Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 232nd edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?
Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
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Artisans and hobbyists: A Hundred Hands collective unveils membership programme for business growthQ1: Art market
India has extraordinary artistic heritage, but many artisans find it hard to get access to customers and markets. How can this creativity and livelihood gap be bridged?
Q2: Energy transition
Climate action and inclusive economic growth call for strong support for clean energy adoption. How can this transition be enabled with scale, local reach and measurable impact?
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2026 Outlook: AI, robotics, biotech, unicorns and the road aheadQ3: Ice cream
Ice cream has generally been a destination purchase, with consumers having to visit parlours. How can brands transform this experience and position it for home convenience?
Q4: Satellites and data
Ground-based data centres are facing increasing constraints around energy, land, regulation, and scale. What is the next frontier for data centres?
Q5: Skincare
Personal care products in India largely follow global trends, and do not fully reflect local conditions. How can such products be better formulated for Indian weather and genetic differences?
Answers!
Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning – and happy creating!
A1: Art market
Founded by Yosha Gupta, MeMeraki is a tech-enabled platform that works with over 500 accomplished artisans across 300 traditional art forms. It helps them reach global customers and build sustainable livelihoods.
It also has an augmented reality feature that lets visitors visualise how the artwork would look in their own space. Read more here about how it has helped Pichwai, Kalamkari and Kalighat painters – and raised funds from investors like Suzuki's Next Bharat Ventures.
A2: Energy transition
Founded by Rajashree Nambiar and Govind Sankaranarayanan, Ecofy is a green-only NBFC focused exclusively on financing sustainable assets. Its model targets retail and small enterprise borrowers, offering decentralised financing solutions in the energy transition
It is backed by Eversource Capital, British International Investment, FMO, and Finnfund. Read more here about how it has raised funds from Mirova to scale its lending for rooftop solar and electric mobility solutions.
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Year in review: startups that raised big from VCs in 2025A3: Ice cream
In many markets, quick commerce warehouses can act as micro-distribution hubs, enabling brands to bypass traditional retail and reach consumers directly within minutes. This has now led to impulse purchase of ice cream dominating the category.
“Spontaneity is the new driver,” says Saurabh Kasat, Director of Dairy Day. Read more here about how its Ob & Gob is among a growing cohort of ice-cream brands being designed and built specifically with ‘channel-first thinking’ for app-driven quick commerce consumers.
A4: Satellites and data
Pixxel (headed by Awais Ahmed) and Sarvam (headed by Pratyush Kumar) are partnering to build orbital data centres. Their compute can be powered by abundant solar energy, and they can operate closer to space-based data.
Pixxel will design, build, launch, and operate the satellites, while Sarvam will handle both training and inference directly in orbit. Read more here about how their Pathfinder satellite will host data centre-class GPUs and hyperspectral imaging cameras, thus processing data and generating insights right from space.
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Year in review: What 2025’s data tells us about women in IndiaA5: Skincare
Founded by cosmetic dermatologist Dr Renita Rajan, CHOSEN focuses on science-led skincare tailored for melanin-rich Indian skin. It operates a clinic-to-consumer model, and combines dermatology-led product development with direct consumer distribution.
“We are building products grounded in the Indian exposome and genome, with dermatology at the core,” Rajan says. Read more here about how it has raised funding from Fireside Ventures and BOLD, the investment arm of L’Oréal.
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators.
Source: YourStory - Startups
