Okapi
Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm that designs policies, ecosystems, and organizations for sustainable urban transformations, serving government agencies, international development donors, NGOs, and academic institutions across South Asia.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersChennai, India
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Okapi does
Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm specializing in institutional design for complex goals in changing times. The firm helps clients create policies, ecosystems, and organizations that motivate and aggregate individual contributions to broader public purposes, with a focus on sustainable urban transformations via water/waste management, food systems, and disaster resilience. Its work spans South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives) with academic and project linkages to Europe (UK, Denmark).
The firm delivers services through project-based consulting engagements using an interdisciplinary methodology that combines institutional economics, systems thinking, agent-based modeling, stakeholder engagement workshops, community surveys, and post-disaster social impact assessment. Its names of projects — We Segregate, Edible Rooftop Gardens, ARiSE Agroecology, Resilient HydroTwin, Urban Ocean Chennai, Wetlands Restoration, Carbon Neutral Koyambedu Market, and Ennore Oil Spill assessment — reflect a practice-oriented rather than purely academic orientation, with most fieldwork grounded in Chennai and Tamil Nadu.
Its revenue model is consulting-based with quote-based project pricing typical of boutique advisory firms. Customer mix is dominated by international development donors (UK Department for International Development), multi-country NGOs (Mercy Corps, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, Villgro, Commonwealth Local Government Forum), Indian industry associations (Madras Chamber of Commerce, TANSTIA-FNF), and academic partners (IIT Madras, University of Copenhagen, Care Earth Trust). The firm is privately held with no disclosed funding, parent company, or external investors, and is actively recruiting as of 2025-2026.
Okapi firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Okapi
- Legal name
- Okapi Research & Advisory
- Website
- https://okapia.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm that designs policies, ecosystems, and organizations for sustainable urban transformations, serving government agencies, international development donors, NGOs, and academic institutions across South Asia.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Okapi industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Management Consulting
- NAICS
- Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) & Due Diligence (BPAHAJAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Environmental Compliance & Permitting (BPAHAJAA), Emergency Response, Spill Prevention & Crisis Preparedness (BPAHAJAM), Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)
Keywords
Where Okapi is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chennai
- HQ country
- India
- HQ region
- Asia
Markets served
Okapi business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Okapi product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm that helps clients design policies, ecosystems, and organizations that motivate and aggregate individual contributions to broader public purposes. The firm assesses and fosters sustainable urban transformations through engagements in water/waste management, food systems, disaster resilience, climate adaptation, and public-private partnerships, serving government agencies, international development organizations, NGOs, and urban local bodies.
Product overview
Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm offering advisory services rather than a technology product platform. Their portfolio consists of research reports, assessments, and consulting deliverables focused on sustainable urban transformations, including waste management, food systems, disaster resilience, and climate adaptation. The company's work includes project reports such as We Segregate, Edible Rooftop Gardens, ARiSE Agroecology, Resilient HydroTwin, Urban Ocean, Wetlands Restoration, and Chennai City Resilience Strategy. These are consulting and research service outputs, not commercial software products or modules.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Institutional Design Consulting Research and advisory engagements to help clients design policies, ecosystems, and organizations that aggregate individual contributions toward broader public purposes, applied to government agencies, NGOs, and development organizations.
- Urban Resilience & Climate Adaptation Research Research and consulting engagements that assess and build urban resilience to climate and disaster risks, including post-disaster social impact assessment and supply chain resilience analysis for MSMEs and municipalities.
- Sustainable Urban Transformation Advisory Project-based advisory on sustainable urban transformations covering water/waste management, food systems, and waste segregation, delivered to municipal bodies and partner NGOs.
- Public-Private Partnership Institutional Design Research and institutional design support for public-private partnerships, including infrastructure flexibility analysis and policy framework recommendations for development organizations.
- Health Sector Futures Research Futures research on health sector opportunities for social entrepreneurs in India, combining academic and industry partner expertise to inform health innovation strategy.
Companies that use Okapi
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Okapi technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Okapi partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered key, core and supporting.
- Commonwealth Local Government ForumkeyCollaborative partner for Local Economic Development South Asia report, providing access to member local governments across Commonwealth nations.
