IIM-A's venture investment arm Infuse backs four more cleantech startups

IIM Ahmedabad's tech incubator CIIE (Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship) has announced that its cleantech fund, Infuse Ventures, has made its second close at Rs 110 crore ($18 million) and aiming to make a final close at around Rs 125 crore ($20 million).

Infuse Ventures, which was originally targeting to raise Rs 75 crore for the second close, had made first close last May.

"We had a total commitment of around Rs 60 crore when we made the first close last year. We are also looking at raising another small round at around Rs 15-odd crore," said Kunal Upadhyay, CEO, CIIE.

He added the venture investment firm will look to invest between Rs 50 lakh and 6 crore in 15-25 startups a year.

The firm has pooled in money from backers such as BP, International Financial Corporation (IFC), and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Technology Development Board (TDB). Its other partners including Godrej Industries, ICICI Bank, SIDBI, Bank of India and Union Bank.

Infuse Ventures supports seed- and early-stage enterprises developing new business models across the renewable energy, resource efficiency, waste, water and other sustainability-related areas.

Infuse had earlier co-invested along with IFC in Ecolibrium Energy, an energy management startup.

It has also disclosed four fresh investments. Here's a sneak-peak at the new investees:

REConnect Energy: Founded by Vibhav Nuwal and Vishal Pandya, REConnect Energy is into renewable energy credits trading. It offers strategy and support services in the wind power forecasting, electricity trading and energy efficiency markets. It has over 200 clients across the country.

Surya Power Magic: Founded by Abhilash Thirupathy and Karthik Ravindranath, Surya Power Magic offers solar-based irrigation solutions to farmers.

Tessol: Founded by Rajat Gupta and Rustom Irani, Tessol is a provider of thermal-energy storage solutions, primarily focused on the cold chain segment.

Revive Electronic Waste: Founded by Siddarth Shivkumar and Samiul Haque, Revive Electronic Waste provides an energy efficient, modular and a decentralised end to end e-waste management service.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)