BiofuelCircle, an online marketplace designed for biomass and biofuels, has raised $0.75 million in its second round of seed funding. The funding was co-led by Spectrum Impact, Better Capital, Shridhar Shukla and others.
BiofuelCircle started as a bootstrapped company and has raised $ 1.75 million since its inception. Launched in July 2021, BiofuelCircle is a Pune-based digital platform for green fuels, creating a farm-to-fuel ecosystem and operates in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The company aims to address the challenges around bio-energy supply chain.
Quoting Suhas Baxi, Co-Founder and CEO of BiofuelCircle, a statement said: “We are delighted to close the second round of funding and look forward to expanding our business with the fresh funds that we have raised. We aim to widen our digital toolkit and launch our operations in North India by the end of this year.”
Shridhar Shukla, Co-Founder and Chairman of kPoint Technologies, said the solutions provided by BiofuelCircle have proved their social acceptance, ease of use, and delivery of direct business benefits which would have been impossible otherwise.
Optimising waste
Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO and Founder of Better Capital, said the idea of optimizing waste that ends up in ashes or landfills causing pollution and using it to fulfil the energy need is crucial. “We are glad to be a part of BiofuelCircle’s journey and are positive that their solutions will evolve the sector at large,” he said.
Mirik Gogri, Sustainability Investor, Spectrum Impact, said India generates 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste every year, as per ICAR, having the potential to generate 18,000 MW of power yearly. For optimum utilszation of the agricultural waste, the supply chain for this segment needs to be optimised and that is where BiofuelCircle is making a difference, Gogri said.
The statement said BiofuelCircle’s digital platform currently serves 400-plus active members, caters to 50-plus biomass-based products. The company has set up a three-sided e-marketplace connecting buyers and sellers along with service providers for transportation, warehousing, and other supply chain services.