Startup Ecozen Raises USD 25 Mn

Startup Ecozen, which develops climate-smart deeptech solutions, has raised USD 25 million (about Rs 204 crore) from investors, including Nuveen to expand its business. In a statement, the Pune-based company said it has "raised USD 25 million of combined equity and debt capital". The Series C equity portion was led by Nuveen and Dare Ventures (Coromandel International), with participation from Export-Import Bank of India (India EXIM Bank), and existing investors Caspian and Hivos-Triodos Fonds (managed by Triodos Investment Management).

Omnivore and IFA, early investors in Ecozen, achieved partial exits in this round. The debt portion was provided by Maanaveeya Development and Finance, Oxyzo, Northern Arc group, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. Ecozen was founded by three IIT Kharagpur alumni -- Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pandey. It develops climate-smart deeptech solutions for motor controls, IoT (Internet of Things), and energy storage. Applying these technology stacks to the agricultural sector, Ecozen seeks to refirm cold chains (through its Ecofrost product line) and the irrigation industry (through its Ecotron product line), improving the incomes of 1,20,000-plus farmers and helping decarbonise agriculture.

The company is on an accelerated growth path both domestically and internationally, where it aims to capitalise on a slate of successful projects by establishing itself as a trusted agri value chain participant in Africa and Southeast Asia. It is also looking beyond the agricultural sector to accelerate the broader energy transition through its deeptech expertise in energy storage, motor controls, IoT and analytics. "As we expand beyond India and agriculture, we will continue to focus on profitable growth and sustainable technology solutions. Ecozen will aggressively expand production capacity and product range," Devendra Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder at Ecozen, said.

(PTI)