This is the story of an entrepreneur who moved to Stockholm from Bengaluru and launched his own start-up and became successful. Sweden is known for its focus on innovation and sustainability, and this entrepreneur has made full use of it. Here we read the story of Sanjeev Sharma, who built his own empire in the capital city of Sweden.
Embarking on a new venture
Sanjeev Sharma had to move from Banglore to Stockholm when his wife wanted to settle in Stockholm for work purposes, as her employer, the Telecom giant, Ericsson was headquartered there.
It wasn’t an easy task for Sanjeev, who was the director and Co-founder of a Bengaluru-based semiconductor IP startup, Terminus Circuits, to uproot and plant himself to another country. Though Sanjeev moved to Stockholm in 2016, he continued to be a part of the IP startup remotely. However, a year and a half later, he decided to quit. This was after completing five years at the firm he helped start-up. His aim was to set up a business that could leverage the strength of the local ecosystem.
He wanted to focus on the innovations and sustainability for which Sweden is known for and to create a start-up based on that.
Start-up in Stockholm
Sanjeev Sharma, along with co-founders, Debraj Kumar and Pankaj Gupta, set up ExcelDots in 2018. Their main focus was to bring an “interdisciplinary competence to develop and advance solutions that address pressing sustainability challenges”. The start-up is working on safe groundwater solutions presently, using artificial intelligence(AI) and machine learning(ML).
While the company is based in Stockholm, it offers its services to countries such as India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia, where underground water contamination by way of hazardous elements, presents a serious crisis.
The company ensures solutions to varied groundwater-related problems and provides safe and affordable access to groundwater.
The Start-up Ecosystem
Being a part of both the Bengaluru and Stockholm start-ups, Sanjeev realizes that the latter is better in many ways. In Stockholm, it is easy to engage with big corporates and to procure a bank loan. There is more openness among big corporates to engage and collaborate with startups in Stockholm whereas, in India, it is hard to procure both.
However, when considering the setting up and running of a start-up, there isn’t much to choose from between Bengaluru and Stockholm. According to Sanjeev Sharma, India has improved much on that front.
Future Plans
Sustainability startups are thriving in Stockholm. Accelerators such as the Norrsken Foundation are promoting sustainable start-ups. In order to tap into this opportunity, ExcelDots is planning to expand its product ‘ASMITAS’ which is the ExcelDots’ global digital water platform.
Setting up a branch in India is high on the priority list since the country is of great strategic importance.
Indian government’s initiative, ‘Jal Jeevan’ ensures that drinking water is made available to all households by 2024. This mission has inspired ExcelDots to plan their launch in India next year.
