Log 9 Spill Containment Pvt. Ltd, a nanotech company specialising in oil and chemical spill absorbents, has raised Rs 4 crore ($563,940 at current exchange rate) in a pre-Series A funding round from angel investors.
Bengaluru-based Log 9 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Log 9 Materials Pvt. Ltd, a graphene nanotech company. In a statement, the company said it had received funding from Renjit Shinto and Omkar Ghaisas.
Shinto is the head of well services and well head maintenance at Oxy Qatar, an international oil and gas exploration and production company. Ghaisas is an investor specialising in charitable trust investments.
Log 9 will use a majority of the funds it has received to set up a new manufacturing production facility in Navi Mumbai for its existing product portfolio as well as developing new products in segments such as industrial spillage.
Chief executive Dhananjay Sharma said the company was using graphene-based technology to bridge the gap between laboratory-developed solutions and market-ready products. Log 9 will also market and sell its products in international markets, Sharma said.
The company has developed a brand, Sorbene, and says it has already made a presence in the domestic market by selling sorbent pads to petrochemical refineries, marine clean-up and environmental-protection firms. The company says the pads made under the brand name are able to absorb oil up to 86 times their weight, and that each product can be reused a certain number of times.
Deals in the clean-tech segment
There has been steady activity in the clean-technology segment, as companies and firms seek to capitalise on the growing need for eco-friendly solutions in the wake of climate change.
Earlier this month, Singapore-based waste management company Blue Planet Environmental Solutions Pte. Ltd acquired Pune-based waste processing firm Xeon Waste Managers LLP.
Last year, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and venture capitalist Shailesh Vickram Singh launched a $150 million environment protection vehicle called Massive Fund.
In 2017, World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) said it planned to invest $40 million (around Rs 260 crore) in Tata Cleantech Pvt. Ltd to allow the company to finance wind, solar and other climate finance projects.
