Biotech company Zerocircle raises ₹20 crore in seed funding from Rainmatter Capital, others
Summary
Zerocircle, a Pune-based biotech company creating seaweed-based alternatives for petro-plastics, has raised 20 crore in its seed funding round. The round saw participation from Rainmatter Capital, 1Crowd, and environmental advocate Trudie Styler take center stage.The round also saw participation from Trousdale Sarosphere LLC, VC Grid, 7th Gen Ventures, Spectrum Impact and LNB Group.The funds will be used for scaling manufacturing, optimising the supply chain, and expanding the team.Our nature-based materials challenge the status quo that goes beyond just visible plastic pollution. With this funding infusion, were ready to fill the gap with cost-effective, high-performing materials that help conscious brands thrive in a changing market, says Neha Jain, founder and Managing Director of Zerocircle.Founded in 2020, the Pune-based startup creates seaweed-based packaging designed to replace harmful petrochemical-based materials. Its product range includes coated packaging for hamburger boxes, fried food containers, bakery packaging, and food trays.Nithin Kamath, Founder &CEO, Zerodha and Rainmatter, said, Plastic is a well-known source of pollution on land and in water. This is why, when we met the Zerocircle team back in 2021, we did not take much time to decide on backing them in their pursuit of developing biodegradable alternatives for plastics.By focusing on high-performance, sustainable alternatives to traditional plastics, the biotech company aims to meet the rising global demand for environmentally friendly packaging.The company aims to expand the production capacity by nearly 10x across core product lines, including coated paperboards, food boxes, advanced coatings, and films, with total production capacity projected to reach over 3,000 tons annually by 2028.