
Ask HN: What are some startups working on big problems in the developing world? - refrigerator
E.g. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mobiusmotors.com
======
cinjon
Endaga: [http://www.endaga.com/](http://www.endaga.com/)

"We built the first community cellular network in a rural village in Papua,
Indonesia, in early 2013, with support from USAID and the Blum Center for
Developing Economies. That first network is still running today, and today we
continue to add new networks, constantly bringing connectivity to new users
and communities worldwide."

Haven't met the rest of the team, but the CTO, Shaddi, is an awesome guy.

~~~
wittedhaddock
Is this at all related to the Thiel Fellowship? So familiar!

~~~
cinjon
I don't know that there is a connection. What are you thinking of?

------
diafygi
Electricity is generally seen as going the way of telecommunications where it
will skip a wired grid and go straight to wireless (in this case, distributed
solar). Here's three startups I know are trying to make distributed energy
happen in developing world:

1\. [http://angazadesign.com](http://angazadesign.com)

2\. [http://powerhive.com](http://powerhive.com)

3\. [http://sunfunder.com](http://sunfunder.com)

~~~
toufka
And another which is encouraging pellet stoves as safer and cleaner than
paraffin or energy-hungry charcoal:
[http://www.africancleanenergy.com/](http://www.africancleanenergy.com/)

------
vikp
TulaLens -- [http://www.tulalens.org](http://www.tulalens.org)

Yelp for low-income people in the developing world. They just did a pilot in
Hyderabad (India), and helped pregnant women living in slum areas discover
hospitals around them offering better, cheaper care then they were receiving
elsewhere (some were having to pay bribes to get care at government
hospitals).

------
markessien
[http://Hotels.ng](http://Hotels.ng). 10,000 hotels in Nigeria and none of
them online till we added them. Done 6000, another 20k or so left to go across
the continent.

~~~
olalonde
I immediately thought of your startup when I read this post. Glad to hear it
is still going strong.

------
AdamN
OkHI is funded, has a great team and is rolling in Kenya:

[http://www.okhi.com/](http://www.okhi.com/)

Their mission is to give everybody in the world an address. Something that
people in the West take for granted, but isn't available for most of the
globe's citizens. This is also a major opportunity business-wise of course and
if I could invest, I would.

~~~
egreenlowe
This: [http://what3words.com/about](http://what3words.com/about)

is another very clever effort aimed at solving the same problem

------
gilesrhysjones
What3words.com

We have addressed every 3x3m on the planet with 3 common words. More
memorable, faster and less errors than alphanumeric systems. Currently in 8
languages with more including Swahili & Arabic coming. This could mean an
address for the 4 billion unaddressed, as well as water points, schools,
managing disease outbreaks.

More here: Vimeo.com/what3words/about.

I work for what3words.

~~~
mahmud
This sounds amazing!

------
CXY035
Education: [http://www.rumie.org/](http://www.rumie.org/)

Rumie is a Canadian non-profit who makes $50 tablets containing built-in
educational contents to make education more accessible for kids from the
developing countries. These tablets have a long battery life and they only
need to be connected to the Internet once every couple of months to update the
content.

I believe they're also working on creating a community to produce more open
sourced educational content for kids. They also don't go out and "sell" their
product; they only work with organizations who come to them believing that the
tablet is suitable for the intended community.

I'm not affiliated with them but learned about them at a conference last year
and thought what they were doing is pretty awesome. I could've remembered some
details wrong though so check out their site yourself.

------
pandler
Check out Eyenetra. [http://eyenetra.com](http://eyenetra.com)

I'm not directly associated, but one of my friends was an early employee who
worked on some of the early prototypes and helped set up a location in India.
They make a cheap (a few thousand dollars vs tens/hundreds of thousands of
dollars) and compact (Read: portable) eye-exam device that interfaces with a
smartphone for its camera and processor. Think of a traveling doctor bringing
eye exams to patients in remote villages. Pair that with some of those cheap
adjustable glasses
([http://www.ted.com/talks/josh_silver_demos_adjustable_liquid...](http://www.ted.com/talks/josh_silver_demos_adjustable_liquid_filled_eyeglasses))
and you've got a means for providing first-world eye care to the rest of the
world.

I think the company is still based in Cambridge, MA.

------
covercash
I'd say YC darling [http://watsi.org](http://watsi.org) is a prime example of
this! They're certainly one of my favorites in this space.

