based by Deepak Rajmohan, is tackling one in every of agriculture’s most persistent challenges: meals waste.
Utilizing biomaterial-based packaging impressed by nature, the Chennai-based startup extends the shelf lifetime of produce with out the usage of chemical compounds or refrigeration. In the present day, its innovation is utilized in over a thousand banana containers each month, serving to reduce down 15,000 tons of greenhouse gasoline emissions month-to-month.
Rajmohan believes waste just isn’t an inevitability however slightly a design flaw that may be solved. In line with him, “Meals waste is a preventable drawback, and innovation is the software to unravel it.” His strategy is remodeling how India thinks about post-harvest administration, not as harm management, however as local weather motion.
From waste to watts: HVA Power Answer
HVA Power Answer, based by Anbarasan and Hemala, sees plastic waste not as an issue to lament however as a possibility to innovate. Based mostly in Ramanathapuram, their enterprise converts plastic and textile waste into GX Poly Stable Gas, a clean-energy various that emits 90% much less CO₂ and delivers larger calorific worth than coal.
By partnering with authorities our bodies, from the Protection Cantonment Board in Chennai to rural municipalities, HVA has constructed an end-to-end mannequin for accountable waste disposal. Extra importantly, the corporate is popping waste assortment right into a supply of employment, creating inexperienced jobs within the very communities that after bore the brunt of air pollution.
In redefining waste administration as an power alternative, HVA exhibits that sustainability will be each scalable and self-sustaining.
Round design, reimagined: Fabrula
Based in Erode by Shanmugavadivel and Vigram Kannan, Fabrula upcycles textile and agricultural residue into sustainable composites used for packaging, décor, mannequins, and even retail interiors.
By mixing deep-tech R&D with handcrafted processes, the workforce has constructed what they name a “round design lab”, one the place magnificence and accountability share the identical blueprint. “True progress is measured not by what we take from nature, however by how responsibly we return, restore, and regenerate,” says Shanmugavadivel, summing up Fabrula’s philosophy.
With TANSEED 6.0 funding and a rising roster of eco-conscious companions, Fabrula is scaling manufacturing to deliver round innovation into mainstream manufacturing, proof that sustainability can look good and promote higher.
Smarter farming, inclusive development: iYarKai Tech Lab
Based by Senthil Kumar Babu, iYarKai Tech Lab’s flagship product, SILIR, makes use of AI and IoT to automate mushroom cultivation, regulating temperature, humidity, and CO₂ for larger yields with decrease waste.
Via its hub-and-spoke mannequin, the startup has enabled over 2,000 ladies self-help group members to begin their very own mushroom-based enterprises, creating livelihood ecosystems throughout rural Tamil Nadu. Babu says, “Expertise turns into really highly effective when it uplifts lives – our mission is to show innovation into inclusion.”
With digital platforms like MushroomShop.in and ChennaiSandai.com, iYarKai is making certain that farmers not solely develop smarter, but in addition earn smarter.
The StartupTN catalyst impact
What connects these various success tales? StartupTN’s TANSEED program has been the widespread thread, offering essential early-stage funding, mentorship, and market entry. It’s a masterclass in how authorities assist can speed up innovation with out stifling entrepreneurial spirit.
Every firm obtained Rs 10 lakh in funding, whereas women-led startups and people in rural, agri-tech, and green-tech sectors obtained as much as Rs 15 lakh. This assist supplied entry to a strong community that opened doorways to Fortune 500 partnerships, worldwide markets, and follow-on investments.
The brand new inexperienced financial system
Tamil Nadu’s innovators are proving that sustainability isn’t a separate purpose; it’s the inspiration of recent enterprise. Their concepts shut loops, prolong life cycles, and switch challenges into alternatives that profit each folks and the planet. Every resolution is a reminder that the way forward for development will probably be measured not by output, however by affect.
Because the state strikes nearer to its trillion-dollar ambition, these efforts are setting a precedent for what comes subsequent: industries that thrive on renewal, inclusion, and purpose-driven progress.
