Nexus Venture Partners, a Mumbai-based venture capital firm, is investing Rs 9 crore into Greywater Technologies Pvt Ltd, a company providing packaged products for water and waste water treatment. Greywater operates in India through its wholly owned subsidiary Jaldhara Technologies.
Jaldhara Technologies Pvt Ltd is a specialised technology company in the space of water, wastewater treatment and recycling. It designs, engineers, supplies, installs, tests and commissions the treatment solutions. Apart from being a water waste management specialist, the technology-based company also distributes water treatment products such as cartridge filters, distillation units and chemical feed pumps.
The cleantech company provides solutions across pre-treatment, waste water treatment and chemical conditioning of water, sewage effluent treatment and recycling. Jaldhara’s products for water and wastewater treatment are targeted at residential and commercial complexes, IT/ITES parks, hotels, malls, hospitals, etc. Jaldhara offers pre-fabricated products which are plug-and-play, and save space and operating costs, compared to conventional bespoke solutions available in the market.
Greywater is founded by Harshad Bastikar, who was previously the SBU head at Thermax Water, a water & waste solutions business offering green solutions in the field of water and wastewater treatment. Nexus worked with the founding team to finalise the business plan, market approach and product launch. The monies will be used by the company for a global footprint. It is currently focused on the Indian sub-continent.
Bastikar, founder & CEO of Jaldhara Technologies, said, “Our packaged products which are based on proven technologies, save space, reduce costs and are easy to install. We aim to become the market leader, based on our innovative approach, and the partnership with Nexus is a critical milestone in building our business.”
According to Anup Gupta, Nexus Venture Partners MD who has joined the board of directors of Greywater Technologies, “The growing pressures of urbanisation are accelerating the need for waste water treatment and recycling.”
Increased urbanisation, a supply-demand gap, government subsidies and high returns through multiple revenue streams have made the rather unglamorous water and waste management sectors highly attractive for private equity players. Water treatment has seen a distinct revival in interest with several PE deals in the past few months. Private equity funds across the board, from generic growth capital funds to clean technology and infrastructure funds, are now exploring opportunities in this area.
Sample this: Delhi-based UEM Group, specialising in water & waste water collection, treatment and disposal, mopped up Rs 90 crore from India Value Fund. Chennai-based Aqua Designs India, a water management engineering company, raised Rs 55 crore from Peepul Capital. Concord Enviro Systems, a water management engineering company, raised $10 million from Sage Capital Funds in December, 2009. Multiple revenue streams and government subsidies make the waste business attractive, say experts.
In its other cleantech investments, Nexus has earlier invested in D.light Design, which offers affordable solar energy and lighting solutions. Clean technology investing in India is largely centred around clean energy.
Nexus Venture Partners, founded by entrepreneurs in India and the Silicon Valley, houses $320 million of assets under management and a portfolio of over 30 companies across technology, internet, media, consumer, business services and agribusiness sectors. Some of the companies in which Nexus has invested include Netmagic (internet infrastructure), Snapdeal.com (e-commerce), Komli (internet advertisement network), DimDim (open source web conferencing acquired by Salesforce.com), Mapmyindia (digital navigation), Deccan Pharma (Neutraceuticals), Gluster (open source storage), Cloud.com (cloud infrastructure), Pubmatic (Publisher ad revenue optimisation), Prana (animation services), Suminter (organic farming) and D.light (solar lighting).
