April 22 of every year is celebrated as Earth Day, which is a reminder that mother Earth has to be protected and natural resources need to be used in limits and conserved for future generations. People need to protect the environment, its flora and fauna and restore damaged ecosystems.
There is a dire need to find new ways to live a more sustainable life without compromising on the country’s growth and development. The Indian cleantech startups have come up with new ideas to power existing clean energy technology and are doing their bit to save the environment in their own ways.
Inc42 has compiled a list of 30 cleantech startups, which have come up with out-of-the-box solutions to contribute to India’s clean energy goal. From startups dealing with rooftop solar energy or those focusing on bio-methanation technology to solve the organic waste management, to those providing solutions to clean and purify air and water, the list has all.
Let’s take a look at some of the Indian startups who are helping keep the earth healthy and green through their technology and products. The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. The Indian EV brands have been listed in alphabetical order.
List Of Cleantech Startups In India
Ace Green Recycling
- Founded In: 2019
- Founders: Nishchay Chadha, Vipin Tyagi
- Funding Raised To Date: $10 Mn
- Investors: Circulate Capital, Climate Angels, Newchip
- Headquarters: Singapore
Ace Green Recycling is a battery recycling startup, which claims to have developed clean and efficient lead-acid battery recycling technology.
Its battery operates at room temperature, contains zero air emissions, and wastes and reduces heavy metal emissions, resulting in significantly lower environmental damage, the startup said.
Further, the cleantech startup has said it is working on the commercialisation of lithium-ion battery recycling in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Battery recycling technology startup secured more than $7 Mn in a funding round led by Circulate Capital and Climate Angels in February 2022.
Adding this round, the startup’s total fundraised stands at $10 Mn so far, according to the startup.
The startup is planning to develop its li-ion reusable technology and expand the 30-member team to 50 in the coming months. The startup is also focusing on developing fossil-fuel-free li-ion battery recycling technology.
Chakr Innovation
- Founded In: 2016
- Founders: Kushagra Srivastava, Arpit Dhupar, Bharti Singhla
- Funding Raised To Date: $3.6 Mn
- Investors: Neev Fund II, Indian Angel Network, ONGC, Parampara Capital, Globevestor
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Chakr Innovation offers an emission control device that checks pollution at the source and captures harmful particulate matter emissions.
The cleantech startup claims its products are coupled with exhaust and absorbs over 80% of the particulate matter emitted by the diesel engines.
Chakr Innovation’s device Chakr Shield claims to collect 90% of particulate matter emissions from the exhaust of diesel generators without causing any adverse impact on the diesel engine. The collected emissions are used to create the ink.
According to the startup, the Chakr Shield can significantly reduce particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions after retrofitting on the tailpipe of the DG set.
Last year, Delhi’s upscale mall Select CityWalk installed Chakr Shield to reduce pollution from the DG sets by up to 80%. The shield would help reduce annually an estimated 378 kg of PM or black soot emissions which is equivalent to more than 174 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions or the carbon sequestered by 228 acres of forest in one year alone, said Chakr’s cofounder Bharti Singhla.
Chakr Innovation raised an undisclosed amount in Series B round from Neev Fund II in November 2021.
The startup has raised multiple rounds of funding, including a Series A round of INR 19 Cr led by IAN Fund and ONGC. It had also raised seed capital from Parampara Capital and Globevestor.
Chakr Innovation will be working on other technology solutions including Metal-Air battery technology. The startup plans to scale its production and expand its operations across more than 12 cities in future.
Clairco
- Founded In: 2018
- Founders: Aayush Jha
- Funding Raised To Date: $572.6K
- Investors: AngelList, Max Group, Sanjiv Bajaj, Anicut Angel Fund
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Clairco is an Internet of Things (IoT) startup which enables air quality monitoring and purification. It uses low drag air filters which can be retrofitted to any type of air conditioning and turn them into air purifiers.
According to Clairco, it has developed this patent-pending air purification system in-house. It analyses air quality data of a particular premise on a real-time basis and installs ultra-low resistance air filters in existing air conditioning units. This is then converted into a smart air purification system.
It helps businesses ensure clean air in an affordable and measurable way by adding air purification in existing AC systems. It offers a filter technology for up to MERV-13 filtration with a low-pressure drop, monitor PM2.5, PM10, CO2, VOC, and other air quality parameters, and maintain optimal health of air filters and purifiers in any season.
For its monetisation plan, Clairco charges its customers a monthly subscription fee for businesses of all sizes and scale.
Clairco raised INR 4.2 Cr in angel funding in March last year. The round was led by Sanjiv Bajaj (Bajaj Capital) at Anicut Angel Fund. Investors including Max Group and Angel List also participated in the round.
The cleantech startup is looking to expand its footprint to key cities across the country. It is also looking for product development and growth.
CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions
- Founded In: 2011
- Founders: Kuldeep Jain, Sushant Arora
- Funding Raised To Date: $188.2 Mn
- Investors: IFU, Warburg Pincus, UKCI, International Finance Corporation
- Headquarters: Mumbai
Rooftop solar startup CleanMax is a sustainability partner to corporations and develops solar and wind projects under the Build Own Operate model by providing renewable electricity under long-term agreements, creating significant savings for end-users.
The startup currently serves more than 150 customers, including Facebook, Adobe, Cargill Foods, Volvo, Tata Group, Mahindra Group, Grasim, MG Motors and others.
The Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) invested $34 Mn in the renewable energy startup in December 2021.
The investment in CleanMax is IFU’s second within renewables in India, following the signing of the India-Danish Green Strategic Partnership in 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
CleanMax signed a deal with social media giant Facebook last year for co-running a portfolio of wind and solar projects across India that will supply clean energy into the electrical grid.
In India, the startup has new investments lined up in solar, wind and wind-solar hybrid projects in states, including Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to serve the needs of corporate customers.
CleanMax is planning to accelerate its growth in the commercial and industrial renewable energy space in India, as well as in the Middle East and in SouthEast Asia.
Devic Earth
- Founded In: 2018
- Founders: Shaguna Sinha, Srikanth Sola, Shivani Sinha Sola
- Funding Raised To Date: $1.36 Mn
- Investors: Blue Ashva Sampada Fund
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Cleantech startup Devic Earth creates scalable solutions with ‘Pure Skies’, its air pollution control equipment for industries and large areas. Pure Skies improves air quality.
The Pure Skies tech system reduces specific pollutants like particulate matter less than 10 microns (both PM10 and PM2.5). Air quality index typically improves in heavily polluted areas in less than three months.
Pure Skies comes with an intelligent wifi-based technology to handle airborne gaseous and particle pollutants across industries, homes, and cities. A single push of a button can help remove 40-50% of nano-sized particles at <20µm.
Pure Skies has been installed with companies operating in sectors including steel, cement, hotels, mining, and manufacturing. It claims the product also addresses challenges arising out of polluting events such as crop burning, forest fires, and construction.
The green technology startup raised its first institutional funding of INR 10 Cr last year from Blue Ashva Sampada Fund.
Devic Earth is planning to expedite more growth, product roadmaps, and expand operational presence in the country as well as global markets.
Freyr Energy
- Founded In: 2014
- Founders: Saurabh Marda, Radhika Choudary
- Funding Raised To Date: $4.6 Mn
- Investors: Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia, and C4D Partners
- Headquarters: Hyderabad
Freyr Energy is a rooftop solar expert for residential and commercial solar solutions. It also caters to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sectors, catering to customers across 22 states in India.
Freyr Energy is working to bring much-needed consolidation in the green energy sector.
The cleantech startup has come with its app, SunPro+, through which it has made the process of owning a solar system simple and seamless. The entire process of owning the system including financing, execution, and after-sales service, has become easier with the app.
Freyr Energy raised INR 18 Cr as an equity investment in April 2021 from Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia, and C4D Partners.
The cleantech startup is working towards mass-market adoption of solar energy, and looking to accelerate growth and enhance its customer experience.
Its focus would be to accelerate growth and enhance customer experience in future.
Gegadyne Energy
- Founded In: 2015
- Founders: Jubin Varghese, Ameya Gadiwan
- Funding Raised To Date: $5 Mn
- Investors: V-Guard, Mumbai Angels
- Headquarters: Mumbai
Gegadyne Energy develops eco-friendly alternatives to conventional lithium-ion batteries. Its battery consists of nano-material composites and advanced battery architectures to enable quick charging with high energy density similar to lithium-ion batteries.
Gegadyne’s batteries charge from 0 to 100% in around 15 minutes; unlike lithium-ion batteries that take hours to recharge. The price range of the battery pack will be at par with lithium-ion batteries, and will drop further as the economy of scale kicks in, as per the startup.
The batteries are aimed to be a direct replacement for existing use cases and will be available in cylindrical, pouch and prismatic form, according to the startup.
Electric vehicles are the main focus of the startup. However, these batteries can be used in any other consumer devices, telecom towers, and stationary energy storage systems.
Gegadyne Energy raised $4.5 Mn from V-Guard Industries in a Series A round of investment in January 2021.
The founders said that the startup is planning to expand its operations and set up a battery research lab in India. It also plans to build a pilot plant to service its contract with selected OEMs.
GPS Renewables
- Founded In: 2012
- Founders: Mainak Chakraborty, Sreekrishna Sankar
- Funding Raised To Date: $23 Mn
- Investors: Neev Fund II, Hivos-Triodos Fund, Caspian
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
GPS Renewables focuses on biomethanation technology to solve the organic waste management challenge, accelerate substitution of fossil fuel with bioenergy and mitigate climate change.
