This post is created by The Better India and sponsored by Wingify Earth.

Vasudha Madhavan, an investment banker based out of Bangalore, founded Ostara Advisors, India’s ‘first’ investment bank focused solely on the electric mobility and sustainability sector. Both Vasudha and Ostara fly against stereotypes and ‘conventional wisdom’ – with her being in an otherwise male-dominated profession, and Ostara being focused on a specific niche. Otherwise, most investment banks specialise in offering services across multiple sectors.

“In 2017-18, I was advising a company that was diversifying its mobility business. The company wanted to enter clean mobility, and this gave me a great opportunity to study electric two-wheelers.” It was during this transaction that Vasudha started actively thinking of the space and the energy consequences of EVs.

It was a personal conviction in the EV space that led Vasudha to take this plunge. It was a time when investing in EVs or lithium-ion batteries was not common practice. “I also learnt along the way that there was a need to move away from being a generalist, as startups and investors interested in this space needed a specialised advisor. I had to get into the details – understand battery chemistries, powertrain components, the role of technology in the EV, etc. I was keen on developing a technical understanding of and finding interconnectivity between various startups in the electric mobility space,” she says.

On why there are so few women in the EV space in India, Vasudha says that is something that she hasn’t been able to figure out. “I would like to see a greater number of women entrepreneurs in the EV space, deep-tech and hardware-focused sectors. In fact, the first deal that I did in this sector was to acquire Ampere Vehicles, which was founded and built by a woman. Her entrepreneurial zeal and determination was inspiring,” she shares.

Another professional milestone that Vasudha is proud of is the recent successful fundraising for Altigreen Propulsion, an EV 3-wheeler manufacturer based in Bengaluru. “This $40 million fund raise was critical for the company and is a great validation of the work that the company, my own firm, and the ecosystem partners are putting in,” she concludes.

#WingifyEarth encourages such proactive actions to safeguard the environment and keep it clean.

#WingifyEarth in partnership with 'The Better India'