The Big Pi and Growing our Pie
On 15th June, Shreyas and I had the opportunity to pitch BioCompute at SusCrunch, India’s biggest climate entrepreneurship summit bringing together over 300 participants from across diverse roles in the ecosystem.
Image Description: Anagha and Shreyas Pitching at SusCrunch
This was an extraordinary event, not just by virtue of the numbers and the diversity of experiences. 3 things that stood out to me:
1. There was so much generosity in the room - everyone was keen to give away something that adds value to other folks. Right after our pitch, multiple folks in the room stood up and offered funding, mentorship and industry connects off the bat. And that boosts our energy as first-time entrepreneurs building a moonshot.
Image Description: There were boards set up for all the startups pitching at the event, where each of us could put out 3 key asks, and the attendees can put down their contact details if they think they can support. This is such a cool idea, other conferences should also take initiatives like these to maximize impact.
2. Everyone was keen on learning from everyone else - finance folks were diving deep into tech, techies exploring marketing and so much more. The event empowered folks to ask difficult questions, driven by genuine curiosity and respect for the other person. This is something that is often missing at academic conferences.
3. The community was united by a shared mission of tackling the climate crisis. Everyone in the room was purpose driven, regardless of what aspect of this crisis they are tackling, or what tools and techniques they are leveraging. I believe that this is what enabled such a diverse crowd to come together with such deep rooted camaraderie.
Image Description: Other climate-tech founders from BITS that pitched at the event - Agrivolt, Jouleless, Positive Zero and Swilato
And the highlight of the event?
BioCompute won the Big Pi grant worth 31.4 lakhs (nearly $37,500). Awarded jointly by the Sustainability Mafia and BITS Pilani, the Big Pi is India’s largest non-dilutive funding for early stage climate-tech companies.
Image Description: Anagha and Shreyas receive the Big Pi grant for BioCompute
“π was called a ‘transcendental number’. There was no equation with ordinary numbers in it that could give you π unless it was infinitely long. And π wasn’t the only transcendental number. In fact, there was an infinity of transcendental numbers. More than that, there were infinitely more transcendental numbers than ordinary numbers, even though π was the only one of them she had ever heard of. In more ways than one, π was tied to infinity” - Carl Sagan, Contact
It is only appropriate that the grant for a company that enables nearly infinite data storage, is named after π. This grant accelerates our technical de-risking process, empowering us to cut down on the time we need to get to the next milestone.
And we are excited to announce that we are growing our Pie - hiring full-time folks to join the BioCompute revolution, working closely with me in Bangalore.
At this point, we are looking for a genomics engineer, an MEMS engineer and a microfluidics designer, in addition to open roles for folks who want to create their own role within our company in a way that enables us to realize our vision.
We don’t care about your university, degree or CGPA as much as we do about the projects you have worked on, the skills you bring to the table and the vibes you give off. Here is a detailed job description and steps for application.
Feel free to reach out with any questions, and share this application around with folks in your network. If you help us find our next hire, coffee/tea/milk shake is on me the next time we meet.