At 20, He's Building AI to Make Every Journey Safer for Women

Whereas most students are preoccupied with academic issues at their age 20yearold entrepreneur Kanav Gupta has decided to take a bite out of the very big issue plaguing Indian society right now that of womenrsquos safety Being the founder of SafarSafe an innovative AIdriven route safety app he wants to move the discourse away from being a reaction to a situation and towards a way of preventing something bad from happening by empowering women to choose safe routes even before setting off on their journey1 At just 20 years old what inspired you to build SafarSafe and what was the defining moment that convinced you this solution was neededEvery day we read another headline about a woman being harassed followed or assaulted while simply trying to get home For a few days everyone talks about it everyone says something should change and then life moves on until the next incident That cycle really bothered meAs a 20yearold student at Delhi University I kept asking myself one question Why are we only trying to help after something goes wrong Why arenrsquot we helping to prevent it in the first placeI know womenrsquos safety is an incredibly complex problem No app alone can solve it But I also believe complexity shouldnrsquot stop us from tryingSafarSafe was started by three of us Over time the other two cofounders decided to step back from daytoday involvement not because they didnrsquot believe in the idea but because they had different academic and personal priorities They still support me whenever I need guidance but Irsquove taken on the core responsibility of leading and building the companyAlong the way we also started getting early validation that this idea mattered We participated in startup competitions at Hansraj College University of Delhi and MAIMSIP University where we were part of the startup arena At Hansraj in particular we connected with over 100 women who interacted with the idea gave feedback and even followed our journey afterwards because they were genuinely interested in what we were building That early response gave us a lot of clarity that this wasnrsquot just an idea on paper it was something people related toWe also got our first mentor during the Hansraj experience which helped us think more seriously about how to shape SafarSafe beyond just an ideaLater we went to a nationallevel competition at IIT Bombay where we were selected among the top 80 teams It was a huge learning experience for us but also a reality check At that stage many of the other teams had already built products had traction and were on their revenue journey In comparison we were still very early It made us realise that while the idea was strong we needed more time to build and refine before competing at that levelWe took that feedback seriously and came back to improve the product instead of rushing aheadMore recently during my summer school in London I had the chance to speak about SafarSafe with my teacher and several other people who were genuinely curious about the idea I also met a few founders and CEOs who encouraged me to continue building it and mentioned that the UK has strong support systems for techdriven social impact startups especially for students pursuing higher studies They suggested that if I continue my masterrsquos there in the future there could be opportunities for funding and ecosystem support as wellAll of these experiences from college competitions in India to conversations in London have reinforced one thing for me this problem is real and people everywhere relate to itThat is why I continued building SafarSafe I wanted to create something that could help people make safer decisions before they even begin their journeyFor me this is much more than a startup Itrsquos something I genuinely want to dedicate myself to because every woman deserves to travel without constantly worrying about whether shersquoll reach home safely2 Unlike many safety apps that focus on emergency response SafarSafe aims to prevent risks before a journey begins How does your AIpowered platform assess route safety and what makes this approach uniqueMost safety apps become useful when yoursquore already in danger We wanted to ask a different question Can technology help reduce the chances of reaching that situation at allSafarSafe analyses different factors like CCTV coverage in the area you will be travelling through crime trends time of day lighting crowd activity and community reports to estimate how safe different routes may be Instead of only showing the fastest route we want people to also see the safer option and decide for themselvesBut for me the biggest difference isnrsquot just the technologyI donrsquot just want to build another app I want to build a community where women help other women by sharing real experiences reporting unsafe places and contributing to safer journeys for everyone else Technology is important but communities make cities safer too3 You conducted onground surveys with women commuters and filed RTI applications to access public safety data What were some of the most surprising insights you uncovered and how have they shaped the platformTalking to women directly changed the way I looked at this problemOne thing I heard repeatedly was that many women donrsquot mind taking a route that is ten or fifteen minutes longer if they feel safer That really stayed with me because most navigation apps only optimise for speedThe RTIs also opened my eyes The data we received was in paper form which made it much more difficult to use in a structured way We