The startup has a captive biogas product called the ‘BioUrja’, and GPS renewables claim to have more than 100 BioUrja installations across South Asia.
GPS Renewables commissioned a BioCNG plant based on Source Separated Organics (SSO) in Indore. The plant, which is Asia’s largest in its class, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2022 and is set up over 15 acres of land.
The biogas plant is expected to produce 17 tonnes of BioCNG every day from 550 tonnes of organic household waste. GPS Renewables aims to power 400 city buses in Indore with the BioCNG generated from the plant.
The cleantech startup raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding led by Hivos-Triodos Fund and Caspian in 2020. GPS Renewables closed an undisclosed funding in Series B round in March 2022 from Neev Fund II, managed by SBICap Ventures.
The cleantech startup is working to complete the world’s largest BioCNG plant in Hyderabad, in partnership with development partners from Japan. It aims to accelerate the substitution of fossil fuel with bio-energy.
The startup aims to expand its research and development centers and support its next phase of growth and expansion.
Greenjoules Pvt Ltd
- Founded In: 2018
- Founders: V Radhika, VS Shridhar, S Viraraghavan, R Sethunath
- Funding Raised To Date: $330 Mn
- Investors: Blue Ashva Capital
- Headquarters: Pune
Greenjoules specialises in making renewable biofuels, which are curated entirely from agri-residue and renewable waste from agro-processing industries.
The biofuel can be used for industrial applications (to power boilers, gensets) and commercial applications (diesel vehicles). Greenjoules claims to utilise non-food and non-feed wastes to manufacture biofuels.
The manufactured biofuel meets the same IS1460 standards that petroleum and diesel also follow.
According to Greenjoules, its biofuel can be used without any modification with the current diesel engines, gensets or boilers in use. This makes its product a direct replacement for petroleum or diesel.
The cleantech startup is serving various large enterprise customers from its biorefinery in Chakan, Pune. It now plans to significantly scale up production by setting up a large facility near Pune to cater to the increasing demand of green diesel.
Greenjoules raised $4.5 Mn in its Series A funding round last year in June from Blue Ashva Capital. The funds raised are a combination of equity and debt.
Greenjoules will focus on growing its current product range but also on developing a portfolio of high energy density liquid and gaseous biofuels. It will also focus on new research and development initiatives in future.
Greenko Group
- Founded In: 2004
- Founders: Anil Chalamalasetty, Mahesh Kolli
- Funding Raised To Date: $5.3 Bn
- Investors: GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, DBS Bank, Barclays
- Headquarters: Hyderabad
Greenko is a cleantech startup, enabling sustainable and affordable energy, with a net installed capacity of 7.5 GW across 15 states in India. It provides utility-scale, clean and affordable energy to customers.
Greenko has been opting for the green bond route in the past to raise funds for developing sustainable energy projects. It is developing state-of-the-art three multi-gigawatts scale integrated renewable energy storage projects with national grid connectivity in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
The startup has raised funding from GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, DBS Bank, and Barclays.
These projects will harness the power of solar, wind resources with digitally connected storage infrastructure to provide round-the-clock power to the grid.
Last month, global steel and mining firm ArcelorMittal partnered with Greenko to develop a round-the-clock renewable energy project with 975 MW of nominal capacity. The project will be owned and funded by ArcelorMittal.
Greenko will design, construct and operate the renewable energy facilities in Andhra Pradesh. The project commissioning is expected by mid-2024.
Inficold
- Founded In: 2015
- Founders: Himanshu Pokharna, Nitin Goel
- Funding Raised To Date: $1.5 Mn
- Investors: RVCF, Shell Foundation
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Cleantech startup Inficold provides cold storage solutions to its customers. The current product portfolio consists of modular cold storage, instant and bulk milk coolers. It provides round the clock cooling with just seven hours of grid/solar power.
Inficold claims to have developed a retrofittable thermal energy storage technology for storing cooling in a low-cost medium such as water to ice.
The technology is designed to use solar electric energy to make ice, and later use it for cooling purposes. Inficold’s products enable the application of thermal storage for virtually any cooling needs — be it milk, cold storage, air conditioning, and vaccine refrigeration — without making any major modifications to existing cooling hardware.
The startup raised INR 6.5 Cr in a funding round last year from RVCF and other undisclosed HNIs as a part of its Pre-Series A funding round.
The startup has installations in more than 17 states of India with a strong presence in northeastern states, including Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura. Inficold claims that it is aggressively ramping up its production capacity by more than 10 times.
The increased capacity will allow it to cater to the demand with a minimised lead time for the customer, it said.
The startup is planning to expand its overall manufacturing, sales, and servicing capabilities. Its future plan is to penetrate dairy, horticulture, poultry, meat, cold logistics and air conditioning segments across India.
