Q1: Please share with our readers the varied solutions that Solinas offers. It will help to understand the challenges and current demand gap in the space of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) that you aim to address.

Solinas offers innovative solutions to address the pressing challenges in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) space, delivering both environmental and social impact. Our technologies streamline pipeline inspection, reducing detection time from days to hours, while cutting repair digs and costs. By preventing water leakages, we save up to 600,000 liters per kilometer, helping preserve public resources and promote sustainability.

Our flagship product, Endobot, is a pipeline inspection robot that detects leaks and cracks in real-time, inspecting over 500 meters from a single entry point. Paired with Swasth AI, it offers precise data insights to reduce non-revenue water loss. Our advanced sewer-cleaning robot, Homosep, eliminates manual scavenging by providing safe, efficient cleaning of manholes and pipelines, improving the safety of sanitary workers while optimizing sewer maintenance.

Q2: Solinas’ clientele ranges from Corporate like L&T and Tata Motors Ltd. to government entities. Could you help us understand where the primary demand for Solinas' products is coming from? What is the client mix that you currently have?

Solinas serves a diverse clientele, ranging from corporates like Suez, Veolia, L&T, Tata Motors, Hyundai to various government entities. The demand for Solinas' products is primarily driven by the need to address challenges in managing water and sewerage distribution networks. Our business model is built around three key verticals: B2G (Business-to-Government), B2B2G (Business-to-Business-to-Government), and B2B (Business-to-Business).

B2G (Business-to-Government):

Solinas works extensively with urban local bodies, parastatal agencies, and smart cities, which are responsible for managing water and sewerage distribution infrastructure, much of which is located underground. Given the aging infrastructure and growing population, managing these networks has become increasingly challenging. Our robotic solutions provide comprehensive pipeline management starting from inspection, AI-enabled defect detection, mapping, and digitization of underground networks. Additionally, we offer actionable insights and cleaning support that reduce downtime during rehabilitation and help significantly lower total expenditure (TOTEX) budgets. By integrating advanced technologies, we enable these agencies to manage their assets more efficiently, ultimately reducing costs and improving service delivery.

B2B2G (Business-to-Business-to-Government):

In this vertical, Solinas collaborates with engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies such as Suez, Veolia, L&T, and other consultants that work with government entities under public-private partnership models. These companies are focused on providing uninterrupted 24/7 water supply and reducing non-revenue water (NRW). Our instant defect detection capabilities and condition assessments of water and sewer networks enable swift responses, ensuring water supply continuity without disruptions. Our robots are also instrumental in identifying contamination, allowing for quick intervention to maintain water quality. Services such as illegal ferrule detection, joint assessments, pipeline gradient checks, audits, and pipeline commissioning support data-driven decision-making, helping reduce the capital expenditure (CapEx) and Opex involved in project planning and maintenance.

B2B (Business-to-Business):

In the corporate sector, we assist industries like Manufacturing, Pharma, housing complexes, real estate developers, and special economic zones (SEZs) in ensuring compliance with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards related to water and sewerage infrastructure. Our asset management services help these clients optimize their internal distribution systems, increase uptime in production, and meet sustainability goals by ensuring efficient water management and pipeline maintenance. Through our comprehensive solutions, we help businesses maintain operational efficiency while meeting regulatory and environmental requirements.

In all these segments, Solinas’ technology-driven solutions are making a significant impact by improving asset management, reducing costs, and ensuring a more sustainable future for water and sewerage infrastructure management.

Q3: What are the key benefits that your tech-innovation helps achieve?

Technology plays a pivotal role in Solinas' mission to create a lasting environmental and social impact by revolutionizing water and sanitation practices. Our cutting-edge innovations significantly improve the efficiency of pipeline inspection and maintenance, delivering tangible benefits to communities, municipalities, and industries alike.