had to manually go through and digitise it and wersquove been able to organise around 80 percent of it so far Some of it is still left but that work is in progress and will be completed very soon It made us realise even more clearly that solving this problem requires bringing together information from multiple sources rather than depending on one datasetWersquove also tested SafarSafe with many people already and their feedback has helped us improve the product significantly The next round of testing is currently in development and wersquore very close to launching it Every test teaches us something new because the people using it ultimately shape the platform4 Building a startup while pursuing a fulltime Mathematics degree is no small feat How have you balanced academics with entrepreneurship and what have been the biggest challenges along the wayHonestly it has been difficultThere are days when I attend classes complete assignments prepare for exams and then spend the rest of my day working on SafarSafe Sometimes that means very little sleep but when you genuinely believe in something you find the energy to keep goingIrsquom just a 20yearold college student trying to solve a problem that is much bigger than me There are moments when it feels overwhelming especially when it comes to funding building technology and managing everything alongside academicsBut every positive message from someone who believes in what wersquore building reminds me why I started Those moments make the hard days worth it5 SafarSafe has already reached over 150000 people organically and won multiple startup competitions What do these early milestones tell you about the growing demand for technologydriven safety solutionsThe biggest takeaway is that people genuinely careReaching over 150000 people organically through social media tells me that conversations around womenrsquos safety matter to people Winning startup competitions at places like Hansraj University of Delhi and MAIMSIP University and being selected among the top 80 teams at IIT Bombay gave us early validation that preventive safety technology is something people are willing to engage with and take seriouslyAt the same time these milestones donrsquot mean wersquove solved anything yetWersquore still learning Wersquore still building Wersquore still testingIf anything these experiences have increased our responsibility to create something that actually makes a difference in peoplersquos everyday lives instead of becoming just another app6 Womenrsquos safety is a shared responsibility involving citizens technology providers and policymakers How do you see startups like SafarSafe collaborating with governments law enforcement agencies and urban planners to create safer citiesNo startup can solve womenrsquos safety aloneThis requires governments police urban planners citizens and technology companies all working togetherMy hope is that SafarSafe can become a bridge between technology and realworld decision making Whether itrsquos using public data responsibly helping identify areas that need better infrastructure or encouraging communities to report unsafe locations collaboration is the only way forwardAs founders we can build technology But making cities safer requires everyone to participateWe are also actively thinking about adding a communitydriven safety feature where if a user feels uncomfortable during a journey they can trigger a signal that alerts other SafarSafe users within a certain radius The idea is that safety should not just be individuality should be collective where people can look out for each other in real timeBeyond that there are many more potential features we can explore as we grow We havenrsquot fully mapped them out yet but we see SafarSafe evolving into a much larger safety ecosystem over timeWe also see strong potential in collaborating with mobility platforms like Uber and Rapido in the future Integrating safety insights into everyday rides could make daily travel significantly safer for millions of people and that is something we would love to work towards as we scale7 Looking ahead what is your longterm vision for SafarSafe Are there plans to expand beyond route safety into other areas of urban mobility public safety or smart city solutionsRight now our complete focus is building the best possible route safety platform and launching it properlyIn the future I want SafarSafe to become much more than an app I want it to become a trusted safety community where people actively help one another and where technology data and community support work togetherWersquore currently in the final stages of developing our next version and Irsquom genuinely excited for more people to test it Every piece of feedback helps us improveIrsquod also like to use this opportunity to ask for supportIf yoursquore reading this Irsquod love for you to join our testing programme when it opens use the app tell us what works and what doesnrsquot and help us build something that can genuinely make a differenceWersquore also looking for mentors partners and funding to help us scale this mission At the end of the day this isnrsquot just my dream It started with a small team grew through different experiences and mentors and now continues with full responsibility on my shoulders If we want safer cities for women itrsquos something all of us have to build together

At 20, He's Building AI to Make Every Journey Safer for Women

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At 20, He's Building AI to Make Every Journey Safer for Women

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