Pune-based Zerocircle secures Rs 20-crore funding, led by Nithin Kamath's Rainmatter

Neha Jain, founder Zerocircle

Sustainable packaging solutions startup Zerocircle has raised Rs 20 crore in its seed funding, led by Nithin Kamath's venture capital firm Rainmattter, with participation from 1Crowd, Trousdale Sarosphere LLC, and environmental advocate Trudie Styler, co-founder of the Rainforest Fund.

Other participants include VC Grid, 7th Gen Ventures, Spectrum Impact, and LNB Group.

The firm plans to utilise the funding to scale production, innovate product lines, and expand into global markets, particularly in regions like the EU and GCC MiddleEast market, where stringent anti-plastic regulations are driving demand for sustainable packaging, said Neha Jain, founder and Managing Director of Zerocircle to Moneycontrol. 

"We are focusing a lot on Europe and other GCC markets, we have contracts in place. India is a market that we are building for because India has huge volume requirements. When we say 4 million orders, it means nothing here, we need 10X of this. So, we need to build our capacity for this," Jain added.

Jain also added that the seed funding consists of grants from its Sequoia Spark Fellowship Programme. Zerocircle was part of Sequoia's 2023 cohort of Sequoia Spark Fellowship, which is a $100,000 equity-free grant and mentorship program.

The Pune-based startup founded in 2019 by Neha Jain has patented technology enabling the production of seaweed-based materials within existing manufacturing infrastructures, eliminating the need for additional capital expenditure.

Over the past year, Zerocircle has developed a commercial-grade seaweed coating for food packaging, already securing orders from key players in the takeaway industry. Its products include coated paperboards, food boxes, and trays designed to replace single-use plastics.

"Right now, there is more demand than supply, especially if one can put it at the proximity of the price point that the market is expecting then there are a lot of takers. The first few years we spent scaling the production capacity and coming close to the price point that is agreeable to our consumers," Jain said.

Zerocircle’s roadmap outlines plans to scale production capacity tenfold by 2028 and introduce advanced coatings, flexible films, and enhanced paper products. The firm works with distributors and manufacturers who make the product and not the restaurants and other take-away players directly.

"These innovations aim to replace up to 500 million single-use plastic items annually and 3,000 MT of pieces of single use plastic, addressing a critical environmental challenge. With its disruptive approach and industry recognition, including accolades like the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, Zerocircle is positioned as a key player in the global fight against plastic pollution," Jain added.