ION Energy
- Founded In: 2016
- Founders: Akhil Aryan, Alexandre Collet
- Funding Raised To Date: $4.6 Mn
- Investors: YourNest Venture Capital, Riso Capital, Venture Catalysts, Climate Pledge Fund, Climate Capital
- Headquarters: Mumbai
ION Energy builds advanced electronics and software platforms for new energy companies. The company’s flagship product so far has been its Battery Management System (BMS), which enables OEMs/Battery Pack Makers to deploy smart battery systems.
In 2019, the cleantech startup launched Altergo (previously called Edison Analytics), a digital twin platform for battery intelligence. Altergo now manages 700+ MWh of battery storage in the cloud.
ION currently supplies to 75+ OEMs across 15 countries including India, France, Spain and the US. Since its inception, ION Energy claims to have deployed more than 60,000 smart BMS in electric vehicles and stationary storage systems.
The startup raised $3.6 Mn in Pre-Series A funding in July 2021 from Climate Pledge Fund, joined by Silicon Valley-based Climate Capital, early-stage investor YourNest Venture Capital, Riso Capital, Venture Catalysts, and other angel investors.
This startup is looking to expand its product development, and the software business in other countries.
Log 9 Materials
- Founded In: 2015
- Founders: Aksha Singhal and Kartik Hajela
- Funding Raised To Date: $3.9 Mn
- Investors: Metaform Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, Surge Ahead
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Battery technology startup Log 9 Materials is a graphene research and development startup that accelerates the commercialization of graphene nanotechnology. Their first developed product of this technology is ‘smoke-safe’ which is a cigarette that reduces the risk of getting cancer by 90%.
Log 9 Materials has developed technology for both stationary and automotive applications such as electric vehicles (EVs). Aluminium fuel cells are aluminium-air batteries (AI-air batteries) that produce electricity from oxygen and aluminium reactions. The technology used in the battery is similar to the hydrogen fuel cell but more economical, safer and scalable.
In 2019, Log 9 Materials raised $3.5 Mn funding in Series A round led by Exfinity Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital India’s accelerator programme Surge.
In April, Log9 Materials inaugurated its indigenously-developed cell manufacturing facility at Jakkuru in Bengaluru.
It has been working on an unique cell chemistry for its RapidX battery packs powered by InstaCharge technology, which offers nine times faster charging, better performance, and battery life as compared to conventional lithium ion electric vehicle batteries.
It aims to achieve at least 50MWh of peak cell production capacity in the next one year, and scale it to over 5GWh in the next three to five years, Log9 Materials said in a statement.
Lohum
- Founded In: 2017
- Founders: Rajat Verma, Justin Lemmon and Gazanfar Safvi
- Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
- Investors: Baring Private Equity Partners, Talbros
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Lohum is a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack manufacturer and battery materials (cobalt, lithium, nickel, etc) recycler.
The cleantech startup addresses battery business across three cycles, first life with new batteries for two and three-wheeler original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and stationary applications including for UPS and telecom, second life, which enhances the life of existing batteries, and lastly end-of-life management offering recycling solutions.
Given the government focus on setting up giga factories in India, the startup sees a huge unfolding opportunity to provide the entire lifecycle management solutions.
The startup claims to generate 80% of its revenue from sales of EV batteries to solar plants, electric two and three-wheeler companies, while 10% comes from the energy storage system (ESS) and 10% from its recycling business.
The recycling startup Lohum raised $7 Mn in a fresh round of funding from institutional investors led by Baring Private Equity Partners in January 2021.
Lohum has plans to expand its manufacturing capacity of lithium ion batteries from 300 MWh to 1000 MWh (1 GWh) and its recycling capacity 10 times, from 1,000 tonnes per annum to 10,000 tonnes per annum.
MYSUN
- Founded In: 2016
- Founders: Gagan Vermani, Gyan Prakash Tiwari, Ashit Maru
- Funding Raised To Date: $9 Mn
- Investors: Tata Cleantech Capital, General Catalyst
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
MYSUN is a technology-backed B2B2C rooftop solar platform providing hyperlocal end-to-end solar solutions and long term maintenance services. It provides solar energy to industries, small and medium enterprises/medium small and micro enterprises, and homes.
The cleantech startup is creating a network of clients/buildings (residential, industrial and commercial customers) across 100 cities (Tier 1/2/3). Last year, MYSUN bagged 140-megawatt open-access solar power projects from the Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corp Ltd.
Under its new asset vehicle MYSUN+, it is expanding its presence across states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi NCR. The cleantech startup is already in early-stage development of more than 220 MW of projects under the captive/ open access mechanisms.
In July 2021, the firm had raised INR 15 Cr from Tata Cleantech in debt funding to expand its pipeline of projects.
MYSUN is looking to improve its technology infrastructure, scale up the service offerings, and expand to newer geographies, both in India and globally, including parts of the Middle-East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa.
