A new generation of founders is creating technological solutions based on problems they have personally observed, ranging from villages with unreliable electricity supply to artificial intelligence that understands the languages of Northeast India.
At a recent event in Sikkim dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation, founders, investors, politicians, and scientists from eight Northeastern states discussed how technology can help solve deeply local challenges. The event included the Digi SAPNE 2.0 Demo Day, the Northeast Entrepreneurs Dialogue (N.E.E.D '26), and the fourth edition of the Entrepreneurs Meet.
Shraddha Sharma, founder of YourStory, met with several regional founders. Their companies are working on issues such as access to electricity, healthcare infrastructure, clean water, language access, and assistive technologies.
Tej Chingtam from AIC-SMUTBI highlighted one key problem: the Northeast needs not just venture capitalists, but 'adventure capitalists.' Below are five startups that are starting their work based on this premise.
Founder: Mem Modi | Arunachal Pradesh
Mem Modi, named after the Kīta Dumbang mountain, is located in its native village of Paki Modi, where the problem of reliable electricity supply persists. The company initially developed small vertical axis wind generator systems intended for remote, hilly areas with low wind.
Field experience revealed another difficulty: if equipment breaks down in a remote village, spare parts and technical assistance can be hundreds of kilometers away. The startup is now developing a decentralized smart renewable energy management platform that integrates small hydropower, wind, solar energy, battery storage, Internet of Things (IoT), and AI-based monitoring.
For Modi, decentralization means not only local energy generation but also the formation of local knowledge, maintenance capabilities, and ultimately, production capacity. The company is currently participating in an 18-month incubation program at PIEDS, receiving mentorship, technical credits, workspace, and funding opportunities.
Founders: Dr. Chayanika Deka Nath and Dr. Pabitra Nath | Assam
Access to laboratory infrastructure is often difficult for many schools, medical institutions, and field workers. Labdig Innovations and Systems aims to reduce this dependency using Moboscope—a smartphone-based portable microscopy system.
Founded in 2022, Labdig is the first deep-tech startup to emerge from Tezpur University. Moboscope was developed based on research conducted at the university's Laboratory of Applied Photonics and Nanophotonics and was officially launched in May 2026. The system is designed to function without external power or specialized laboratory facilities and can be used for scientific education, as well as in healthcare, agriculture, and field settings.
Founder: Professor Harjeet Nath | Tripura
The Northeast faces a paradoxical situation where an excess of water makes access to safe drinking water a difficult challenge. This problem prompted Harjeet Nath to create HN Technovations in the Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering at Tripura Central University.
The company's InstaWater systems purify contaminated water directly at the point of use, rather than relying on bottled water. During this year's monsoon season, the startup provided over 2000 liters of purified water to approximately 30 families affected by floods in Amguri and surrounding areas of Assam.
The company's portfolio includes 3 kg rechargeable units, gasoline pump-powered systems processing 250–300 liters per hour, and solar hybrid smart filters with digital Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) monitoring. According to InstaWater, since 2019, they have provided over 50,000 liters of clean drinking water across Assam, Tripura, and Punjab, serving more than 3500 families and preventing about 12,000 kg of plastic waste.
Founder: Badal Nyalang | Meghalaya
Language barrier is another gap in infrastructure. MWire Labs, based in Shillong, is developing artificial intelligence systems for the region's low-resource languages, where digital datasets and language technologies remain limited.
The company's NE-BERT model was trained on 8.3 million sentences covering nine Northeast Indian languages, as well as Hindi and English. Research showed that NE-BERT demonstrated the lowest average perplexity among all nine languages compared to IndicBERT-V2, MuRIL, and mBERT, with particularly strong results achieved for low-resource languages such as Pnar, Kokborok, Garo, and Nyişi.
The company also developed Lemka—an AI-based speech system designed for six Northeast languages, including Kokborok. It is created for interaction in the local language when typing, reading, or stable connectivity may be obstacles.
Founder: Thiyam Akuvan | Manipur
Daily tasks become more difficult for people with visual impairments when assistive devices are expensive or inaccessible. Akumen AI, based in Imphal, is developing local technologies to bridge this gap.
Founded in 2021, the company is working on INSIGHT—a wearable AI-enabled device capable of reading text, identifying objects and faces, recognizing currencies, and providing audio assistance. The company states that the device is being developed with support for 22 Indian languages, including Manipuri. Akumen's main goal is to make assistive technologies more accessible by using AI, computer vision, and other technologies to support people with disabilities.
What unites these companies is not one technology or sector, but the starting point. Founders are building their solutions around the limitations they faced in their own communities: limited electricity, lack of lab infrastructure, difficulties accessing safe water, low-resource languages, and expensive assistive devices. This gives their work a unique approach to problem-solving. However, turning locally grounded solutions into sustainable businesses will require more than just early-stage innovation; they will need patient capital, customers outside immediate markets, technical partnerships, and continuous access to infrastructure and expertise. This is where the Northeast startup ecosystem will be tested. As Tej Chingtam noted, the region needs 'adventure capitalists' willing to support founders operating in complex markets.