Bengaluru-based specialty chemicals startup altM has raised $10.3 million in a Series A round led by Zerodha's Rainmatter by Zerodha and Mela Ventures.
Existing investors Omnivore, Theia Ventures, Aureolis Ventures and Spectrum Impact also participated, along with strategic angel investors.
The startup turns agricultural residue such as sugarcane bagasse and rice straw into chemicals and materials that replace fossil-derived inputs.
It will use the fresh funding for manufacturing capacity, research and development, customer qualification programmes, and its engineering and commercial teams, as it moves from pilot-scale production to commercial manufacturing.
The round comes just over three years after altM raised a $3.5 million seed round in 2023, taking its all-time raise to around $13.8 million.
altM was founded in 2022 by Apoorv Garg and Yugal Raj Jain, who worked together in manufacturing at Tesla in the US. Bioprocessing scientist Harshad Velankar later joined as Chief Scientific Officer.
The startup works with lignocellulosic biomass, the woody, non-food part of crops. Its process first breaks the residue down into its main fractions, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and then upgrades each fraction into separate chemicals. Using all the fractions lets it make several products from a single feedstock.
Its products are aimed at beauty and personal care, textiles, industrial chemicals, construction, packaging and consumer goods. The first ones moving towards commercial sale are a lignin-derived SPF booster for suncare, a cellulose-based rheology modifier, and bio-derived ferulic acid for cosmetics and personal care formulations. Its research pipeline also covers construction, electronics, automotive, polymers and battery materials.
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