Zerocircle Nets ₹20 Crore to Fuel Seaweed-Powered Sustainability in Packaging
Pune-headquartered Indian biotech startup Zerocircle has raised Rs 20 crore (approximately $2.3 million) in funding. The round is led by Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter and involves early-stage venture capital firms 1Crowd, VC Grid, 7th Gen Ventures, and environmental advocate Trudie Styler, among others.
The company will allocate this fresh funding primarily to boost manufacturing. Zerocircle will also deploy the capital to optimize the supply chain and add new talent to the company.
Helmed by a former Google employee – Neha Jain, Zerocircle was established in 2020 with the aim of creating sustainable alternatives to everyday products using seaweed. The company focuses on providing an easy zero-waste lifestyle and enabling organizations to develop circular solutions.
The company offers packaging alternatives to petrochemical-based materials using seaweed. These products include a wide range, such as coatings for food trays, bakery packaging, and even fried food containers.
“With Zerocircle, I intend to use seaweed to create bio-alternatives to products that we use in our daily lives and enable organizations to create perfectly circular solutions and leave nothing behind. And make a zero-waste lifestyle as easy as instant noodles,” founder Neha Jain stated on the company’s website.
Growth Strategy – Zerocircle
As reported by ET, the startup claims that its total production capacity is expected to exceed 3,000 tonnes annually by 2028 across product categories, including paperboards, food boxes, and advanced coatings.
The startup is currently operational in Europe. However, the company is exploring opportunities to expand its footprint in markets such as the GCC. Here, GCC refers to the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional intergovernmental political and economic union comprising six Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The reason we’re working in Europe is that sustainability regulations, while in place in many countries, are more stringent there. Therefore, we will be targeting two regions in a very focused way: Europe and the GCC, as these regions are actively looking to replace harmful materials and have policies and penalties in place. By the end of next year, we aim to be fully operational in India and maintain inventory here,” Jain said.
ALSO READ – OrbitAID Secures $1.5Mn Funding for Space Sustainability Liftoff
In Europe, the seaweed packaging market held a 36.2% share in 2022, driven by a strong focus on environmental protection. Earlier in 2023, Zerocircle won the second prize in the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, a global search for sustainable alternatives to plastic. Zerocircle was the only company from India and Asia to win the award.