- Villgro Innovations FoundationkeyFutures research project on health opportunities for social entrepreneurs in India, carried out jointly with Villgro, IIT Madras, and Dhoopa Ventures. Completed 2014.
- IIT Madras Healthcare Technology Innovation CentrecoreAcademic partner in Health Horizons 2021 research project, contributing healthcare technology expertise.
- Dhoopa VenturessupportingIndustry partner in Health Horizons 2021 research project.
- Madras Chamber of Commerce and IndustrysupportingIndustry association partner that helped identify and interview firms for Chennai MSME resilience research.
- TANSTIA-FNF Service CentresupportingPartner organization that assisted with firm identification and interviews for MSME resilience study.
- Care Earth TrustcoreEnvironmental NGO partner, notably for lectures with University of Copenhagen students at IIT.
- University of CopenhagencoreAcademic partnership involving student lectures and workshops at IIT Chennai with Care Earth Trust.
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Okapi competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ICLEI South Asia: South Asia office of ICLEI, supporting local governments on sustainable urban development and resilience. Directly comparable to Okapi's municipal, urban resilience, and waste management focus.
- WRI India: India affiliate of the World Resources Institute, working on sustainable cities, climate, and governance. Comparable to Okapi in urban resilience, policy research, and engagement with municipal and state government clients.
- TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute): India-based sustainability research and consulting organization covering climate, energy, and urban systems. Comparable to Okapi in environmental advisory scope, donor-funded research model, and India-centric delivery.
- Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS): India-based research and practice institution focused on urban transformation, climate resilience, and institutional reform. Highly comparable to Okapi in mission, South Asia focus, and interdisciplinary consulting-plus-research delivery model.
- Athena Infonomics: India-headquartered data analytics and research consulting firm serving international development agencies. Comparable in donor-funded research delivery, India operations, and policy/program evaluation work.
Emerging players
- Acumen: Impact investor and advisory organization working on resilience, climate, and social enterprise in South Asia and Africa. Comparable in that it funds and shapes ecosystems Okapi consults on, and overlaps in social-entrepreneurship research.
- Mercy Corps (as both client/peer ecosystem): Major INGO that both commissions Okapi-style research and increasingly conducts its own applied resilience analytics. Partial overlap as a sophisticated buyer and occasional internal competitor for resilience program design.
Broad incumbents
- C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group: Global network of mayor-led cities addressing climate change. Comparable to Okapi in urban climate resilience, but operates as a broad membership-driven network rather than a boutique research consultancy.
- Arup: Global engineering and design consultancy with strong urban resilience and climate adaptation practices. Comparable in urban resilience and stakeholder engagement work, but much broader portfolio and engineering-led rather than social-science-led.
- CDP Worldwide: Global disclosure system for environmental impact, working with cities and companies on climate and water data. Comparable to Okapi in the climate-and-cities intersection, though at much larger scale and with a data-platform rather than consulting model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Okapi social profiles
Digital presenceOkapi financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Okapi leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Okapi funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Okapi M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Okapi
What does Okapi do?
Okapi Research & Advisory is an India-based research and consulting firm that helps clients design policies, ecosystems, and organizations that motivate and aggregate individual contributions to broader public purposes. The firm assesses and fosters sustainable urban transformations through engagements in water/waste management, food systems, disaster resilience, climate adaptation, and public-private partnerships, serving government agencies, international development organizations, NGOs, and urban local bodies.
Is Okapi a public or private company?
Okapi is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Okapi founded?
Okapi was founded in 2012. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Okapi based?
Okapi is headquartered in Chennai, India, in the Asia region.
Who are Okapi's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ICLEI South Asia, WRI India, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and Athena Infonomics. Emerging players are Acumen and Mercy Corps (as both client/peer ecosystem). Broad incumbents are C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Arup and CDP Worldwide.
Does Okapi have an API?
No public API is recorded for Okapi.
What industry is Okapi in?
Okapi's product category is Management Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAJAB, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) & Due Diligence, with a secondary code of BPAHAJAA, Environmental Compliance & Permitting. Its NAICS code is 54162 and its SIC code is 8700.