In a pre-seed funding round, biomaterials startup Ukhi has raised $1.2 million. In addition to debt funding from SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), the funding round includes equity investment led by 100Unicorns, as well as involvement from Venture Catalysts and angel investor Avtar Monga.
An angel round had previously raised $69.6K for the Delhi-based company.
According to a press release from Ukhi, the additional funding will be used to increase its production capacity, progress its materials research, and broaden its worldwide reach for sustainable packaging solutions.
Ukhi, which was co-founded in 2019 by Sundeep Kumar Tyagi, Vishal Vivek, and Priyanka Chauhan, is dedicated to creating biodegradable biomaterials from agricultural waste. By empowering the packaging sector with its patented sustainable materials, the company hopes to support the bioeconomy, assist industries in making the shift to environmentally friendly practices, and promote a circular economy. According to its claims, it operates in Uttarakhand and Haryana.
Ukhi claims to have created a biomaterial that can be composted, which forms the basis of environmentally friendly packaging items. The business’s patent-pending technology uses lignocellulosic agricultural waste to produce sustainable, scalable materials that are a good substitute for conventional plastics. Impacts like lowering plastic pollution, stopping crop burning, and promoting the circular economy are among the things the startup hopes to achieve.
With packaging solutions made from agricultural waste that are both biodegradable and compostable, Ukhi hopes to make a difference and assist industries in lessening their environmental impact. In order to drastically lower their carbon footprints and promote industry-wide change, it aims to assist businesses from all sectors in making the switch to sustainable, circular solutions.
Other firms in this market, such as Advanced Biomaterial Company (formerly CIHC) and Traceless, could be direct or indirect competitors.