Nepra
- Founded In: 2011
- Founders: Sandeep Patel, Dhrumin Patel, Ravi Patel
- Funding Raised To Date: $24.5 Mn
- Investors: Aavishkaar Capital, Circulate Capital, Asha Impact
- Headquarters: Ahmedabad
Nepra Resource Management Private Limited offers an integrated, efficient and scalable waste management solution that connects all stakeholders along the value chain, from municipalities to informal waste pickers, as well as recyclers and brand owners.
Nepra processes over 500 tonnes of dry waste every day across Ahmedabad, Indore and Pune with the help of 1,700 collectors. The cleantech startup claims to have positively impacted the lives of 5K people at the very bottom of the waste management industry over the last eight years.
The dry waste management startup raised $18 Mn in Series C funding from Aavishkaar Capital and Circulate Capital in 2020.
The cleantech startup claims to bring transparency and scalability in the highly unorganised waste management sector in the country.
The startup plans to expand its capacity generation and manage dry waste across more cities in India. It plans to expand to 25 cities in India by 2025.
Offgrid Energy
- Founded In: 2018
- Founders: Rishi Srivastava, Tejas Kusurkar, Brindan Tulachan, Ankur Agarwal
- Funding Raised To Date: $1.3 Mn
- Investors: Shell Ventures, Ankur Capital, APVC
- Headquarters: Kanpur
Energy tech startup Offgrid has developed a rechargeable zinc-carbon battery that outperforms available battery technologies in terms of power density, life and cost.
Offgrid has more than 15 patents, designs and trademarks to its name, with a primary focus on renewable energy storage, microgrids, electric vehicle charging and grid applications in utilities.
The startup’s flagship product, ZincGel Battery technology has energy efficiency at par with a lithium-ion battery. It has twice the life cycle and negligible operational cost — thereby saving up to 30% cost for energy storage projects. Alternatively, existing lead-acid manufacturers can make ZincGel batteries easily with available equipment.
In February 2022, Offgrid raised undisclosed funds from energy solutions giant Shell, venture capitalists Ankur Capital and APVC to take its flagship product rechargeable zinc-based battery ZincGel to the market.
The startup has previously raised a small angel round from overseas investors and was seed-funded by Shell India.
The cleantech startup plans to cater to multiple industries such as renewables, microgrids, electric vehicles and utilities through its different variants of zinc-carbon batteries.
Orb Energy
- Founded In: 2006
- Founders: Damian Miller, NP Ramesh
- Funding Raised To Date: $13.6 Mn
- Investors: FMO, Bamboo Capital Partners, Rianta Capital, Acumen Capital Market Funds I, Pamiga SA
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Orb Energy offers solar energy solutions (solar electricity and solar water heating) to residential, commercial and industrial customers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
To enable SMEs to afford solar energy, the cleantech startup has set up an in-house finance facility to provide extended payment terms to customers. Orb also provides credit to SMEs to invest in solar panel systems.
Since its inception in 2006, Orb has sold more than 160,000 solar systems, with cumulative installations of more than 110MW of rooftop solar systems.
Further, Orb Energy manufactures its own solar panels and solar water heating systems in-house to control quality and cost.
Orb Energy raised a $15 Mn debt fund in 2019 to augment its capital base. It raised an undisclosed amount from Shell’s New Energies business by divesting an almost 20% stake in the firm in a Series C round of funding in 2019.
Shell’s New Energies business has acquired a 20% stake in solar firm Orb Energy in a funding round in 2019. It has so far received more than $13 Mn in equity and around $10 Mn debt in Series A and Series B rounds.
Orb is based in Bengaluru, where it runs two factories, one producing solar photovoltaic panels and the other producing solar water heating systems. Orb is looking to help more Indian SMEs to benefit from lower-cost solar power in future.
Pi Green Innovations
- Founded In: 2019
- Founders: Irfan Pathan, Rizwan Shaikh
- Funding Raised To Date: $4.8 Mn
- Investors: Opus Consulting Solutions, Harshal Morde (Morde Foods)
- Headquarters: Pune
Pi Green Innovations creates technology-driven solutions for the reduction of particulate matter emissions at source. The startup has a patented filterless technology that converts smoke to its powder form, soot.
Some of the startup’s solutions include carbon cutter machines, filterless retrofits for diesel generators and heavy vehicles; RepAi, a filterless ambient air-purification tower that can be installed in public spaces.
As per the founders, the cleantech startup has developed a retrofit solution for existing conventionally-fuelled heavy vehicles, diesel fuelled generator sets and industrial boilers to reduce and capture hazardous particulate matter (PM) emissions and pollution caused every day.
Pi Green’s retrofit device can capture 90% of the particulate matter emitted from the genset in real-time ranging from PM2.5 to PM10.The device works on the principle of electrostatic precipitator.
