Waste to wealth: Sampurn raises Rs 1 crore in funding

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based, social impact startup Sampurn (e)arth Environmental Solutions has raised its first round of funding from Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N) and a Zurich-based family office fund.

The startup provides waste management solutions to municipal bodies, corporate parks, homes and educational institutes. The investment of Rs 1 crore will be used for scaling up the model. The startup was founded by Debartha Banerjee, Jayanth Nataraju and Ritvik Rao, alumni of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

It provides end-to-end, decentralized and customized waste-management solutions including dry waste collection and processing, biogas plant installation, composting and consulting services. It also offers value-added services such as waste audits, impact assessment and reporting.

"The current method of dumping waste into landfills leads to several environmental and societal problems that not only adversely affect the health of people but also fail to recognize the inherent value in the waste," Banerjee said.

I3N is the country’s first angel network of high net worth individuals and institutional investors in the social sector. The network currently has about 85 members and has made 12 investments.

Social impact funds, focused on social sector investments, are set to raise about Rs 5,000 crore in 2015.