Name: Namrata Sandhu
Company: Vaayu
Position: Co-Founder and CEO
Website: https://vaayu.tech/
About Namrata Sandhu
Vaayu was founded in 2020 by Namrata Sandhu, who identified a critical gap in the retail sector’s ability to track and reduce emissions in real-time. With 20 years of experience in sustainability, and after holding leadership roles at Zalando and Arcadia Group, she saw firsthand the industry’s struggles with data fragmentation and the lack of actionable insights for emission reduction. Determined to change that, she built Vaayu, the world’s first automated climate tech software tailored to retail and its complex supply chains, helping brands measure, track and reduce their carbon footprint at scale, as well as other impacts like water and waste.
CHALLENGE
The biggest challenge has been making life cycle assessment (LCA) data accessible and actionable for brands. Retail supply chains are incredibly intricate, with multiple layers, and for too long, sustainability data has been scattered, inconsistent or difficult to act on. With Vaayu, Namrata set out to simplify and automate the process, ensuring brands can measure their impact seamlessly, even with limited primary data.
Another key challenge was proving the business case for reduction. Many retailers viewed sustainability as an added cost rather than a driver of long-term business success. By integrating Vaayu’s AI-driven technology into existing retail workflows — from product development to supply chain optimization — Namrata showed brands how reduction efforts can translate into efficiency, cost savings and consumer trust, democratizing a long-term, scalable solution for lower impact.
MILESTONES
Since launching, Namrata has led the company in raising $13 million, onboarding hundreds of brands and building Kria, retail’s largest and most advanced impact modeling engine and LCA database, which now includes over 600,000 industry-specific data points. The company and its technology is trusted by hundreds of brands, including Klarna, Ace & Tate, Vestiaire Collective, Vinted, Missoma, On and Mastercard, influencing hundreds of millions of consumers, and their shopping decisions, worldwide.
2025 is about scaling this impact further. Vaayu continues to expand into new verticals, refining its predictive AI models and enhancing its new Supply Chain Impact Solution to increase transparency and traceability for brands. As sustainability-related regulations tighten (like the CSRD and ESPR), Vaayu ensures its partners stay ahead of compliance while turning legal obligations into business opportunities.
FUTURE
Vaayu’s mission is simple: decelerate climate change by making reduction the norm, not the exception. It’s something Namrata has dedicated her life’s work to. And with retail responsible for 25% of global emissions, the goal is to embed climate action into every retailer’s operations, moving the entire industry towards net zero.
With Vaayu, Namrata is defining a future where AI and machine learning work in tandem with human intelligence to guide sustainability decisions before products even hit the market. Where circular business models are the standard, not the alternative. Where every purchase is backed by transparency, empowering both brands and consumers to make informed, lower-impact choices. Under Namrata’s leadership, Vaayu is not just tracking impact — it is reshaping the future of retail.
