Mumbai-based Urjas Energy Systems raises $100,000 in angel funding

BENGALURU: Mumbai-based Urjas Energy Systems has raised $100,000 in angel funding for its growth and expansion plans. The three-year old clean technology company makes multi-fuel gasifiers that work with a variety of agrowastes to generate high quality producer gas, which can replace fossil fuels used today for heating in industries.

“We will use this funding for human resources, operations and pilot samples,” said Pradeepkumar Podal, managing director of Urjas. Within the next year it plans to expand its team to 15-20 people from current eight.

Its second product, a small scale (10-100 kg per day) plastic to oil conversion device, is in the final stages of a market launch. “Urjas does good by generating clean energy. As a social enterprise, it can leverage the benefits of both social capital and human capital, so that investors get a better ROI. I feel social enterprises like Urjas provide a better return on financial capital than ordinary companies,” said Aniruddha Malpani, managing director, Malpani Infertility Clinic and angel investor at Urjas.

The company is currently being incubated at IIT-Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) and began commercializing its product eight months ago. Its product is targeted at the manufacturing and chemical industries and has made two commercial sales to date. The company is focused on Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat as markets for the time being and will go pan-India as it grows.

“Their equipment will not explode because of the technology they have developed. It can use multiple fuels – both Rabi and Kharif crop waste – and requires low maintenance. Also it can be retrofitted on existing equipment,” said Malpani on the company’s differentiators.