Toward the end of 2019, startup Khethworks began selling what the team refers to internally as “version one” of its 320-watt solar-powered water pump.
Toward the end of 2019, startup Khethworks began selling what the team refers to internally as “version one” of its 320-watt solar-powered water pump. The pump allows farmers in India who rely on crop harvests to feed their families to farm year-round instead of being limited to the four-month monsoon season. In just a couple of months, the product has started to change the fortunes of underserved farmers in India, lifting up families and impacting entire villages.
But getting to version one was neither quick nor easy. For Khethworks co-founder and CEO Katie Taylor SM ’15, the first product release is the culmination of an uncompromising journey, begun in 2014, to create a product that fits the lifestyles of farmers and minimizes risk for vulnerable communities.
That approach has forced Khethworks to reject easier paths to commercialization. But now that the pump is available and production processes are in place, the founders, which also include Kevin Simon SM ’15 PhD ’19 and Victor Lesniewski SM ’15, are excited to scale the deployment of a product they know can change lives.
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Image: A woman carrying a Khethworks solar panel. The efficiency of Khethworks' groundwater pump enables it to be powered by smaller panels, making the system portable.
Image courtesy of Khethworks
