The Engineer Who Sold His Startup for $100M+ and Pivoted to Save the Planet: Meet Rohit Toshniwal of Sprih
Deep dive into Rohit Toshniwal: The serial tech entrepreneur's journey from IIT Kanpur, a major VMware acquisition, and now co-founding Sprih in Climate Tech.
There are entrepreneurs, and then there are builders who see the future, build for it, achieve massive success, and then channel that energy into solving humanity's biggest challenges. Rohit Toshniwal firmly belongs in the latter category. You might know him from his spectacular success with Arkin Net, acquired by VMware, or perhaps you're hearing about his current venture, Sprih, which is tackling the complex world of enterprise sustainability and carbon management.
I recently had the privilege of hosting Rohit on the Founder Thesis podcast for an incredibly insightful conversation. It’s a must-listen for anyone interested in deep tech, climate solutions, or building impactful ventures.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
From Bits & Bytes to Biosphere: The Early Journey 👨💻
Rohit Toshniwal isn't new to the startup grind. His roots are deeply technical, describing himself as previously being a "very bits and bytes kind of a guy."
Foundation: An alumnus of the prestigious IIT Kanpur, graduating with a B.Tech in Computer Science in 1999.
Silicon Valley Calling: Like many bright engineers of his generation, he headed to Silicon Valley, starting at tech giant Cisco.
Startup DNA: The large company environment didn't quite fit.
Very soon I realized that probably I'm not cut out for a large company... even if I don't show up, probably it wouldn't matter. And that was a very unsettling feeling.
He quickly moved into the startup world, working at Corona Networks and then Blue Lane Technologies, learning the ropes and surviving the dot-com meltdown aftermath. Blue Lane Technologies was later acquired by VMware, marking his first entry into the virtualization leader.
VMware Chapter 1: After the Blue Lane acquisition, Rohit spent several years at VMware, eventually getting the opportunity to lead R&D for Network & Security in India, bringing him back to Pune.
Arkin Networks: The $100 Million+ Google Maps for Data Centers 🗺️💰
Around 2013, Rohit, along with co-founders, decided it was time to build something of their own. Fueled by deep expertise in networking and virtualization, they founded Arkin Net.
The Problem: Data centers were becoming incredibly complex (Software-Defined Data Centers). Managing security, networking, and capacity was a nightmare.
The Solution: Arkin built a platform often described as "Google Maps for the data center." It provided unprecedented visibility and analytics for security and operations.
What we built over there was think of it like a Google Maps for the data center... you can figure out what's allowed, what's not allowed, what are the roadways that are open... security checks etc.
Rapid Success: Arkin quickly became a category leader. They raised approximately ~$20 million in funding. Their technology was so effective that VMware, despite having competing internal projects, eventually OEM-ed their product.
The Acquisition: In July 2016, just 4 years after founding, VMware acquired Arkin Net for a sum reported to be north of $100 million USD. It was a phenomenal outcome for the team and investors.
It was in four years that we got there. So it was a very compressed time and a very, very fast journey.
Post-Acquisition Growth: Rohit didn't just exit; he stayed on at VMware as a Senior Director, integrating Arkin (rebranded as vRealize Network Insight or vRNI) and scaling it massively.
The Pivot: Why Sustainability? Why Now? 🤔➡️🌱
After achieving such conventional tech success, why pivot to the complex, evolving world of climate and sustainability?
A Personal Reset: The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for reflection.
While I could read bits and bytes on the wire, I didn't know where my food came from... What I was eating. And so there was very little awareness about these things.
Finding Purpose: A desire emerged to work on something deeply meaningful for the next phase of his career. He started spending time volunteering with the 14 Trees Foundation in Pune, focused on reforestation and rural rejuvenation, learning the "ABCs of why [sustainability] matters."
Meeting of Minds: At 14 Trees, he connected with his future co-founder. They shared a deep tech background and saw a critical gap.
The Opportunity: The world was waking up to climate change, regulations were tightening , but the tools to manage this transition were lagging. They saw an opportunity to apply their deep tech and scaling expertise to a vital global problem.
These are very interesting times when there is a lot of chaos... And I believe these are the times when some of the largest companies are laying their foundation.
Sprih: Building the Carbon Intelligence Engine 💡🌿
Rohit co-founded Sprih around April 2022, launching the venture from Pune, India.
The Mission: Sprih is building a Carbon Intelligence and Management platform. Their goal is to help organizations understand their environmental footprint, navigate complex reporting, and genuinely move towards Net Zero – not just for compliance, but for business value.
At Sprih, we are building a Carbon Intelligence and Management platform to help organisations catalyse climate action and successfully move towards net zero.
The Product: It's a Climate AI-based SaaS product. It ingests operational data from various sources (ERP, transport, manufacturing systems), calculates emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3), benchmarks performance, helps set science-based targets, identifies reduction opportunities, automates reporting, and streamlines audits – aiming to replace complex, error-prone spreadsheets.
Behind the scenes is some very sophisticated engineering... It's a climate AI. It's a very deep climate AI engine that we have built, which drives all of these workflows...
Target Audience: While they work with large enterprises mandated to report, a key focus is also on the thousands of suppliers within global supply chains who need accessible tools to meet the requirements cascaded down by their large customers. Sprih serves clients in India and the US.
Sprih: Vision, Traction, and The Road Ahead 🚀
While still relatively early in its journey (it was formally founded in 2022, though exploration started earlier), Sprih shows clear signs of addressing a critical market need and focusing on building strong foundations.
Early Customer Validation: As of the time of our podcast discussion, Sprih had secured "close to a couple of dozen" (~24) customers. These weren't just test cases; they spanned diverse, complex sectors like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, manufacturing, paint, aluminum, and cement, indicating broad applicability. Their very first platform deployment was at IIT Kanpur.
Significant Deal Values & Urgency: The market recognizes the value. Rohit shared an example of closing a $100,000 USD annual subscription deal with a US-based pharma client over a single weekend (meeting Friday, contract signed Monday). This urgency was driven purely by the client's need to meet sustainability reporting demands from their major customers, showcasing the powerful business drivers at play. Such tech solutions often prove more cost-effective than traditional consulting, which Rohit estimated could be 2.5-3x more expensive for similar outcomes.
Funding & Growth Indicators: Sprih raised a pre-seed round from Leo Capital, allowing them the runway to build thoughtfully. While focusing on product-market fit over immediate hyper-growth, Rohit indicated they expected to hit the $1 Million ARR milestone "soon" – a key benchmark for SaaS startups.
The Long-Term Vision: Sprih isn't aiming for a quick flip. The team sees this as fundamentally important work addressing a global imperative.
How to help every single company on the planet find their path to sustainability and ah but ah we believe that we will be able to do that when we tie it to the business value... This is not one or two year kind of a journey. This is going to be a 10 plus year kind of a journey...
The Builder's Mindset 🏗️
Rohit Toshniwal embodies the journey of a serial entrepreneur: learning from every experience, building world-class teams, navigating complex technology landscapes, and achieving significant exits. His transition from pure network infrastructure to the nuanced world of sustainability demonstrates a remarkable adaptability and a drive to tackle meaningful problems. His work at Sprih places him at the intersection of two defining forces – AI and Climate Change.
For anyone tracking Climate Tech, enterprise SaaS, or the journeys of successful Indian entrepreneurs, Rohit Toshniwal and Sprih are names to watch closely.
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