‘I had shivers all over my body when India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, named Repos the National Startup in the IoT subsector’ recalls Aditi Bhosale Walunj
The Beginning
Repos started as a dream. A dream of two people united by their desire to change India’s energy distribution.
Chetan & I desired to make energy accessible in every corner of the globe. Repos, an ecosystem of ideas, was started with a vision to change India’s energy distribution. We understood that the world needed to move towards a carbon light future. We planned on achieving it by bridging the gap between supply and demand for energy.
However, when on the path to greatness, you frequently face doubts and individuals who tear you down but we were relentless in the pursuit of our goal, and nothing could stop us.
In 2017, we arrived in our Abhimanshree office with nothing but a pocket full of dreams.
Our first team consisted of ten members brought on board to transform India’s energy distribution.
However, we soon realised that we needed a solid foundation for our innovation to take off.
Foundation of IoT
In 2018, we built the giant walls of the IoT factory, which gave birth to the innovative and ground-breaking technology of the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump. With that we launched a Repos Mobile Petrol Pump in Varanasi which served as the catalyst for the revolution we were set to bring about but the quest had only just begun, and we were prepared for what was ahead.
The Year of Change
As we progressed from one milestone to the next, a massive breakthrough occurred in 2019 when the policy to make Doorstep Diesel Delivery Gazette was passed, assisting in the creation of a huge market for innovation, efficiency and transparency of energy distribution in India.
Our efforts to create a transparent and innovative business model were recognised, and we were invited to speak on one of the major platforms, Tedx about how energy distribution is the new future.
2020
The pandemic had taken its toll on us, but we remained unwavering in our pursuit of transforming energy distribution in India. While the virus broke homes, we were building a future.
On October 1, 2020, we had the privilege of meeting one of the key figures behind Repos’ inception Ratan Tata, who gave Repos a new lease of life by funding our vision.
After that, many joined on the bandwagon, including Isha Insight, who welcomed us to their platform to talk about how to turn a modest startup into a full-fledged business.
The platform enabled us to reach more people, and the word spread. We were invited to design RPPs for the Indian Army and the United Nations, which was one of the proudest moments of our lives since we were able to represent India on a global scale.
We realised it was time for us to move into a bigger space, something that could habilitate the new troopers who joined us in this shared dream. So we relocated to a new space in Bhosale Nagar which served as a testament to our growth and all that was to come.
Make It Possible
2021 was the year of possibility for us. We kicked off the year with one of the largest summits in India, the Energy Startup Summit, attended by distinguished guests such as Sadhguru (Renowned Indian guru), Tarun Kapoor (former Oil Secretary), Amitabh Kant (Chief Executive Officer of the NITI Aayog), and many more.
The summit’s success helped us to continue and we kept going which resulted in worldwide recognition when the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recognised the patent related to innovation of technology for Doorstep Diesel Delivery(DDD) of fuel.
Our goal was to ensure that greener fuels are the way forward for India and we were working hard to achieve it. Winning the Green Energy Awards encouraged us to keep going.
Winning the National Startup Award
Our unwavering commitment and faith was ultimately rewarded.
We received the most prestigious award in Repos history, the National Startup Award in the IoT subsector on January 16, 2022. It was the same day that our Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared it as ‘National Startup Day’.
Our accomplishment was covered by multiple platforms who celebrated the spirit and success of a startup. Livemint talked about how Repos won the National Startup Award.
After numerous roadblocks, challenges, and late nights, we were eventually able to cross off one of our big milestones.
When we began on this journey of creating something from scratch, we never imagined that our efforts would be recognised by the Prime Minister on a national stage. We never thought Indian Express would cover how Repos was one of the four Pune startups that won the National Startup Award.
The interaction with Narendra Modi gave us a renewed sense of purpose and motivation that our journey doesn’t end here. Our main takeaway from our meeting with the PM was that you can do anything you set your mind to.
The sky has always been the limit and we have only just begun.