Engineering alumnus to launch social venture in India
Contacts:
Mary Hoff, Institute on the Environment, maryhoff@umn.edu, (612) 624-6140
Matt Hodson, University News Service, mjhodson@umn.edu, (612) 625-0552
Rhonda Zurn, College of Science and Engineering, rzurn@umn.edu, (612) 626-7959
MyRain LLC successfully completes initial round of angel investment to sell, construct, and use use drip irrigation systems
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/21/2012) —A project that was started as a University of Minnesota student project aimed at boosting local economies in India has acquired funding to launch a for-profit social venture that will offer efficient drip irrigation systems to rural farmers in developing countries.
MyRain LLC began as the brainstorm of a team of participating in the 2010 Acara Challenge, a course and competition sponsored by the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment that helps budding social entrepreneurs develop plans for businesses that make a positive change in the world. After completing the Acara competition, the project leaders incorporated their business and refined plans to the point where they could solicit funding from investors.
Having successfully completed the first of an anticipated two rounds of soliciting funds from angel investors, MyRain co-founder and CEO Steele Lorenz is heading to India June 1 to launch the program on the ground.
“I am pleased to announce that the capital raised from our initial angel investment round is sufficient to fund MyRain’s first year of operations in the Tamil Nadu region of southern India,” said Lorenz, who gave up a job in Minnesota to pursue the launch.
“In many parts of rural India, small-plot farmers rely on flood irrigation, an approach that stunts crops and washes away valuable soil nutrients,” said Sri Latha Ganti, a 2011 University of Minnesota master's degree graduate in electrical engineering and co-founder & COO of MyRain. “By implementing drip irrigation, rural farmers can increase water and fertilizer efficiency by 20 to 50 percent and increase yields by 30 to 100 percent. MyRain also will stimulate local job creation by hiring salespeople from villages and training them to sell, construct and use drip irrigation systems.”
According to Fred Rose, co-director of Acara and a member of MyRain’s advisory board, drip irrigation technology has proliferated to only 5 percent of arable land in India despite its advantages. MyRain seeks to increase that number while creating sustainable economic development in the communities it serves.
MyRain’s strategic partners include Acara and the Covenant Centre for Development. Learn more at myrainindia.com.
The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment seeks lasting solutions to Earth's biggest challenges through research, partnerships, and leadership development. For more information, visit environment.umn.edu.