ECOSTP Technologies (P) Ltd, a clean-tech firm that provides bioengineering-based sanitation solutions, has raised equity funding from an arm of an international non-profit organisation.
Bengaluru-based ECOSTP has raised Rs 1.9 crore ($257,640) from Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, which has invested through its Shelter Venture Fund.
The Terwilliger Center says it works with players in the housing ecosystem to develop services, products, and financing options to make shelter more effective, efficient, and affordable.
The Shelter Venture Fund has invested in countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The investment in ECOSTP is the unit’s second bet on an Indian firm. In 2018, it invested in modular roofing startup ReMaterials.
ECOSTP was set up in 2017. It has developed and operates a sewage treatment system that uses anaerobic bacteria to purify water using underground chambers.
The company says this results in an affordable and self-sustaining system without having to rely on power, chemicals, or human intervention, resulting in savings of up to 90% on operational expenses.
It will use this capital to increase its efforts to bring this system to low-income families and regions around the country. “ECOSTP’s low-cost and low-maintenance sanitation technology adapts well to this Covid-19 reality where families need healthy homes to shelter in place,” Terwilliger Center global director of impact investments Jyoti Patel said.
ECOSTP has also been part of accelerator programmes such as ShelterTech and Brigade REAP (Real Estate Accelerator Program), which is an existing shareholder in the company.
It is among the startups in the larger clean-technology space that have raised funding from both impact and traditional alternative investors.
On Wednesday, VCCircle reported that cleantech firm GPS Renewables had raised equity capital from well-known global impact investors. The company provides bulk-waste generators with solutions to process waste on premises and convert it into clean energy.
In October last year, nanotechnology startup Log 9 Materials Scientific Pvt. Ltd raised $3.5 million (around Rs 31.32 crore) in a Series A round from Sequoia India scale-up programme Surge and Exfinity Venture Partners.
Also that month, internet-of-things (IoT)-based water management solutions startup WEGoT Utility Solutions Pvt Ltd raised $2 million (around Rs 14.3 crore) in a seed round from a clutch of investors.