One of the primary advantages of our technology is its ability to drastically reduce the time required to identify pipeline abnormalities. What used to take 2-3 days can now be accomplished in just one hour. This rapid detection minimizes operational disruptions, enhances public safety, and ensures consistent access to safe drinking water. Additionally, our solutions streamline maintenance efforts by reducing the need for extensive excavation during repairs, which not only lowers operational costs but also conserves public resources and minimizes environmental disruption.

Our technology is designed to address one of the most pressing challenges in the water management space—water wastage. By detecting and preventing leaks early, we are able to save up to 600,000 liters of water per kilometer of pipeline, contributing significantly to water conservation efforts. This also helps mitigate groundwater pollution, reduces the strain on municipal water systems, and promotes long-term environmental sustainability.

Moreover, our innovations extend beyond water management to address social challenges, particularly in the area of sanitation. Our advanced cleaning robots, such as Homosep, are designed to eliminate the hazardous practice of manual scavenging. By automating the cleaning of manholes and sewer systems, these robots not only improve operational efficiency but also safeguard the health and dignity of sanitary workers. This technological intervention not only enhances worker safety but also ensures more thorough and effective cleaning of sewerage networks.

Overall, our integrated solutions offer a range of benefits, including manpower savings, time efficiency, and cost reductions. By leveraging advanced robotics and AI, Solinas is helping to drive public health improvements, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship, while empowering communities through innovative, technology-driven solutions.

Q4: Given that water and sanitation are primarily government-driven sectors, how has Solinas leveraged partnerships with government initiatives like the Swachh Bharat Mission?

What role do these collaborations, along with entities like local municipal corporations, play in your overall strategy, and how do you see this evolving in the future?

Solinas has strategically collaborated with both central and state government bodies, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Department of Science and Technology, and various urban local bodies (ULBs). These partnerships have been instrumental in aligning our solutions with key national initiatives, such as the Swachh Bharat Mission. A significant milestone was winning the AMRUT Challenge, hosted by MoHUA, which led to the successful deployment of our technologies in one of the AMRUT cities, focusing on water and sanitation infrastructure. As part of the AMRUT scale-up program, we are now in active discussions with key cities under the initiative to expand our footprint by showcasing the success of our initial pilot deployments.

Our long-term strategy is to position ourselves as a trusted technology partner for government bodies in managing enclosed infrastructure, both for water and sanitation. Furthermore, our solutions have been featured in the CPHEEO (Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization) manual, which has garnered significant attention from ULBs across the country. This inclusion has bolstered our national visibility and credibility, ensuring that our best practices are adopted by municipalities striving to improve their water and sanitation infrastructure. Looking forward, we see these collaborations evolving into deeper, long-term partnerships with government agencies as they continue to prioritize sustainable, technology-driven solutions to tackle infrastructure challenges. By working closely with municipal corporations and aligning with government initiatives, we aim to further scale our impact, making Indian cities more efficient, and environmentally sustainable.

Q5: We also understand that Solinas works with CSR partners across sectors. What role do they play and how do they contribute to your overarching aim of water and sanitation solutions?

Solinas collaborates with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partners across various sectors to drive meaningful social impact, particularly in underserved cities and communities with limited access to advanced water and sanitation technologies. These partnerships are critical in supporting our mission to improve water and sanitation infrastructure, while addressing broader challenges such as climate change and manual scavenging.

Our engagement with CSR partners follows a two-pronged approach:

1. Partnering with Cities:
In this model, CSR partners provide the capital expenditure (CapEx) required for deploying our cutting-edge technologies, while Solinas takes on the role of implementation. The goal is to enhance water and sanitation practices within cities, particularly those facing infrastructure deficits. By implementing our technologies, we help cities modernize their systems, leading to reduced water wastage, improving the water quality & fewer operational disruptions.. This, in turn, contributes to a broader reduction in climate change impacts by minimizing environmental damage caused by water loss, flooding, and combined sewer overflows.

