Sabjikothi

Nikky Kumar Jha (Co-founder) brings the deepest academic synthesis of any Season 1 founder — Electrical and Electronics Engineering (understanding sensors and power systems), Masters in Ecology and Environment Science (understanding plant biology and atmospheric conditions), and a PhD in Design from IIT Kanpur (understanding human-centred product development). The combination of engineering, ecology, and design in a single founder is the precise interdisciplinary background that building a micro-climate storage system for horticultural produce requires. Rashmi Jha (Co-founder) brings Biotechnology expertise — the scientific understanding of microbial growth, enzyme activity, and fruit ripening chemistry that underpins the Sabjikothi's mechanism of extending produce shelf life through microclimate manipulation. The IIT Kanpur SIIC incubation is significant institutional backing: IIT Kanpur's SIIC is one of India's most respected technology startup incubators, providing laboratory access

Sabjikothi (officially: Preservator) is a patented, portable, low-cost micro-climate storage system — creating a self-adaptable, ethylene-oxidising, near-sterile microclimate inside an insulated chamber through ionisation technology, without refrigeration, chemicals, or preservatives, running on just 10–20 watts of electricity and 2 litres of water per week, deployable in e-rickshaws, cars, trucks, and buses — extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables from 3 to 30 days (depending on produce type), making cold-chain-quality produce preservation accessible to India's 90 million small and marginal farmers and street vendors who cannot afford conventional refrigerated cold storage.

Amount Asked: ₹60 lakhs Equity Offered: 2.5% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹24 crore

Sabjikothi's pitch was the second of Episode 31 (Finale Week Day 1) — arriving after Scrapshala's upcycling mission with something that was simultaneously more technically sophisticated and more commercially premature: a PhD-designed, IIT Kanpur-incubated micro-climate storage system for India's most undercapitalised agricultural participants. To sort out this problem, Rakesh and Rashmi came up with a product called Sabji Kothi and decentralised it to an extent that it can be owned by small vegetable vendors. SabjiKothi is a storage where farmers can store fruits and vegetables, which increases the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by 3 to 30 days. The product demonstration — showing the insulated chamber, explaining the micro-climate mechanism, demonstrating the 10-watt power requirement — communicated the technology's elegance: a device that does sophisticated atmospheric science with the power consumption of a small LED bulb.

Ashneer Grover — drawing directly on his Grofers experience as a grocery supply chain executive — was the most commercially knowledgeable Shark about India's fruit and vegetable distribution ecosystem. Anupam Mittal exited on market channel grounds. Anupam was also out from the deal, saying he didn't find any market for this product in the retail industry. Geeks Around Globe Aman Gupta deferred to Ashneer's deeper expertise. Aman also stepped out from the deal, saying Ashneer has more experience in this industry as he has been CEO of Grofers. Vineeta Singh exited on commercial stage. Vineeta also stepped out from the deal, saying it is a pre-revenue company. Namita Thapar exited on pricing and expertise grounds. Namita went out from the deal saying the price of the product is quite expensive and she has no knowledge of this industry.

No formal offer was made. Ashneer's conditional future commitment — "come back next season with a smart crate" — was the closest thing to an offer, but was contingent on product development that had not yet occurred.

no final deal