Biofuels Marketplace BioFuelCircle Raises $0.75 Million In Seed Funding
BiofuelCircle, India’s first and one-of-its-kind online marketplace designed for biomass and biofuels has announced $0.75M in their second round of Seed funding. The funding was co-led by Spectrum Impact, Better Capital, Dr Shridhar Shukla and others. BiofuelCircle started as a bootstrapped company and has raised US$ 1.75 Million since inception.
Launched in July 2021, BiofuelCircle is a Pune based digital platform for green fuels, creating a farm-to-fuel ecosystem and currently operates in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The company aims to address the challenges around bioenergy supply chain and make a positive impact on not only the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions but also on the rural community by providing economic value, clean energy and increased job opportunities.
Commenting on the announcement Suhas Baxi, Co-founder and CEO, BiofuelCircle 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. Clean energy is of utmost importance to our country right now and we aim to contribute towards making bioenergy supply chain more reliable and predictable.”
BiofuelCircle’s claims that its digital platform currently serves 400+ active members, caters to 50+ 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. BiofuelCircle says its digital ecosystem can cater to the diversity of participants where businesses from industrial and rural sectors can transact fairly.
Dr. Shridhar Shukla, Co-Founder and Chairman, kPoint Technologies, added, “BiofuelCircle has built an intelligent marketplace catering to small and large participants in this diverse and time-sensitive business model connected by a vast supply chain. The solutions provided by them have proved their social acceptance, ease of use, and delivery of direct business benefits which would have been impossible otherwise.”
Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO & Founder, Better Capital said “The idea of optimizing waste that ends up in ashes or landfills causing pollution and using it to fulfill 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. Their vision of ease of doing business, especially for rural participants by increasing the market reach and providing the option of price discovery is something we look forward to. The importance of creating a reliable supply chain is equally necessary which is one of the key offerings of BiofuelCircle and we are elated to be a part of this.”
Talking about the environmental challenges and increasing use of bioenergy in India Mirik Gogri, Sustainability Investor, Spectrum Impact, shares “We are committed towards solving the growing environmental issues and reversing climate change by supporting novel solutions. We are excited to invest in BiofuelCircle as it provides a marketplace solution to increasing adoption of Bio-Energy in India. India generates 350 mn tonnes of agricultural waste every year, as per ICAR, which has the potential to generate 18,000 MW of power every year. For optimum utilization of the agricultural waste, the supply chain for this segment needs to be optimized and that’s where BiofuelCircle is making a difference.”
