Personal hygiene startup Clensta, e-tractor maker Cellestial raise early stage capital

New Delhi based Clensta International has raised Rs 5 crore ($688,000) in a funding round from N+1 Capital. The startup will utilise the fresh capital to scale up upcoming products for its homecare category, it said in a statement. 

Founded in 2016 by Puneet Gupta in association with IIT Delhi and Anurag Rathore, a chemical engineering professor at the institution, Clensta provides personal care and home care solutions. It recently partnered with pharma brand Cipla for its first commercialised products, waterless Bodybath and waterless shampoo.  

“We already have a strong B2B2C presence with 500-plus hospitals and 25,000-plus retail outlets including pharmacies... as now our business demands to penetrate through the D2C channels as well, this debt fund helps us grow further and reach out to consumers at a faster pace,” said Gupta. 

"N+1 is sector agnostic, and the qualifying criteria are actually steady-state, as well as growing startups and MSEs with minimum monthly revenue of Rs 50 lakh, and at least 30 percent gross margin. Having said that, the fund is currently working with SaaS startups and some direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups,” said Rahul Chowdhury, managing partner at N+1 Capital. 

Cellestial gets a $50,000 cheque

Hyderabad based startup Cellestial E-mobility has raised $50,000 in a funding round, dubbed pre Series, from Ashik Karim, co-founder of Electric Motor Company and Canada's EV financial advisory group, among other investors. 

With the current fundraise, company’s valuation has touched $35 million, the startup said in a statement. 

In July 2019, the company had raised $200,000 from Singapore-based angel investor Meka Sudhakar Reddy.  

Founded by Siddhartha Durairajan in May 2019, Cellestial E-Mobility builds electric tractors. “The USP of our electric tractor is that it is the first in its class with affordable pricing, path-breaking battery technology and torque that is primed to take on the tractor markets, with expansive sales and service dealer network,” Durairajan said. 

Cellestial unveiled its first electric tractor prototype in March 2020 with features such as battery swap, regenerative braking, power inversion, residential AC power charging, and superfast charging. Integrated with smart Li-ion battery technology and intelligent features, the company claims that their tractors are built to run for longer periods with a full load, zero-emission, and stress-free operation.