Klimate

Varsha K.J., Ankush Yadav, and Mukkabir Rahman are Season 4's most unconventionally assembled Campus Special founding trio. They did not meet at college, at work, or through friends: they found each other on Y-Combinator's Co-Founder Matching Platform, the Silicon Valley accelerator's tool for connecting potential startup co-founders based on complementary skills and shared interests. Three strangers from different parts of India, united by a shared mission to solve outdoor workers' heat exposure crisis. Ankush's background is Season 4's most Bollywood-inspired founding story: a high school dropout who cited 3 Idiots (Aamir Khan's iconic 2009 film celebrating unconventional education and following your passion over social expectations) as his inspiration for leaving formal education to pursue entrepreneurship. In a Campus Special episode celebrating young student founders, a high school dropout challenging the education system's conventional path added a provocative dimension to the p

Klimate's cooling vest uses 9 detachable cooling packs distributed across the vest's pockets to create a portable, wearable cooling system for outdoor workers. The user inserts pre-cooled packs into designated vest pockets, wears the vest under or over their work uniform, and receives sustained core-body cooling that reduces heat stress, prevents heat stroke, and maintains productivity during extreme heat exposure. The market need is both massive and urgent: India's outdoor workforce (estimated 400 million plus workers across delivery, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and services) operates in temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius for 4 to 6 months annually. Heat strokes kill thousands of Indian workers every year, and heat-related productivity loss costs the Indian economy billions of dollars annually. Despite this crisis, no affordable, practical, widely available cooling solution exists for outdoor workers.

Amount Asked: ₹54 lakhs Equity Offered: 3% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹18 crore

Varsha, Ankush, and Mukkabir walked into Season 4's Campus Special episode as the most socially mission-driven young founding trio. Their pitch opened with the heat exposure crisis: delivery riders collapsing in 45-degree heat, construction workers suffering heat strokes, and thousands dying annually from a preventable occupational hazard. The cooling vest demonstration showed the 9-pocket system: pre-cooled packs inserted into a lightweight vest that distributes cooling across the wearer's core body. The founders emphasised that they had already raised ₹54 lakhs in grants and secured mentorship from prominent individuals, demonstrating institutional validation of their mission. However, the Sharks unanimously felt the product was too early for equity investment.

Anupam Mittal opted out, acknowledging the social importance but feeling he could not add value beyond the existing grants (₹54 lakhs) and mentorship the founders already possessed. Vineeta Singh advised the founders to concentrate on perfecting their product before seeking equity investment. She felt the cooling vest needed significant design iteration. Namita Thapar opted out citing the project being too early for her investment framework. The product had not yet demonstrated commercial readiness. Ritesh Agarwal provided specific strategic mentorship: create a personal plan working backwards from six-month targets, defining milestones for product development, cost reduction, and market testing. Kunal Bahl reinforced Ritesh's advice about backward planning: "They would have some direction if they worked backwards from their final six-month target."

No Shark made a formal offer. All five exited before entering negotiation. The unanimous "too early" assessment was not a rejection of the mission (which every Shark acknowledged as critically important) but a timing verdict: the cooling vest needed more product development (cooling duration, weight reduction, cost optimisation), more market validation (pilot deployments with delivery companies or construction firms), and more strategic clarity (six-month milestone roadmap) before equity investment was appropriate.

Varsha K.J., Ankush Yadav, and Mukkabir Rahman left Shark Tank India Season 4 Episode 31 without any investment. All five Sharks declined on "too early" grounds. However, the founders left with specific strategic guidance (backward planning from six-month targets), existing grant capital (₹54 lakhs), institutional mentorship, and national television visibility that introduced Klimate to millions of viewers, including potential corporate partners (delivery companies, construction firms, factories) who understand the heat exposure crisis firsthand.

"While they did not get a deal on Shark Tank, their effort got tons of recognition and appreciation after the episode aired." Klimate continues building post-Shark Tank with significant momentum. In February 2025, just weeks after the episode aired, the company introduced Kavach, a new "wearable AC" product that provides continuous cooling comfort during heat exposure. This rapid product evolution, from cooling-pack vest to wearable AC, demonstrates the specific iteration speed that the Sharks' mentorship encouraged. India's heat crisis is worsening annually: 2024 saw record temperatures across North India, with several cities exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. The National Disaster Management Authority reports thousands of heat-related deaths annually, and climate projections indicate that extreme heat events will become more frequent and more intense. Klimate's mission becomes structurally more urgent with every passing summer.