Assam Startup ZERUND That Makes Eco-friendly Bricks Out of Waste Plastic, Raises Funding From NEVF (North East Venture Fund)

(L-R) Rupam Choudhury, Mousum Talukdar and David Pratim Gogoi

Assam Based Brick manufacturing start-up ZERUND raises an Undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A from NEVF (North East Venture Fund)

The Start-up manufactures Eco-Friendly Bricks out of waste plastic waste materials

ZERUND- innovative brick manufacturing start-up has raised an undisclosed amount in Pre Series A round from NEDFi Venture Capital Ltd. (NVCL). Assam based start-up has raised a total of INR 4 crore in total including the current round.

Started in 2018 by Rupam Choudhury, Mousum Talukdar and David Pratim Gogoi, ZERUND is providing eco-friendly, cost-effective, crack/earthquake resistant, lightweight bricks made from waste plastic and other waste materials as ingredients. The brand currently operates out of its manufacturing facility in Pathsala, Assam.

On the Fund Raising David Pratim Gogoi, Co-founder and CEO, ZERUND affirmed “The construction market is poised for rigorous innovations and creations. People are opting for more eco-friendly options which have widened the scope of exploration for the manufacturers too. We have witnessed 85% month-on-month traction in terms of sales, and further to the demand are looking forward to expanding rigorously. By the end of this fiscal year, we are expecting to register 500% YoY growth. The growth path for entire North East in the recently announced budget by Finance Minister gave us bigger hope to grow faster.”

ZERUND Facility

ZERUND Eco-friendly Bricks

 The brand came up with a building material, known now as “ZERUND BRICK”. After getting the patent of the product, it started its commercial production and selling from November 2018.

On the investment Shri PVSLN Murty, CMD NEDFi & Chairman NVCL said “The Company fits the NEVF objective of promoting scalable and innovative start-ups in the North-East Region. The Company through its patent-pending technology has ushered in an innovative product “ZERUND Bricks”, plastic embedded bricks, which has many advantages over regular bricks available in the market. The bricks are lite weight & resistant towards water and contribute towards environment by recycling waste plastic for its manufacturing.”

On the successful fundraise Mr. Nikunja Borthakur, Senior CGM, Corporate affairs, Numaligarh refinery limited explained “After getting the patents of the product with R&D support from Numaligarh refinery limited they started production from November 2018. We are committed to supporting the team and the innovative company in their future endeavours to reach newer heights in the construction material domain”.

The brand to utilize the part of the raised investment to set up a new facility that will have 5 times more capacity than the current one. The brand expects to multifold its revenue from the new facility in place.

About Zerund

Zerund brick is known as Plastic Embedded Lightweight Brick. It is a patented lightweight brick of Zerund Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. Industrial production of this sophisticated building material is started in the year 2018 in Guwahati, India. Here in India, Zerund Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. was established in 2018 and has been manufacturing Plastic Embedded Lightweight Brick in Guwahati. 

With the company's continuous expansion of additional manufacturing plants to sustain the growing demand, our current total production capacity has been increasing to 10000 cubic meter per year. Builders, Engineers, Architect and contractors not only appreciate excellent properties of Zerund, but also energy-saving and pollution-free technique is used in its production.

Microsoft to Back Startup Ecosystem in Assam

A comprehensive global programme of the Microsoft designed to support startups as they build and scale their companies would collaborate with the Assam government to back the startup ecosystem in the state.

A team of the Microsoft for Startups met officials of the state industries and commerce department here on Monday, an official release said.

The tech giant also submitted a proposal to the department for facilitating its know-how on advanced
technological system, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to the startup incubates for national and international exposure, it said.

Microsoft would also conduct reach-out programmes to encourage the entrepreneur community of the State.

The company, in association with the Assam government, would also organise a Startup Summit among all stakeholders in Guwahati, in April.

The Microsoft team also visited the state-owned marquee incubation centre, 'the Nest', and was highly
impressed by the infrastructure set up at Ambari.

Industry department's Commissioner and Secretary K K Dwivedi said the state government would provide all-out support to make the endeavours of Microsoft fruitful.