The cleantech startup secured over $4.5 Mn in Series A funding in December 2021. The round was led by the Investment Fund of Opus Consulting with a total of $4.3 Mn.
Its future plans include working on after-treatment solutions for crematoriums. A pilot run is already underway at a crematorium in Bengaluru and heavy vehicles retrofit pilot underway with Bengaluru Municipal Corporation for two buses.
Prescinto
- Founded In: 2016
- Founders: Puneet Jaggi, Ram Menon, Sanjay Bhasin
- Funding Raised To Date: $5.3 Mn
- Investors: Mumbai Angels Network, Inflection Point Ventures, 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund, Lets Venture
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
SaaS solar energy startup Prescinto uses Artificial Intelligence to identify root causes of plants’ underperformance in real time and suggest actions to improve generation in clean energy plants by 5 to 7%. It helps in reducing costs of operation and maintenance.
Prescinto has been deployed across 10,000+ MWs of solar and wind projects across 14 countries with marquee clients like SoftBank Energy, Macquarie and Radiance Renewables managing their solar and wind assets on Prescinto.
Prescinto IOT platform is designed for vendor independent connectivity and provides insights for solar PV plants. Prescinto’s patent pending technology buckets losses into downtime, soiling, systemic loss and immediately converts each loss into actionable job ticket along with projected gains.
It has customers such as Stride Climate Investments, Essel Infrastructure, GMR, among others to achieve traction of 3X annual growth reaching over 9 Giga Watts of solar plants across more than 10 countries.
Prescinto raised $3.5 Mn in a Seed funding round in March 2021 led by Venture Catalysts. Inflection Point Ventures, Mumbai Angels and LetsVenture also participated as a part of this round.
The Bengaluru-based cleantech startup is looking to expand in international markets, primarily in the US market, and for Intellectual Property development. Prescinto aims to expand into wind and energy storage as well.
ReNew Power
- Founded In: 2011
- Founders: Sumant Sinha
- Funding Raised To Date: $3.2 Bn
- Investors: Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton India, JP Morgan, L&T, Sylebra Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
ReNew Power is an independent power producer (IPP) of renewable energy using clean sources such as wind, hydro and solar power. The startup has the capacity to generate more than 8 gigawatts of power assets across 16 states in India, including commissioned as well as under-development projects.
Renew Power joined the startup unicorn club in 2017 after raising $300 Mn through a rights issue. Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have subscribed to the issue, with each shareholder infusing $100 Mn, it said.
According to its website, ReNew’s total capacity was 10.2 GW and commissioned capacity was 7.3 GW, as of February 2022.
ReNew Energy raised $400 Mn in January 2022 at 4.5% by issuing green bonds. These bonds have a tenor of 5.25 years. This is the first high yield issuance out of the ASEAN and South Asian regions in 2022, it said.
ReNew is setting up a joint venture (JV) with Fluence to boost the energy storage sector and meet the local needs of Indian customers. The startup has entered into a partnership agreement with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to develop, own, execute and operate green hydrogen projects in India.
To enable India’s decarbonisation push, Indian Oil Corporation, L&T, and ReNew Power have signed a JV company on April 3, 2022. It is working to develop the green hydrogen sector in India.
The cleantech startup intends to own 18 GW of renewable energy assets by FY25.
Sea6 Energy
- Founded In: 2010
- Founders: Nelson Vadassery, Shrikumar Suryanarayan, Sowmya Balendiran, Sri Sailaja Nori
- Funding Raised To Date: $17.9 Mn
- Investors: Aqua-Spark, Silverstrand Capital, Tata Capital Innovation Fund
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Sea6 Energy develops technologies to convert biomass into biofuel, plant growth stimulants, plant defence products, animal feed ingredients, and other bio-renewable products to replace chemicals and plastics.
The cleantech startup has also developed proprietary technologies to convert fresh seaweed into environmentally friendly products for a range of industries including agriculture, animal health, food ingredients, bioplastics and renewable chemicals.
Sea6 Energy exports its patented agriculture biostimulant product to countries including the USA, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The seaweed farming and processing startup raised $9 Mn in Series B funding in July 2021 led by Aqua-Spark, the Netherlands-based investment fund. Singapore-based Silverstrand Capital is the co-investor in the round.
The startup will work on additional SeaCombine systems to increase the supply of seaweed raw material and expand its processing capacity with additional facilities to produce Sea6’s agricultural biostimulant and animal health products.
SenseHawk
- Founded In: 2018
- Founders: Rahul Sankhe and Swarup Mavanoorl
- Funding Raised To Date: $7.1 Mn
- Investors: Alpha Wave Global, SAIF Partners, Elevation Capital
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Cloud-based cleantech startup SenseHawk enables owners, managers and developers of solar assets to gain new insights about their plants that enable maximisation of returns.
The initial focus of the startup is on the rapidly growing solar industry with future expansion to other similar sectors.
