From Bihar’s Roots to Fueling Change: Ankit Rai’s Startup Story

Growing up in a small village in Aurangabad, Bihar, Ankit Rai’s world was far from anything you’d call high-tech. Yet, the lack of basic resources, combined with the resilience he built while moving across Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and eventually Gujarat, planted the first seeds of his entrepreneurial spirit. Today, at just 20, he’s in the final stretch of his B.Tech degree in Information Technology — and already a founder.

While most college students are busy preparing for campus placements, Ankit took a different route. “I didn’t want to wait for the perfect moment or job offer. I wanted to build something real,” he shares.

The idea for his startup, Fuel Flux, didn’t come to him in a classroom. It came while waiting in a long fuel station queue during a hectic college day. That day’s delay got him thinking. Why was such a routine task still so chaotic?

He didn’t shrug it off.

Over time, he noticed how this wasn’t just a one-time glitch. Many students, working professionals, and drivers experienced the same problem — wasting precious minutes every day, stuck in unnecessary lines. That’s when Ankit began connecting the dots between his tech skills and this very real-world issue. He started talking to peers, taking informal surveys, and slowly built the foundation for what would become Fuel Flux — a startup that simplifies how people access fuel through smarter systems.

It wasn’t easy. As a student-led venture, funding was a constant challenge. Managing development, outreach, and planning on a shoestring budget tested his patience and creativity. But perhaps even more difficult was finding people who believed in the idea enough to put in the work. “The hardest part was building a team that didn’t just have skills but had heart,” he says.

One of the earliest validations came when the startup got registered and received DPIIT recognition — something that gave the project weight and pushed them forward. A startup grant from the government followed, along with multiple awards in national competitions. These wins weren’t just for show — they gave Ankit and his team confidence that their solution had merit.

What stands out is how grounded Ankit remains. While he’s proud of the achievements, he focuses more on listening to users and tweaking the product based on real feedback. The journey isn’t smooth — adoption takes time, especially in a space that deals with habits and daily behavior.

But he doesn’t seem in a hurry.

“We’re just getting started,” Ankit says. “The goal is to fix a problem I lived through — and millions still face every day.”

For pump owners too, Fuel Flux aims to make life a little easier. From automating records to providing digital tools, it’s not just about the end consumer. It’s about everyone in the fuel chain — the backend operators, the station managers, and the delivery staff.

What drives Ankit isn’t just business — it’s a need to build better systems. Ones that are fair, transparent, and actually useful.

His advice to young entrepreneurs is refreshingly simple: “Don’t build something just because it looks good on paper. Ask people. Observe the problem. Start small. And stick with it.”

The journey of Fuel Flux may still be in its early days, but for a young man from a remote village who once stood in a fuel line wondering why things were broken — this is just the beginning of something much bigger.