Indian cleantech startup Chakr Innovation secures $23M

Indian deep-tech start-up Chakr Innovation, a company specialising in material science and clean-tech solutions, has raised USD 23 million in its Series C funding round, led by Iron Pillar. The round also saw participation from existing investors, including SBI Cap Ventures, ONGC, IAN, and Inflexor, according to a report by Business World.  

Chakr is working on the higher energy density aluminium-air technology as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.  

Chakr Shield, one of the company’s key products, is a retrofit emission control device for diesel generators and slashes harmful emissions by over 80 per cent, the company said. Its product portfolio also includes the DG Monitoring System (IoT), decentralized energy, and energy storage tech.

The company said the funds will be deployed to expand manufacturing capacity, accelerate international operations and boost backward integration. It will also make further investments in R&D including clean-tech innovations and indigenous energy storage tech.

“This funding is a major step toward realising our vision of building world-class material science technologies from India,” said Kushagra Srivastava, Founder and CEO of Chakr Innovation, according to a report by Inc42. “With these resources, we will expand globally, strengthen our R&D capabilities, and establish the country’s first dedicated materials science centre focused on critical materials.”

“In Chakr Innovation, we discovered a rare deep-tech company tackling India’s pollution crisis and energy storage challenges,” said Ashok Ananthakrishnan of Iron Pillar. “What attracted us was the mission-driven culture and the successful commercialisation of R&D efforts in just seven years. We are proud to partner with Chakr as they expand globally and pioneer transformative technologies.”