Its solutions combine different kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sensors, data processing and planning chains to create decision-making tools that drive productivity in the energy and infrastructure industries.
The startup claims that it has delivered data analytics for more than 28 GWs of solar assets across 15 countries worldwide, and has nearly 80 clients.
SenseHawk raised $5.1 Mn in Series A funding round in 2020 led by Alpha Wave Incubation, backed by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ. Existing investor SAIF Partners also participated in the round.
The startup is looking to expand its presence in Abu Dhabi, and also build a team of data scientists, product managers and engineers in the region.
It is planning to use Abu Dhabi as the global base for international expansion while targeting the Gulf Cooperation Council countries — the Middle East and North Africa and other global markets.
SmartJoules
- Founded In: 2014
- Founders: Arjun P Gupta, Ujjal Majumdar, Sidhartha Gupta
- Funding Raised To Date: INR 360 Mn
- Investors: ADB Ventures, Sangam Ventures, Max Limited, cKinetics Accelerator, Dabur family’s Saket Burman
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Energy-efficiency-as-a-service startup Smart Joules offers capital expenditure-free retrofits for commercial and industrial facilities by improving the overall design of energy-intensive systems like cooling, heating, compressed air and steam.
The cleantech startup claims its DeJoule technology platform utilises various sensors and IoT controllers to track and control equipment and optimise overall facility performance in real-time using data. This tech platform allows SmartJoules to guarantee its clients 15% energy savings.
Its JoulePAYS service makes energy savings easy and profitable from day one with zero investment and zero risk for hospital/hotel owners under a single pay-as-you-save agreement.
Smart Joules has provided its full-stack solution for leading Indian hospital chains, including Apollo, Fortis, KIMS, Aster, CARE, among others.
In March 2021, Smart Joules raised $4.1 Mn in its Series A funding round from various investors, namely ADB Ventures, Sangam Ventures, Max Limited, among others. It raised $4.9 Mn in a Series A funding round from various investors in April 2021.
SmartJoules’ future plans include strengthening its energy management team, enhancing its digital technology platform, expanding its presence across hospitals and scaling its cooling-as-a-service offering for commercial buildings and industries with heavy air conditioning loads such as pharmaceuticals and data centres.
SolarTown Energy
- Founded In: 2012
- Founders: Vikram Dileepan, Dhanush Kuttuva
- Funding Raised To Date: $200K
- Investors: GREX
- Headquarters: Chennai
SolarTown Energy makes clean energy for homeowners, businesses, schools, non-profit and government organisations at low cost.
The cleantech startup provides solutions and products for home-based systems, small and mid-size businesses, and buildings.
SolarTown provides for sale, lease and installation of solar rooftop systems from 1 kW to 300 kW for residential, commercial and industrial customers. SolarTown Energy claims to have installed more than 100 solar systems and counts Infosys and Renault-Nissan among its customers.
The startup is looking for market expansion, investment in technology, international business development and working capital requirements.
Swajal
- Founded In: 2015
- Founders: Advait Kumar, Vibha Tripathi
- Funding Raised To Date: $2.8 Mn
- Investors: Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund, Pramod Agarwal (former CFO at Procter & Gamble), ACPL
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Swajal is an artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled water purification solution that looks to enable access to clean drinking water across the socio-economic spectrum.
The cleantech startup claims to have developed solar-energy powered remote sensing water purification systems (also known as water ATMs) with easy to use user interfaces and payment mechanisms for airports, hotels, offices, schools and railway stations among others, where it essentially replaces the plastic, encouraging people to bring their own utensils/bottles to fill water.
Swajal also helps corporate customers move away from plastic bottles to glass bottles using its inhouse water bottle washing, filling and monitoring plant (WaterCube). The startup earns revenue from consumers buying its systems or a per litre price for the as per usage model.
Last year, Swajal raised $1.6 Mn in funding from social impact fund Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund, alongside Pramod Agarwal (former CFO at Procter & Gamble), ACPL and other angel investors.
The startup is planning to further enhance its research and development capabilities, thereby making drinking water more accessible, sustainable and plastic-free in the country.
Uravu Labs
- Founded In: 2019
- Founders: Pardeep Garg, Swapnil Shrivastav, Venkatesh R, Govinda Balaji
- Funding Raised To Date: $274K
- Investors: Speciale Invest, Peter Yolles (EchoRiver Capital), Soren Schroder, Shigeru Sumimoto (Conselux Corporation), Tomoki Kaneko (Kaneko Cord)
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
Watertech startup Uravu Labs builds atmospheric water generators that run on 100% renewable energy. It creates water from air using only renewable energy sources like solar, waste-heat, or biomass to produce renewable water.
Uravu’s working prototype can channel air into a chamber containing desiccants like Silica which absorb the water content in the air. Once the desiccant is fully saturated, heat is applied to it using solar energy to extract the water in liquid form, as claimed by the startup.
