Five Northeast startups building for problems they grew up with
Kalpana Maurya
1 Oct 2026 · 3 min read
Five startups from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur are building for local gaps in electricity, lab access, clean water, language technology and assistive devices. They were profiled after AIC-SMUTBI's entrepreneurship convergence in Sikkim, where investors and founders from all eight Northeastern states met.
Five early-stage startups from India's Northeast are building products around problems their founders have seen first-hand: unreliable power, scarce laboratories, unsafe water during floods, a lack of language technology and costly assistive devices. YourStory profiled them on 30 September 2026 after a three-day entrepreneurship and innovation convergence held by AIC-SMUTBI at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology in Majitar from 25 to 27 September.
The event included the Digi SAPNE 2.0 demo day, where 12 startups from all eight Northeastern states pitched to around 23 investors, according to Sikkim Express. AIC-SMUTBI CEO Dr Tej Chingtham told the gathering the region needs more "adventure capitalists", not just venture capitalists.
Kiita Dumbang Mountain Winds (Arunachal Pradesh)
Founded by Mem Modi and named after a tree on the trail between Mariyang and Paki Modi in Upper Siang, the company started with small vertical-axis wind turbines for low-wind, remote hill areas. Field work showed a second problem: when equipment breaks in a remote village, parts and technicians can be hundreds of kilometres away. It is now building a decentralised energy platform that combines small hydro, wind, solar, battery storage, IoT and AI-based monitoring, and is in an 18-month incubation programme at PIEDS.
Labdig Innovations and Systems (Assam)
Founded in 2022 by Dr Chayanika Deka Nath and Dr Pabitra Nath, Labdig is the first deeptech startup to come out of Tezpur University. Its Moboscope is a portable microscope that works with a smartphone and needs no external power or lab setup. Developed at the university's Applied Photonics and Nanophotonics Laboratory, it launched in May 2026 for use in education, healthcare, agriculture and field work.
HN Technovations (Tripura)
Prof Harjeet Nath started HN Technovations at Tripura Central University's Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering. Its InstaWater units purify contaminated water where it is used, ranging from 3 kg rechargeable units to petrol-pump-operated systems that treat 250-300 litres an hour and solar-hybrid filters with digital TDS monitoring. During this year's monsoon it supplied more than 2,000 litres of clean water to about 30 flood-hit families around Amguri in Assam. The company says it has delivered over 50,000 litres across Assam, Tripura and Punjab since 2019.
MWire Labs (Meghalaya)
Shillong-based MWire Labs, founded by Badal Nyalang, builds AI for the region's low-resource languages. Its NE-BERT model was trained on 8.3 million sentences across nine Northeast languages plus Hindi and English, and it has built Lemka, a speech-AI system for six Northeast languages including Kokborok.
Akumen AI (Manipur)
Imphal-based Akumen AI, founded in 2021 by Thiyam Akuvan, is developing INSIGHT, an AI-enabled wearable for people with visual impairments that reads text, identifies objects, faces and currency notes, and gives audio assistance. The company says it is being built to support 22 Indian languages, including Manipuri.
Key facts
- Kiita Dumbang Mountain Winds: Mem Modi, Arunachal Pradesh, decentralised renewable energy
- Labdig Innovations and Systems: Dr Chayanika Deka Nath and Dr Pabitra Nath, Assam, founded 2022, smartphone microscope
- HN Technovations: Prof Harjeet Nath, Tripura, point-of-use water purification
- MWire Labs: Badal Nyalang, Shillong, AI for Northeast languages
- Akumen AI: Thiyam Akuvan, Imphal, founded 2021, assistive wearable
- Event: AIC-SMUTBI convergence, SMIT Majitar, Sikkim, 25-27 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which Northeast startups were featured?
Kiita Dumbang Mountain Winds, Labdig Innovations and Systems, HN Technovations, MWire Labs and Akumen AI.
Who founded Labdig?
Dr Chayanika Deka Nath and Dr Pabitra Nath founded it in 2022 as Tezpur University's first deeptech startup.
What does MWire Labs build?
AI for low-resource Northeast languages, including the NE-BERT language model and the Lemka speech-AI system.
Where did these founders meet investors?
At AIC-SMUTBI's entrepreneurship and innovation convergence at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Majitar, from 25 to 27 September 2026.
