IAN Fund leads Series A funding in clean-tech company Chakr Innovation

Delhi-based clean-tech company Chakr Innovation has raised Rs 19 crore ($2.9 million) as part of its Series A round led by early-stage investor IAN Fund. Jyoti Sagar, founder of law firm J Sagar Associates, and IDFC Parampara Fund also took part in the round.

The IAN Fund, created by the Indian Angel Network, invests in growth-stage companies across insurance, health-tech, agri-tech, logistics, automotive, retail, content and other sectors.

“It is common knowledge that the air quality in Indian metro cities is especially critical. Our investment in Chakr Innovation demonstrates IAN’s focus on national imperatives and helping build high-growth sustainable companies with an impact,” Padmaja Ruparel, founding partner of IAN Fund, said in a statement.

The company will utilize the capital to expand operations across 12 cities over the next 18 months. Founded in 2016 by IIT Delhi graduates Kushagra Srivastava, Arpit Dhupar and Bharti Singhla, Chakr Innovation addresses emission control and converts particulate matter into raw material for inks and paints, clearing up pollutants. Its primary product, Chakr Shield, has thus far captured 500 kilogram of particulate matter and is certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. The product has been deployed across 70 sites in association with companies like Titan, Hindustan Petroleum, Mahindra World City and others. 

“In the next 12 months, we will focus on building more execution capabilities and expanding to more geographies within India. We also look forward to working with the government of India to help achieve the national level target of 20-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024 as proposed under the National Clean Air Programme,” said CEO Kushagra Srivastava.

Similar deals

The clean-tech segment has seen growing interest from early-stage investors and impact funds. 

• Skilancer Solar, which makes AI-powered robots for cleaning solar panels, raised seed money from serial entrepreneur Dhianu Das’s proprietary fund, Alfa Ventures, in May.
• In January, IoT startup Oziom Instruments raised an undisclosed amount from the Centre of Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship at IIM Ahmedabad.
• Clean-energy startup ION Energy, which builds high-performance electric storage systems and electric vehicle infrastructure, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in May 2017.