Carbon emission audit platform Sprih has begun to work with firms in the US while it is expanding in Europe, the startup’s co-founder and CEO Akash Keshav said.
“We are a global company working with around 22 companies. We started sales activities in the US six months ago. We have two customers there. In India, we have close to 20-plus customers. We are also expanding in Europe,” he told businessline in an online interaction.
The audit platform, which integrates data from diverse emission sources in agriculture, enabling precise measurement and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, is looking at product enhancement. Its AI product Sustain Sense is being used across sectors, and the company will continue to invest heavily in its product.
Sprih co-founder and CEO Akash Keshav
Wants to be sustainability brand
The other area the startup, which assists agribusinesses in monitoring their environmental impact effectively, is focusing on is global expansion and aims to have over 10 customers in the US besides a few in Europe. “We are primarily working with the big companies because there is a good opportunity to create impact. We plan to become well-known in the sustainability domain soon and become a trusted brand,” he said.
“We are dealing with a lot of data. So if auditors come and look at the data and the platform, they should be comfortable. If Sprih has done the calculation, it will be right. We have those kinds of aspirations,” the co-founder said.
The company, launched in mid-2022, provides end-to-end solutions and is working with a lot of ecosystem partners who are doing deep research in the sustainability domain and helping companies reduce their carbon footprint. Its focus is leveraging next-gen technology, such as generative AI.
Sprih, which connects stakeholders with ecosystem partners to adopt regenerative farming practices, sees a lot of fertilizer, machinery and other energy-consuming materials being used for higher productivity.
Converting operational data
“If you look at the core of the GHG (greenhouse gas) mission, it is burning the fossil fuel somewhere in some form. If you are consuming one unit of electricity, essentially, you are generating 0.7 kilogrammes of CO2 somewhere. Similarly, in agriculture, there could be one specific case where emissions are happening. Methane is one of the major emission sources in agriculture,” said Keshav.
The company looks at the operational data of any organisation, and if it burns 1,000 units of electricity, it gets the data and converts it into carbon emission.
“For example, if you are driving a car thousands of miles away, we get that information besides basic information on the car and the fuel it uses. Based on that, it converts data into carbon emissions. There are close to 80,000 emission factors available globally by different regulators and government authorised bodies,” he said.
Sprih did a pilot project in agriculture, one on the farming side and another on a government-owned project. “Interestingly, when a cattle grazes or burps or chews, it releases a lot of methane. We did a project for Parag milk. Essentially, we have built our platform that can be scaled, be it agriculture or any other sector,” Keshav said.
Pathway for farmers
The company has ecosystem partners who work with farmers. There are startups which are into sustainability, and Sprih collaborates with them. It provides a pathway for farmers to get carbon credits and begin biofuel initiatives.
It helps the agriculture sector reduce GHG emissions and adopt practices that align with long-term sustainability goals, he said.
“In agriculture, we are doing an interesting project on rice production. We collect data on the water stored before cultivation and whether storing a certain amount of water leads to methane emission. We are particularly working with the farmers, generating carbon credit by deploying the method and again saving revenue out of that carbon grid. We are working with such organisations involved in these activities,” he said.
The company takes big companies to farmers and shares ideas with them on how to cut carbon emissions. Some of the companies Sprih is working with are Thermax, Hero Motors and Indigo Paint. The startup is present in the pharma, healthcare and aluminium sectors too.
Focus on plastics
On the management of residue, Keshav said the company does not go directly to farmers but collaborates with other organisations on circular economy. However, it is focusing on plastics and how they can be recycled.
The company is looking at going beyond circular economy and how changes can be made to the business plan itself. It networks with different agencies who do such consultancy projects and helps their customers to reduce carbon footprints.
Recalling the company’s project with Parag Dairy, run by the Uttar Pradesh government, Keshave said his firm collected data on the number of villages, the number of cattle in them, farmers’ data and other such things.
Sprih, which raised $3 million in 2024 and has a SaaS business model, looked at the entire value chain and carried out three assessments on the emission factors before suggesting ways to be green and less carbon-intensive. The company has 40 employees and has active collaborations with IIT, Bombay, and IIT, Kanpur.
Keshav said Sprih lends its technological solutions to help businesses create a data-driven and action-oriented sustainability strategy that goes beyond regulatory demands.