------
mhoad
I actually moved to Kenya to help a friend setup a business there this year
and had the good fortune of becoming involved with a number of NGOs of various
sizes. One of the smaller startup style ones I was working with was
[http://www.earthenable.org](http://www.earthenable.org) where they are
directly trying to bring down the child mortality rate dramatically by finding
a really cheap and affordable way to ensure that families in Rwanda no longer
have to live on a dirt floor (super prone to a lot of horrible diseases). They
have some of the most impressive people I've ever met working on that project
I seriously couldn't recommend them enough.

------
syedkarim
Outernet [https://www.outernet.is](https://www.outernet.is) We're building a
global broadcast data service to provide a basic level of news, information,
and education for all of humanity.

------
toufka
An open-source data collection system (census, health, economic, anything...)
using apps on the ubiquitous non-smart phones:
[https://opendatakit.org/](https://opendatakit.org/)

------
poppingtonic
Bitpesa: [http://bitpesa.co](http://bitpesa.co)

Based in London and Nairobi, they've built a Bitcoin-based service that
enables migrants & expats to send money quickly and safely back to their
relatives (called remittances in FinTech parlance). I'm not directly
associated with them, but we've met many times at Nairobi's monthly Bitcoin
meetup.

~~~
LAMike
Bitcoin remittances are going to be huge... I wonder if stripe will undercut
them with their flat 50 cent fee for Bitcoin to fiat

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Doubt it. Since when is their fee a flat 50c btw? Afaik they're free now
(beta) and going live next month at 0.5%.

And let's not forget, they have a presence in North-America, Western-Europe
and Australia. Not even e.g. Japan. And hell, they're in beta in all of those
countries except five.

But more importantly, they're not a remittance company. So I really doubt
we'll see a remittance product from them anytime soon.

But who knows. It's a legitimate business venture. If you can process a
payment in bitcoin and pay out in a local currency and do remittance that way,
you can process a remittance 'payment', too. The problem isn't really the
technical or business part though, it's that it brings up a lot of KYC/AML
responsibilities that facilitating retail shopping doesn't. So unless you want
to really build out a remittance product, you can't just do something like
this 'on the side'. And Stripe is way too focused on payments to jump into
remittance properly anytime soon.

Especially when there aren't any deep liquidity pools for bitcoin in Africa
(i.e. a lack of exchanges). Phillipines, India, all of that could feasibly
happen soon (not by Stripe, but other companies), as liquidity does exist (and
they're big remittance corridors), but undercutting Bitpesa anytime soon is
unlikely. Bitpesa itself is already hustling to make this work with a local
presence and its a bit of a mystery to me who their liquidity provider is atm.

------
ratpik
Check out Jana Care. [http://janacare.com](http://janacare.com)

The company is building a mobile based care platform for patients with
diabetes or at risk of diabetes along with a Square equivalent device for
diagnostics. While cost is one of the issue for patients, it is not the only
one. Quality of care varies significantly across a city and the moment you
step outside a major city, there is little to no specialized care for chronic
conditions that need some form of training for managing the condition. A
mobile phone with some form of internet connectivity is ubiquitous these days.
So leveraging that to reach as many people as possible makes sense. There are
over 80 million people with diabetes in India and another 80 million are
expected to develop it over the next decade or so. Add to this the costs and
quality of life of patients who have to suffer the complications (kidney
failure, amputation, etc), and any improvements that can be made to these
numbers with technology is worth the effort and makes business sense too.

The problem isn't India specific. China, US, Europe and the Middle East have
similar or higher prevalence rates. It is just that India makes sense as a
place to start doing things.

It's been a few years that we have been working on this. We mostly operate out
of Bangalore but we have an office in Boston too. Feel free to drop by!

[http://world.time.com/2013/05/12/no-answers-in-sight-for-
ind...](http://world.time.com/2013/05/12/no-answers-in-sight-for-indias-
diabetes-crisis/)

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-07/india-s-deadly-
diab...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-07/india-s-deadly-diabetes-
scourge-cuts-down-millions-rising-to-middle-class.html)

------
tomgruner
We are working on T160K [https://t160k.org/](https://t160k.org/) which is
crowdfunding sustainable and meaningful development in Africa by focussing on
arts and culture. Another goal of the project is to promote a positive and
vibrant image of African culture through our campaigns and messaging. One of
our projects that initially got me excited about the idea is the Timbuktu
Libraries in Exile [https://t160k.org/campaign/libraries-in-
exile/](https://t160k.org/campaign/libraries-in-exile/)

------
afarrell
A friend of mine just joined Wave, building A tool for migrants to more
reliably sending money back to their families :
[http://www.sendwave.com/](http://www.sendwave.com/)

------
caser
Engage Spark - [http://www.engagespark.com/](http://www.engagespark.com/)

Started by a serial entrepreneur from Boston, right now they're building tools
to help NGOs reach people in abject poverty, and they have some really big
ideas for the future.

They're based in the Philippines and actually are currently looking for
developers to come over on 6-12 month fellowships to experience life there and
contribute to the core product. If anyone is interested, I can link you to the
relevant posting.

(not affiliated, just think what they're doing is awesome)

