Welcoming Energy Umbrella to the Genesis Portfolio
This year, Genesis and the Energy Institute partnered to launch UT Austin’s Second Annual Smart Energy Call For Innovation (C4i) in collaboration with Affinity Engineering, Chevron, and the Student Engineering Council. Read about our generational partnership:
Venture Partner: Dana Tran
On behalf of the Genesis Program, I am thrilled to announce our recent investment in Energy Umbrella, founded by Sahana Raj.
Sahana, a sophomore CBHP and Management Information Systems student at the University of Texas at Austin, noticed the lack of daily energy access afforded to middle-class families in India while traveling to her family’s hometown. She recognized that this ongoing need presented a massive opportunity to create an impact in these communities.
The Idea
Energy Umbrella is a sustainable energy solution providing an ergonomic, affordable, and efficient solution that utilizes solar power to power light and charging capabilities all in one for up to 15 hours, so Indian families can go about their day-to-day activities without interruptions. On average, families in India typically spend 1.5–3 hours without electricity every day, this accounts for approximately 500 million Indian residents that have unreliable energy access. The instability of the electrical grid in India results from poor infrastructure, delayed government funding, high transition costs to renewables, and high electric demand — issues individual consumers cannot solve on their own. These extended periods without electricity can cause severe setbacks for the average family: adults lose out on wages and are unable to do simple activities such as cook, while children can’t do school work.
The current solutions on the market are either effective (sufficient energy output) but too expensive or are affordable but have low energy outputs (10 watts). Energy Umbrella aims to tackle this problem by providing 400 watts of energy at a reasonable one-time purchase price. The switch to an easy renewable energy solution empowers middle-class Indian families to save money on electrical bills while the portable design allows for it to be stored indoors and moved outside during favorable weather conditions.
The Founder
Energy Umbrella was founded by Sahana Raj (CBHP, Management Information Systems ‘26). Sahana often spent holidays visiting her family in India and there noticed the stark lack of energy access in and around her community. Having been involved with UT Austin’s entrepreneurial scene and a participant in the Social Entrepreneurship Learning Lab (SELL), she had the opportunity to address real issues affecting society by ideating and validating a venture to drive change.
In the spring of 2023, she got connected with the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (Tex-E) program, an initiative powered by Greentown Labs to encourage Texas students to pursue entrepreneurship as a way to reduce emissions and build a healthier society. As a semi-finalist in their annual pitch competition, the program proved immensely valuable due to the mentorship from Nisha Desai. Under Desai’s guidance, Sahana was able to nimbly develop and make pivots to Energy Umbrella before investing significant capital early on.
How are They Doing?
Since having the original idea for Energy Umbrella, Sahana has worked on building out her core team and leveraging the University’s entrepreneurial resources as they work towards building high-fidelity prototypes, incorporating, patenting, and beginning the pilot phase. The team comprises of CEO Sahana Raj (CBHP, Management Information Systems ‘26), COO Sahas Chinni (University of Texas at Austin, BS Finance ’25) and CTO Avanish Namachivayam (University of Texas at Austin, MS Electrical Computer Engineering). Energy Umbrella is poised to initiate the 3D printing process based on their finalized 3D CAD design in the coming months. Additionally, Energy Umbrella has attained an impressive list of grants and trophies at various competitions, including:
- 1st Place SELL your Impact Pitch Competition
- Launchpad StartUP Grant Recipient
- Semi-finalist for the Freed Family Pitch Competition (Disrupt Texas)
- Winner of the Tejas Tank Genesis Pitch Competition
- Pitch participant at Capital Factory for the Startup Seminar class
- FoundHER for the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KSWELI)
Most importantly, Genesis recently awarded Energy Umbrella a grant through our Call for Innovation Challenge in collaboration with Chevron, Affinity Engineering, the University of Texas Energy Institute, and the Student Engineering Council.
Energy Umbrella’s journey is far from over. The team has demonstrated resilience through numerous pivots while remaining steadfast in their core mission: making reliable and sustainable power accessible to everyone. Since its inception in September 2022, the team has made significant strides, actively working to materialize this solution for individuals facing harsh realities daily. Sahana exemplifies service leadership, seeking impact and demonstrating an unwavering commitment to her cause.
