“After having kids, we started to think about how we’d like to spend our energy and resources in the future. We wanted it to mean something,” says Ilu Earth’s co-founder, Sunil Singh. “So that when our children ask us ‘what have you done for climate change?’ we can tell them that we did our part. That’s how Ilu Earth was born – to create climate solutions for a changing planet.”
Ilu Earth, led by husband & wife team Sunil & Shweta Singh, are working to create tools for climate change mitigation and adaptation. As one of the 20 venture teams in NEXUS, the 6-month University of Helsinki mentor-driven Deep Tech, AI & Sustainability incubator programme, the pair has been hard at work for months developing their business & solutions with the help of their two mentors, Merja Leppänen of ABB and Dr. Svetlana Marmutova of Accenture.
With Sunil handling product development, growth, and strategy, and Shweta taking care of sales, marketing, and operations, the team has been diligently working to create an impactful company in a field of growing global importance.
“I think sustainability is an imperative for business today,” underlines Leppänen. “We need to keep our eyes open and only do business with companies who take environmental topics seriously. As such, no company can afford to fall behind and not do their part, which is why start-ups like Ilu Earth who offer climate change solutions are needed now more than ever!”
To help organisations tackle climate change, Ilu Earth’s offering is divided into two parts, with the first being their carbon emissions management product which allows organisations to measure their carbon footprint in a matter of minutes instead of months. With that data, the solution then helps them work effectively with carbon intelligence to reduce their impact and reach Net-Zero targets.
“The simplicity of the platform is really key,” explains Dr. Marmutova. “The team is really motivated to help companies act against climate change, and by providing an accessible and intuitive product, they’re offering something that companies of all sizes can and will use.”
“The product really offers all types of clients not just easy to use but affordable ways to measure their carbon footprint,” Leppänen adds. “And with their data, demonstrating to clients or stakeholders that you’re sustainable and are taking corrective actions towards a lower carbon footprint is a snap.”
But even with the best tools to reduce one’s own climate impact, the reality is that climate change has become an inescapable part of our future. “In spite of all the efforts humanity is making to reduce carbon emissions, a warmer climate simply cannot be avoided,” laments Shweta. “We need to be prepared for extreme weather events by adapt our way of living, changing how we think about doing business, and make our organisations and cities resilient to climate change and its effects.”
That’s where the second part of Ilu Earth’s product offering, their Climate Adaptation solution, comes in. With their platform, organisations and cities can identify potential climate change risks in specific areas and access easy to use tools to understand their exposure, assess vulnerabilities, investigate options, create a plan, and take action.
“Our intuitive and actionable climate insights will help you to see opportunities more clearly,” explains Sunil. “With multi-scenario and multi-hazard data, we’ll give you a big picture risk analysis across extreme weather events like wildfires, floods, droughts, storms, cyclones, and sea-level rise to make sure you can be adequately prepared for any climate-related eventuality.”
Emboldened by their experience taking part in the first Compass Deep Tech, AI & Sustainability pre-incubator programme in early 2022, the team continued on to NEXUS programme, where they’ve achieved significant progress and impressed their mentors.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with Ilu Earth during this NEXUS mentoring journey, and doubly so because I share their passion for sustainable growth,” explained an enthusiastic Leppänen. “I’ve been impressed by how hardworking and enthusiastic Shweta and Sunil have been, persistently working to overcome any obstacle that has come up and admire how systematic they’ve been when working with product development and testing, market research and value propositioning, and of course my favourite area, approaching potential clients in various channels.”
As for the team themselves, they’ve been thankful for all that the programme has been able to provide them: “NEXUS has helped us a lot in our journey,” said a grateful Sunil. “It has provided us a platform and supported community as we were new to Finland as immigrants. From in-depth workshops to industry experienced mentors, Nexus has been instrumental in our venture.”
With NEXUS almost over, the team is ready to start helping organisations across the world reduce their climate impact and become resilient to a changing climate. If you’d like to join Ilu Earth’s mission, you can visit their website or drop them an email at hello@iluearth.com.
Sunil Singh, Product Development, Growth, Strategy
Sunil is an experienced entrepreneur. He has more than 15 years of experience in start-ups, product development and marketing. Before starting iLu Space Oy, he founded Workurious OÜ, based in Estonia and Turning Trends Pvt. Ltd. in India. At Ilu Earth, Sunil’s responsibility is to manage product development and establish the strategic direction of the company.
Shweta Singh, Sales, Marketing, Operations
Shweta has more than 12 years of experience in Sales & Marketing, Channel/Brand Management, Profit Centre Operations, Account Management, Promotions, Business Development, Team Management and Market Penetration. She has worked with brands like Regus, Monster.com, WhiteCrow Research, Shaadi.com, TalentEdge, KarROX and Times of India.
Shweta’s in-depth knowledge and experience of sales and marketing provides our company the strength in company growth, selling & marketing the product and partnerships
Merja Leppänen Head of Sales Excellence, Global Sales Competence Manager at ABB
Merja currently works as a Head of Sales Excellence and Global Sales Competence Manager at ABB. She has 15 years of experience in global sales and in addition several years of experience in sales competence development, sales process development, customer experience and people development. She is also Certified Business Coach® with sales coaching and business coaching experience
Svetlana Marmutova, PhD, Strategy Analyst at Accenture
Svetlana is energised by working on sustainability and technology solutions enabling it. She has worked at a cleantech startup in Finland as a product development engineer and has gained hands-on experience in the wind power industry in Benelux working in a multicultural team. She recently joined Accenture's strategy practice, intending to leverage her impact in sustainable development of the society