~~~
cinjon
Link to the relevant posting please?

~~~
worldadventurer
The Fellowship posting is here:
[http://www.engagespark.com/#jobs](http://www.engagespark.com/#jobs) or the
pdf directly: [http://www.engagespark.com/files/jd-fellows-
tech1.pdf](http://www.engagespark.com/files/jd-fellows-tech1.pdf)

------
andygcook
Matternet - drone delivery network for small packages like medicine in the
developing world where travel infrastructure may not exist.

[http://matternet.us](http://matternet.us)

~~~
dharma1
I have wondered about these guys - drone deliver only really works for
distances of a few miles.

Surely in most cases the distances are too long?

------
rtcoms
Milaap Social Venture [https://milaap.org](https://milaap.org)

It is like Kiva , but we crowdfund loans mainly for basic needs of people eg.
sanitation(build toilets), water connection, education, enterprise
development, energy (solar connection in remote areas) in India

Recently we launched a platform for crowdfunding donations for causes and
social initiatives. [https://milaap.org/open](https://milaap.org/open)

Disclosure : I work at Milaap as a senior developer

------
okhudeira
Pangea ([http://gopangea.com](http://gopangea.com)) is looking to help the
underserved communities send money. Generally, remittances are from high GDP
to low GDP countries.

Pangea was part of the first class of Impact Engine
([http://theimpactengine.com/](http://theimpactengine.com/)), a for-profit
social venture accelerator originally run by Chuck Templeton (found of Open
Table).

------
a_lubling
Vayu - [http://vayu2.brace.io/](http://vayu2.brace.io/)

My friend is the founder, working in Ann Arbor with an amazing group of
aeronautical and electrical engineers, medical researchers, and others.
They're building hardened VTOL drones to take medical supplies, samples,
tests, back and forth from hospitals to rural India. They have a great team
and deep relationships with the NGO and health sectors in India.

------
rickyci
[http://getmobilewise.com/](http://getmobilewise.com/) Mobile Wise is
establishing a corps of Tech college graduates and young professionals who
commit 6-12 months to empower citizens in developing countries on Digital
Capability and we then provide employment opportunities to our fellows. We're
currently running a pilot in Ivory Coast with the backing of Microsoft,
promising so far!

------
kevinburke
Segovia is trying to make it easier for governments and NGO's to administer
cash transfer programs. It's spun out of GiveDirectly (which is on Givewell's
top rated charities list).

I met the team, pretty strong, might have worked for them but they didn't want
engineers working remotely (they're based in NYC).

[http://thesegovia.com/](http://thesegovia.com/)

------
kiril-me
Lookify.co [http://www.lookify.co](http://www.lookify.co)

Is search platform (as a service) for e-commerce websites to boost on-line
sales through a complete and manageable integration. We are providing Amazon
search experience for small/medium e-commerce web site. With advanced UI
components and analytics.

The company is base in Riga, Latvia

------
kardan
Akvo - [http://akvo.org](http://akvo.org)

Akvo helps people bring international development to life, online.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
I work at Akvo. We build open source software which we run as a service. Our
services are used primarily to combat poverty. We team up with hundreds of
NGOs as well as UN organisations and country governments. We have a great team
of 55+ people in fourteen countries, with hubs in Amsterdam, London,
Stockholm, DC, Nairobi, Ouagadougou, Delhi, Bangalore and Denpasar.

------
darrenkopp
[http://devresults.com](http://devresults.com)

We're working to help aid and development organizations gain better insight
into how effective and where donor money is going, monitoring and evaluating
organizational goals, and aggregating raw data into useful reports for both
the organization and donors.

