Kartik is a serial entrepreneur having founded 2 ventures centred around creating value for small landholder farmers in India. His first venture Claro Energy, one that he co-founded with former classmates, provides innovative, affordable & reliable solar irrigation solutions for farmers across India. Claro Energy engineered India’s first large Scale community solar irrigation system in 2011 and is now pursuing its award winning Pay-As-You-Go solar irrigation concept. His second venture Claro Agro, is a Farm to Retailer Agri commerce enterprise that provides market linkage services to their solar irrigation farmers. Claro Agro uses technology to bring transparency & efficiency to a broken Agri supply chain in which small landholder farmers have little to no leverage. Prior to turning entrepreneur, Kartik spent several years in the electrical switchgear industry in India, including a stint at Larsen & Toubro, India’s largest engineering conglomerate. In spring 2021, the Kellogg School of Management honoured him as a Young Impact Scholar for his contribution to environmental and social impact. In 2017, he was awarded the Asian Entrepreneurship Award, hosted by the University of Tokyo & Mitsui Fudosan in Tokyo, Japan. He is also the recipient of the Amit Leadership award in 2018. In 2013, leading business publication, BusinessWorld, featured him amongst ‘India’s Hottest Young Entrepreneurs’. He is also an active speaker on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at several premier Business Schools in India and regularly contributes to various print & digital publications in India. Kartik is an Electrical Engineer from Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Pune and holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Chicago.
