Ankita Tongaonkar

Pioneered India's first mobile app for women's safety using AI and crowd-sourced data

Ankita Tongaonkar is a groundbreaking Indian tech entrepreneur and advocate for women's safety. In 2015, she co-founded SafeCity, a platform that uses crowdsourced data and artificial intelligence to map unsafe zones and provide real-time safety alerts. The initiative grew from her personal experience of gender-based harassment while commuting in Mumbai. SafeCity's innovative approach combines geotagged reports from users with predictive analytics to identify high-risk areas, empowering women to navigate cities more securely. By 2020, the platform had processed over 50,000 safety reports across 120 Indian cities and partnered with local governments to implement safety audits. Tongaonkar also spearheaded SafeCity's Crisis Response Network, a collaboration with NGOs and law enforcement to fast-track emergency assistance. Her work has been featured in The Guardian and TED Talks, influencing global discussions on tech-driven gender equity. In 2018, she launched SafeCity for Enterprises, helping companies create safer workplaces through predictive risk analysis. Tongaonkar's pioneering use of big data for social good has inspired similar initiatives in Nairobi and Jakarta.