3 Friends Build Hydroponics Empire, Train 35,000 in India

Three friends met in business school with a simple dream: solve India's food and water challenges while helping others build sustainable businesses.

Tusshar Aggarwal and Meet Patel crossed paths at a Mumbai MBA program in 2016. Meet came from a farming family and wanted to modernize agriculture. Tusshar wanted to solve real problems. Together, they discovered hydroponics, a method of growing plants without soil using nutrient-rich water.

For two years, they experimented on their own rooftop, learning every detail of soil-free farming. They built an online community of hydroponics enthusiasts and started consulting for other companies. That's where they met Vivek Shukla, an experienced farm professional who became their third partner.

In 2020, they launched Rise Hydroponics in Ahmedabad. Their business model goes beyond just selling equipment. They help aspiring farmers build complete hydroponics farms from scratch, then provide free agronomy and maintenance services for the first year. They even buy some of the initial harvest to help new farmers get started.

The startup also partners with corporations and businesspeople who want to enter farming but lack time or expertise. These partners provide land and investment while Rise Hydroponics handles everything else: hiring staff, managing crops, packaging, sales, and marketing. Both parties share the profits.

Rise Hydroponics grows and sells its own vegetables too. Their brand, Rise Freshz, supplies major retailers like BigBasket and Star Bazaar, plus hotels, resorts, and food manufacturers. They currently grow more than 50 different crops.

The numbers tell an impressive story. The team has developed over 2.5 million square feet of hydroponics farms across India. They've completed 40+ commercial projects in 27 cities. Most remarkably, they've trained 35,000 people in soil-free farming, including farmers, students, homemakers, and working professionals.

The Ripple Effect

Rise Hydroponics is riding a growing wave. India's hydroponics market is expected to grow at 13.53% annually through 2027, nearly double the global rate. That growth means more efficient water use, less dependence on depleting soil, and fresh vegetables grown closer to cities.

Every person the trio trains becomes a potential entrepreneur. Every farm they build creates jobs and produces fresh food with 90% less water than traditional farming. Their model proves that sustainable agriculture can be both profitable and scalable.

What started as rooftop experiments between two MBA students has blossomed into a movement that's reshaping Indian agriculture one soil-free farm at a time.