Bengaluru-based cleantech platform Newtrace Pvt. Limited on Tuesday said it has secured $1 million (Rs 7.7 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by Speciale Invest and clean mobility-focused Micelio Fund, with participation from angel investors.
The startup plans to use the fresh funds to ramp up its technology vertical and develop electrolyzers of up to 10 MW by 2027 to boost decarbonisation of industries.
In 2021, Prasanta Sarkar and Rochan Sinha launched NewTrace with a vision to address sustainable development goals and mitigate climate change by enabling affordable green hydrogen production at scale. The startup claims to have demonstrated a working prototype of its electrolyzer technology for hydrogen production at IIT Madras.
“NewTrace aspires to deliver innovative, reliable and 5 times cheaper electrolyzers around the world. The electrolyzers have been redesigned to reduce capital and operating costs while delivering higher efficiency and performance. Our modular design approach and technology architecture allows us to scale and meet growing demand in months, rather than years,” said Sarkar, co-founder and chief executive officer of NewTrace.
“We are exhilarated to partner with the founders of NewTrace, who are leveraging technology, expertise and vision to develop affordable green hydrogen for the world, thus contributing to a better, greener and sustainable existence for everyone. This is our first of many cleantech investments,” said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner, Speciale Invest.
Founded in 2017, Speciale Invest is a venture capital firm focused on deep tech and software-as-a-service (SaaS) investments. Speciale Invest's portfolio firms include aerial mobility startup ePlane, space-tech startup Agnikul, VR and AR platform Scapic Innovations, and Frontdesk AI.
The ecosystem is seeing significant investment in cleantech-focused startups in India over the past few months. Last year in November, Chakr Innovation, an emission-control device manufacturing company, raised an undisclosed sum in a Series B round from Neev Fund II, a fund managed by SBICap Ventures.
Notably, even larger conglomerates are also committing sizable corpuses towards the sector. Earlier today, Adani Group earmarked a $50 billion amount towards developing hydrogen-based power in partnership with French energy player, TotalEnergies over 10 years.
