hygrid

Powering a sustainable future: meet the team driving smarter renewable energy solutions with AI-driven intelligence.

Meet our team

Vision, Leadership, Culture

Harshal Sankhe

Harshal Sankhe

CEO/Founder | Mechanical Engineer, UK

With over 15 years in the UK’s heating, ventilation, gas, and water infrastructure sectors, Harshal Sankhe leads hygrid with a mission to simplify renewable energy adoption. His expertise in energy compliance frameworks, including UK specific EPC calculations, SAP, and BREEAM, ensures that hygrid’s solutions align with sustainability goals and effectively reduce CO₂ emissions. Harshal’s passion for renewable energy was ignited during his involvement in the EU’s H2 OCEAN project under the FP7 program, focusing on developing open-sea platforms for hydrogen generation. At hygrid, Harshal emphasizes vertical integration, leveraging AI and Industry 4.0 frameworks to deliver seamless customer experiences.

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Varun Mehta

Varun Mehta

Co-Founder | Business Strategist & Mechanical Engineer

At the helm of hygrid India, Varun Mehta exemplifies entrepreneurial excellence and strategic focus in the hydrogen energy sector. As a co-founder, Varun brings together his engineering expertise and business acumen, refined over a decade of experience in commercial operations, government projects, and large-scale infrastructure management. Under his guidance, hygrid India is working to create scalable, reliable hydrogen systems—from microgrids to megawatt-scale infrastructure—designed to decarbonise industrial, healthcare, and community energy systems.

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Financial Management, Stakeholder Management and Talent

David Hargrave ICIOB, BA (Hons), PG Cert.

David Hargrave ICIOB, BA (Hons), PG Cert.

CO-FOUNDER | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

David started his career as a Quantity Surveyor with the largest privately owned contractor in the UK 40 years ago. He has vast experience as a senior and board-level manager handling contracts, procurement, tendering and legal issues for new and existing construction projects. David has extensive building contract experience and has handled due diligence for investors.

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Product Development, Software Team lead, User Experience

Johannes Felder

Johannes Felder

CO-FOUNDER | CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER

Johannes Felder is a product builder with over a decade of experience translating complex technology into clear market-ready products and user experiences. As a co-founder, he has successfully led software teams at two companies, aligning product vision with delivery across design, engineering and commercial needs. At hygrid, he turns technical progress into credible product milestones and shapes the hygridOS roadmap into a platform thesis that supports deployment, reliability and scale.

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Engineering

Sumit Bansal

Engineering Co-Founder

MSc Cranfield (2008). Ex-Capgemini, ex-Airbus director. Has run £100M+ engineering programmes. Trained to own the Bristol PaaS first deployment end-to-end.

Ed Brandley

VP Industrial Design

MSc Cranfield. Ex-QinetiQ mechanical systems engineer. Owns TEA, TRL documentation, and bridges technical design and assembly.

Academic Partners

Robert Steinberger-Wilckens

Chair of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research, University of Birmingham

Providing SOFC specialist advice to hygrid.

CIO - Industrial IIoT Edge Computing and Industrial Controls Leadership

Mr Amey Vedpathak

Head of Software Engineering

Industrial edge computing and controls leadership.

Ms Pooja Mankikar

Advisor, Data Scientist at Bloomberg

Data science and digital intelligence advisor.

Branding and Communications

Emily Jones

two shoes creative – London, UK

Emily works in User Experience and User Interface Design and runs an agency working with ethical and sustainable businesses and charities.

Advisors & Governance

Aamir Khan

Legal Advisor

Drafting BVCA-compliant Articles of Association, Reserved Matters Schedule, and lead counsel on commercial contracts.

Dave Goebel

Technical NED

Ex-ExxonMobil technical leader. Board-level operational governance.

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