Bihar-Based Husk Power Wins $250K in Business Contest

Husk Power Systems, a Bihar-based start-up that can convert rice husks into electricity, has won an inaugural global business plan competition sponsored by venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco Systems.

The company will receive a $250,000 investment from DFJ and Cisco to help take the technology to the next level.

There were 16 finalists in the “Global Business Plan Competition” for university and business school students. They presented their business plans to judges June 30 from 15 schools in six countries through Cisco’s TelePresence technology.

Members presenting from the Husk Power Systems team were University of Virginia, Darden School of Business 2009 graduates Manoj Sinha and Charles “Chip” Ransler. They launched the company in 2007 with co-founder Gyanesh Pandey, a Bihar-based engineer.

“We’re honored to receive this recognition and opportunity, especially considering the level of competition,” said Ransler, Husk Power’s chief strategy officer.

“We look forward to working with the investment professionals at Cisco and the DFJ Global Network to make Husk Power Systems a pioneer in providing electricity to rural villages in India.”

“With this competition, we certainly witnessed that entrepreneurship has no borders, and we look forward to expanding it to even more universities worldwide next year," said Tim Draper, managing director, DFJ.

“Deciding on just one winner was difficult, especially with this caliber of candidates. We are excited to have chosen Husk Power Systems, which is especially remarkable for its alternative power technology, and we can’t wait to see how this team becomes the next game changer.”

HPS can cost-effectively convert rice husks into electricity, using 35-100 kilowatt “mini power-plants” that deliver power on a pay-for-use service to villages of 2,000—4,000 inhabitants in India’s rice producing regions.

The 31-year-old Sinha, who has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and worked at Intel Corp., learned first hand about power shortages in India when he grew up in Bihar.

The system produces enough electricity to supply 300-500 households for 8-10 hours a day. A byproduct is silica, a valuable ingredient in making cement. There are generators in five villages currently, with the hope to expand that to 100 in a few years.

The long-term plan, Ransler told one reporter, is to profit from the global market in credits — earned by avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions, and to sell the benefit.

Husk Power Systems previously won first place in the University of Virginia business plan competition in 2008 and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas at Austin.

Judges evaluated factors including management teams, addressable market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency and financial projections. DFJ and Cisco said they will continue to work with the winner and other finalists to mentor the “next wave of disruptive technologies.”

The other India-based finalist in the competition was Kasaragod, Kerala-based Innoz from the LBS College of Engineering. The company developed an SMS text messaging interface for trivia and other information for 300 million Indian cell phone subscribers.link