Pi Green Innovations, a cleantech company committed to creating sustainable solutions for a greener future has announced that it has secured over $4.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by the Investment Fund of Opus Consulting with a total of $4.3 million. The round also saw participation from some strategic investors. Previously, Mr. Harshal Morde, Director of Morde Foods Pvt. Ltd had supported the company with a seed funding of $300 K. During the latest funding round, Pi Green was advised by JCSS Consulting who has been associated with the company as strategic, finance and legal advisor since inception.
With this investment, Pi Green will invest in developing a full-fledged R&D center for product development and testing, product certification, and in developing new solutions to counter various sources of emissions. It will allocate resources towards increasing its manufacturing capabilities, and in building a pan-India sales network. The company is also exploring opportunities in international markets. In addition, plans are afoot to launch a new plant in South India.
Commenting on the latest fundraise, Irfan Pathan, Co-founder and CEO, Pi Green said, “We have been at the forefront of developing cutting-edge technologies to reduce air pollution. In India, according to a recent report by Dalberg Advisors in partnership with Clean Air Fund and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the economic cost of air pollution is about $95 billion. The problem is not only air pollution, but also the sustainability of existing solutions. Thus, with our filterless technology, we have a huge opportunity to develop and implement solutions for the reduction of particulate matter (PM) emissions on a sustainable basis. With patents in over 30 countries including USA, UK, China and EU, our technology is ‘Made in India’ for the global market. We are grateful to our investors for their confidence in our mission.”
Umesh Sawant, CTO, Pi Green and Former Director of Engineering, Regulatory Affairs, Certification and Compliance Cummins India Limited echoed his thoughts, saying, “Advances in emission norms are absolutely essential, however pollution from existing equipment is a big challenge to address. Pi Green has globally patented disruptive technology that effectively reduces particulate matter from legacy diesel engines and industry process exhaust without any upgradation and performance deterioration. Our spirited, diverse and young team based in Pune has developed products for in-use Diesel Gensets, heavy-duty vehicles, bio-waste incinerators, and coal-fired small industrial boilers. We are also making a foray into cleaning ambient air through these unique solutions. All of this is achieved through technology that does not use any kind of filters and hence further reduces running cost, performance penalty, and landfill issues. We are committed to a greener and cleaner future for India.”
Ramesh Mengawade, Founder – Opus Consulting added, “Opus’ philosophy is to invest in innovative solutions and products, with Pi Green being the latest and very exciting addition to the list. It is a Make in India and a Made in India solution within the engineering and manufacturing industry. Pi Green has a lot of potential to showcase India as a pioneer in clean air technology. The vivacity and enthusiasm of the young and committed founders of Pi Green is indeed infectious. We truly look forward to partnering with Pi Green over the next few years.”
As an organization, Pi Green is at the forefront of the shifting paradigm in the treatment of air pollution. Leveraging new-age technologies, the company is committed towards developing low maintenance and cost effective solutions for the reduction of particulate matter emissions (PM 2.5/10) at source and from the ambient air. Key products developed by the company include Carbon Cutter Machines – these are filter-less retrofits for heavy vehicles and diesel generators. Pi Green has also developed RepAir – filterless ambient air-purification towers that can be installed in public spaces. It also offers after treatment solutions for industrial emissions like incinerators, and industrial boilers, as well as customized solutions for emission reduction from crematoriums, jaggery processing units, and brick kilns. At the core of the company’s products, is its patented filterless technology, which is a revolutionary innovation that converts smoke to powder form (soot), while also quantifying the reduction in pollution. This soot can then be reused as raw material for ink, paint and polymer manufacturing, hence ensuring zero waste.
Validating Pi Green’s efforts, the company’s filterless technology has been rated as one of the best technologies globally to reduce air pollution at Smogathon 2018, in Poland. Pi Green has also been awarded the ‘Climate Solver’ by World Wildlife Federation (WWF) in 2019. Pi Green is also the winner of ‘Clean Air Challenge’ by UNDP for its initiatives to fight air pollution in India and globally.