------
wudf
Jola Venture with ties between Boston and Cameroon is working on bringing
modern innovations to rural and impoverished communities. They haven't scaled
like a "Startup," but they operate like one.
[http://jolaventure.com](http://jolaventure.com)

------
asmosoinio
Gecko Landmarks - makes location based services work where addresses are not
available and people cannot read maps. Basically a reverse geo-coding service
that work everywhere and for everyone.

[http://www.geckolandmarks.com/](http://www.geckolandmarks.com/)

------
buildops
Check out Zolair Energy -- it aims to get cheap energy into Africa and the
rest of the developing world, based on zinc air batteries. Founded by some of
my MBA classmates [http://zolair-energy.com/](http://zolair-energy.com/)

------
austinwm
[http://welldone.org](http://welldone.org) \- building a remote monitoring
platform to improve the reliability and accountability of rural water
infrastructure (for starters). Disclaimer: I'm the Executive Director of
WellDone.

------
sehr
Watsi! - [https://watsi.org/](https://watsi.org/)

------
pcthrowaway
I don't think it would be considered a startup, but Ushahidi is a global
nonprofit worth looking into:
[http://www.ushahidi.com/mission/](http://www.ushahidi.com/mission/)

------
kal00ma
Ona [http://company.ona.io](http://company.ona.io) solves data collection
problems for development organizations. Current clients are the WHO, UNDP,
HNEC - Libya, World Bank, and UNICEF.

------
sahpa
Finfo Technologies - is a web-based platform which provides company
intelligence and fundamental data on publicly listed entities in Africa.

[http://www.finfo.io](http://www.finfo.io)

------
csharpminor
TechChange ([http://techchange.org](http://techchange.org)) is building an
online learning platform for training aid and non-profit workers in the
developing world.

~~~
csharpminor
I should also mention that we're offering a paid internship/fellowship for
college students this summer in Washington, DC. More information here:

[http://techchange.org/fellowship/](http://techchange.org/fellowship/)

------
unclesaamm
Some interesting work coming out of the contractor space with IST research
([http://istresearch.com/our-work/](http://istresearch.com/our-work/))

------
valyats
My friends' startup, Globein.com, connects artisans from the developing
countries into a global economy. Kind of like Etsy, but for craftsmen from
poor countries.

------
balachandran_c
[http://www.gramvaani.org/](http://www.gramvaani.org/)

GramVaani provides crowdsourced news and other ICT4D services to the
underserved.

------
MistahKoala
I'm wondering if there's anything along the lines of 'Startups* Without
Borders'?

*Or 'Innovators' or 'Technologists', if you prefer.

~~~
olalonde
There is "Engineers Without Borders" although I think they are more focused on
traditional engineering disciplines.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineers_Without_Borders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineers_Without_Borders)

------
lmg643
Driptech - [http://www.driptech.com/](http://www.driptech.com/)

ultra low-cost irrigation systems

------
fireismyflag
Saving this awesome thread for future reference.

------
redmattred
Dimagi

~~~
dannyroberts1
I work here and it's great. [http://www.dimagi.com](http://www.dimagi.com).

Dimagi's mission is to use technology to improve the lives of people living in
underserved communities everywhere, especially through the use of mobile
technology to strengthen programs in many sectors. Dimagi works in over 30
countries, mostly in the Indian subcontinent, Africa. The main product
CommCare ([http://www.commcarehq.org](http://www.commcarehq.org)), allows for
NGOs to write and maintain their own mobile applications without programming
knowledge, and Dimagi also offers extensive consulting services with our
partners as they start to introduce mobile software into their program.
CommCare applications are geared toward usage by illiterate and low-literate
users in sectors such as community health, clinical settings, agriculture,
small business, infectious disease, maternal and child health, counselling for
people in stigmatized and vulnerable professions, and can be used for many
others; and the underlying software is repeatedly field-tested for usability
in these settings. And it is awesome.

Dimagi has strong field teams around the world, with offices in Boston, Delhi,
Cape Town, abd Senegal. All of Dimagi's core software developers also
routinely spend weeks at a time at at project sites and shadowing a field
manager, usually about twice a year per person. In my opinion, Dimagi is the
most mature, on-the-ground, and innovative company of its type, but, hey I
just work here.

------
shermablanca
Vuvuv