The water-from-air concept is not new, as many startups already operate in the space. But unlike Uravu, most of them use refrigeration as a method to condense air in the atmosphere, which is an expensive process with high energy requirements.
Uravu’s method uses a desiccant that is relatively less capital-intensive and energy-intensive and also requires much less maintenance. The desiccant used in the machine has a shelf life of around ten years, and the rest of the components are mostly conventional electronic components like fans and pipes, according to the startup.
The watertech startup raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-seed funding round in December 2021 led by Speciale Invest.
The startup plans to work with corporations on CSR efforts, and with government agencies like Jal Shakti, MNRE, among others, to deliver clean drinking water to remote and rural areas in the country.
WEGoT
- Founded In: 2015
- Founders: Abilash Haridass, Vijay Krishna, Mohideen Haja, Sundeep Donthamshetty
- Funding Raised To Date: $3.5 Mn
- Investors: GRUHAS Proptech, Rahul Talwar (DLF Family Office) Harshad Reddy (Apollo Hospitals Family), HDFC Capital Advisory Ltd, Prestige Group
- Headquarters: Chennai
Internet of Things-based cleantech startup WEGoT Utility Solutions delivers water management solutions to clients from single house to multi-unit apartments and commercial complexes.
The cleantech clients include Prestige Group, Godrej Properties, Brigade Group, Mahindra World City, and Brookfield among others.
WEGoT’s Smart Water Meters manage water consumption and quality in real-time. Its app enables effective monitoring, control and modification of water consumption based on usage insights.
Since its inception, WEGoT has successfully implemented over 100,000 smart devices in over 30,000 homes and on over 40 Mn sq feet of commercial real estate. It has plans to scale up to one Mn devices in coming months. The startup has effectively conserved over 3 Bn litres of water till date and pledges to further save 10 Bn litres in 2022, as claimed by the startup.
The startup that makes smart water meters, raised $1.5 Mn in a funding round in December 2021 led by Gruhas Proptech, a company backed by Abhijeet Pai of Puzzolana Group and Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha.
The startup plans to deploy more water management devices to houses and offices in 2022. WEGoT plans to deploy 10 lakh water management devices by the end of 2022.
Zenatix
- Founded In: 2013
- Founders: Amarjeet Singh, Vishal Bansal, Rahul Bhalla
- Funding Raised To Date: $1.4 Mn
- Investors: Blume Ventures, Microsoft Accelerator Bangalore, Pi Ventures,
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
Energy-data startup Zenatix is a data-driven energy efficiency platform and works with banks and large retail chains.
The cleantech startup helps organisations to save up to 10-30% on their electricity spend. The
startup has deployed WattMan in over 500 retail outlets including bank branches and ATMs, across its clientele of 20 companies.
The energy-data startup raised INR 8 Cr in Pre-Series A round of funding in 2017 led by pi Ventures.
Zenatix (part of the $11 Bn Hero Group) expanded its operations to the UAE and Middle East in April 2022 region to offer organisations a robust cloud-based energy and asset management solution.
The startup plans to deploy 2,500 WattMan in coming months, increasing its clientele to over 50-60 companies across India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Based on a subscription-based model of revenues, Zenatix aims to expand more in the international markets in future.
ZunRoof
- Founded In: 2016
- Founders: Pranesh Chaudhary, Sushant Sachan
- Funding Raised To Date: $4.7 Mn
- Investors: Godrej Investment Office, Intellecap Impact Investment Network, Ramakant Sharma, (Livspace); Gaurav Gupta (Dalberg Advisors); Pradeep Tharakan (Asian Development Bank); Vismay Sharma (L’Oréal); Ajith Pai (Paipal Ventures); Arun Diaz (IntelleGrow)
- Headquarters: Delhi NCR
ZunRoof specialises in solar rooftop design, installation, and management using technologies such as computer vision, AI and VR.
The cleantech startup helps reduce their electricity bills by using unutilised rooftops for solar power generation. It also offers IoT devices for power usage monitoring through a companion app.
ZunRoof offers projects with capacity in a range between 1 kilowatt (kW) and 70 kW for residential clients, small factories, schools, hospitals and hotels. Its total installed capacity has crossed 10 Megawatt since its inception in 2016.
The cleantech startup assessed more than 250,000 homes, designed over 30,000 rooftop solar systems in 75+ cities in India, and installed 15 MW+ of rooftop solar and 50,000+ IoT devices, as of last year.
ZunRoof Tech raised $3 Mn in Series A round of funding from Godrej Investment Office in 2020. Godrej had also invested $1.2 Mn in the startup in a Pre-Series A round in 2019.
The startup entered the solar rooftop market in Bengaluru a few years ago and is planning to enter cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi in future.
ZunRoof aims to resolve the affordability issue of solar rooftops in Indian homes. It will soon launch its service to improve the affordability of solar rooftops.