2. Partnering with CSR, NGOs, and Sanitary Workers:
A core mission of Solinas is to eliminate manual scavenging practices and improve the safety of sanitary workers involved in sewer cleaning. In this model, CSR partners cover the CapEx for our cleaning robots, while Solinas collaborates with NGOs that focus on improving the livelihoods of sanitary workers. Solinas provides the technical support and training needed for operating these robots, ensuring that workers can transition to safer, more efficient methods of sewer maintenance. NGOs serve as the local implementation partners, working closely with the communities to ensure the successful deployment of these solutions.

By working with CSR partners, our overarching aim is to reduce the environmental and human impact associated with inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure. These partnerships enable us to combat water loss, flooding, and sewer overflows, while also enhancing public health and safety by eradicating hazardous manual scavenging. Ultimately, our collaborations with CSR partners help us address both climate change and social justice issues, creating lasting positive outcomes for communities across India.

Q6: In terms of measuring impact, what are some of the key metrics that you measure?

Given that Solinas also has a data driven software solution to improve water quality and usage, do you see this feature playing a role in monitoring and measuring impact?

We measure our impact through key performance metrics that focus on water conservation, time efficiency, cost savings, and operational improvements. These metrics help quantify the effectiveness of our solutions in transforming water and sanitation practices.

• Water Conservation: Our technology saves approximately 600,000 liters of water per day, helping to combat water scarcity and promote sustainability.
• Reduced Excavations: By identifying pipeline defects early, we reduce the number of required digs from 6-8 per repair to just 1-2, minimizing disruption and conserving resources.
• Time Efficiency: Our solutions enable instant identification of defects, reducing the detection time to under an hour. This rapid response allows municipalities, EPCs, and other asset owners to rehabilitate systems quickly, minimizing downtime and improving service delivery.
• Cost Savings: Our technology delivers up to 5X savings on the budget traditionally allocated for operations and maintenance activities, providing significant cost efficiencies for our clients.
• CapEx Reduction in Sewer Cleaning: Our advanced cleaning solutions reduce the heavy capital expenditure required by traditional methods, offering a more efficient and cost-effective approach to end-to-end sewer maintenance.

Additionally, Solinas' data-driven software solution plays a pivotal role in monitoring and measuring impact. By providing real-time insights into water quality and usage, our platform enables more informed decision-making, helping municipalities and industries optimize their water management processes and ensure a measurable, lasting impact.

Q7: How is Solinas positioning itself to not only fill that gap but also anticipate future needs?

What are some of the key priority areas for you, in the coming years, particularly in terms of market expansion, product diversification and revenue growth?

Solinas is strategically positioning itself to not only bridge current gaps in water and sanitation management but also to anticipate future needs by leveraging cutting-edge technology. Our vision for the next five years is to become the technology partner for 100 cities, enabling efficient management of enclosed infrastructure, improving sanitary worker safety, and significantly reducing operational and maintenance costs through the deployment of advanced solutions.

Our immediate focus is on expanding our presence across Indian cities, with plans to enter select international markets. A key priority is to reduce water leakage and contamination by 20% in the targeted cities, bringing the current rate of ~55% down through our innovative technologies. Additionally, we aim to eliminate manual intervention in sewage cleaning, replacing it with safer, automated solutions.

Solinas' growth strategy is centered on local innovation, social impact, and a commitment to revolutionizing water and sanitation management globally. By setting new standards in the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) sector, we are driving a future where technology not only solves critical infrastructure challenges but also promotes sustainability, public health, and a better quality of life for communities.

Q8: Does Solinas have any current or upcoming funding requirements?

Currently, we are not looking for any funding requirements. Next fundraise will be after 1.5 years.

Background of Solinas Integrity

Solinas Integrity is a climate-tech startup dedicated to addressing critical challenges in the water and sanitation sectors. It focuses on mitigating issues like water wastage, groundwater pollution, and climate change, while also tackling human challenges such as manual scavenging, unsafe drinking water, and sewer overflows. By leveraging advanced technology, including robotics and AI, Solinas is revolutionizing the inspection, cleaning, and management of enclosed infrastructure, striving for a sustainable and safer future.

To know more about Solinas Integrity, click here.