Clean tech analytics start-up Ecologix Knowledge Solutions Pvt Ltd, which helps companies in the area of energy emission monitoring, is looking at raising $5-6 million in venture capital investments.
The Bangalore-headquartered firm, with proprietary software tools enabling companies to map and manage energy efficiency, was incorporated a year ago by a former IIM-A graduate with international research and corporate background in the area of Economics, Energy and Environment (3E) linkages.
Currently, Ecologix is also part of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency-driven national action plan on climate change. Ecologix’ sector-agnostic monitoring solutions are targeting resource-intensive sectors like oil & gas, manufacturing, utilities and infrastructure.
The firm is investing nearly $1 million into product and development. Ecologix is a typical hybrid start-up with product development centre in India and sales office in the US. “We are currently in advanced dialogue to sign up a few Fortune-100 companies as our clients,” Rajesh Nair, Founder & Managing Director of Ecologix, told VCCircle.
“We are looking for a financial investor who can add strategic value in cap and trade markets of US, Europe and Australia," he said.
The start-up firm is also holding channel partnership talks with some consulting and software services majors to bolster its distribution play. “We are working on an integration kit (with software platforms) that will help in automating data inputs," Nair added.
The revenue model hinges on software licensing fee based on per user per annum basis, and also on consulting revenue. “We see consulting as a significant revenue stream on par or even higher than the licensing fee going forward. The consulting services will be essentially in calibrating the software services for cost optimisation,” Nair added.
Commenting on the prospects of a cleantech startup with software and consulting services in the energy emission domain, Ajay Jalan, Partner at Sandalwood Partners, a semiconductor and cleantech-focussed investment firm said, “This is a right idea at a right time. It can soon become a measuring tool for companies like ONGC and BP (energy developers) to measure its energy efficiency and meet its domestic emission limits under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism. The company can benefit from the first mover advantage”.
Meanwhile, industry information suggests that even biggies like IT services major Wipro are aggressively working on solutions in this space. With international momentum on emission policies building up and big players eyeing this space, the impact on startups in this area remains to be seen.
While there have been investments on the renewable energy side and also clean energy project developer and advisory firms, there have been no investments in the domain of energy efficiency monitoring from India. Emergent Ventures, a carbon credit advisory firm, raised $10.01 million from IDFC private equity Fund II in 2008.
A few valley-based start-ups, in the domain of energy efficiency monitoring, have managed to rope in pedigree venture capitalists like Kleiner Perkins and DFJ in recent times.
Earlier this year, SAP snapped up Clear Standards Inc, an emerging player, as part of the software giant's move to strengthen presence in the sustainable solutions space. Last year, Hara Environment and Energy Management started off with $6-million funding from Kleiner Perkins. It subsequently raised Series B funding of $14 million from Jafco Ventures and Nth Power.