Inside the Student-Led ‘Sustainability Mafia’ That Just Got a Rs 2 Cr CSR Grant From Zerodha

Late one evening in a Bengaluru lab, Vaibhav Sai bent over his notebook filled with complex diagrams and calculations. For months, he had been working on an idea that felt urgent and deeply personal — designing living cells that could detect pollutants in water and food.   The science thrilled him. The potential impact was enormous. But everything beyond the lab left him paralysed.   “I could build a product, but I didn’t know how to build a startup,” he says, recalling that phase with a laugh. Questions swirled: Who would buy it? How much funding should I raise? How do you explain somethin...