He pointed out that these programmes would highly benefit in creating employment and entrepreneurship among the people of Assam.

Assam's Numaligarh Refinery Ties with IIT-Guwahati for Startup Incubation

Startup revolution in north east India seems to have begun and Assam is likely to lead the torch of "Start-up India Stand-up India" initiative once set by PM Modi in 2016.

Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed a MoU with IIT Guwahati (IIT-G) for incubation of Startups under its Startup funding initiative ‘iDEATION’.

https://twitter.com/NRL_MoPNG/status/1099254641705897984

With this partnership, NRL will facilitate incubation facility and mentoring to the Startups sponsored and selected by NRL through iDEATION at the established Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) of IIT-Guwahati.

Notably, it was in 2016 when the IIT-G had decided to throw open its state-of-the-art incubation centre to students from other educational institutions in the region.

The development comes within a month after Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had inaugurated a state-owned incubator initiative called 'Assam Startup The Nest' in Guwahati, which will facilitate growth of at least 1,000 startups over the next five years.

Related - How A Guwahati Startup Is Creating Jobs In Secluded North-East India

iDEATION was launched by NRL in July 2017 for nurturing and boosting a startup ecosystem in the North East and had also launched an initial fund of Rs 10 Crore as a grant for startup ventures in the region.

The first edition of the initiative saw funding to the tune of Rs. 1.29 crore being allotted to four selected startup projects as seed funding and scale-up funding.

The 2nd edition launched in February 2018, too, garnered a huge response from the intrepid entrepreneurs of the northeast.

Numaligarh Refinery is located at Morangi, Golaghat district, Assam in India is a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum, Oil India and Government of Assam.

Source - NorthEast Now

 

Numaligarh Refinery Launches Rs 10 Crore Fund To Assist Startups in Assam

Northeast India Entrepreneurs, here comes the good news for you. According to a media report, Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has decided to promote startups in Northeast India region. The Refinery has already started the process by holding ideation in Guwahati on Tuesday.

If we talk of the funds, initially, to assist startups, company has come up with a fund of Rs 10 Crore which will come as a grant for startup venture.

Commenting on the development, P.Padmanabhan, Managing Director, NRL said, "We want to create entrepreneurship ecosystem in Northeast India. Once the ideas are submitted, jury will evaluate the same. We will evaluate if the project requires seed funding, scale up funding or any other assistance. We will tie up with incubation Centre."

According to Padmanabhan, company will hire domain expert to assist the startup venture. He further stated that if the present fund is exhausted they will add more as for them funding is not a problem.

To create awareness about the scheme, the company has decided to reach out to different educational institutions. Further, NRL is planning to expand the refinery from 3 MMTPA (million Metric Ton per annum) to 9 MMTPA. The proposal is now with the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas.

"The proposal is in the advance stage and is with the ministry. We are expecting something on it in two to three months,” informed Padmanabhan.

Not only this, if sources to be believed, Assam government is in the process of formulating a Startup policy and will soon come up Startup Innovation Centre.

It's Now Time for Assam Startups, State Govt. Unveils Angel Fund

In order to attract more and more youth entrepreneurs to Assam, the Congress led Assam government on Friday unveiled an angel fund which would help and assist the skilled youths and first generation entrepreneurs in setting up small and micro enterprises in the state.

Tarun Gogoi, who is the Assam Chief Minister, had also made the provisions for the Angel fund for micro enterprises while presenting his budget for 2014-15. The government has promised to contribute some 10 Crores to this fund.
The state government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday with the Regional rural bank, Assam Gramin Vikash Bank.

The scheme offers a maximum loan of Rs. 5 lakhs at just 5 percent interest rate per annum with no interest being charged at all during the moratorium period for maximum of ten months for setting up of micro enterprises. Under the special fund, about 80 percent of the project costs for existing units and 85 percent for new units are being offered without any mortgage.

Tarun Gogoi also added that his government would increase the maximum loan amount under the scheme in order to attract more and more young and skilled entrepreneurs towards setting up and expanding their business in Assam.
According to the Chief Minister, the MSME sector has a huge role to play in solving the problem of unemployment in the state of Assam. "The MSME sector has to play a bigger role in creating employment opportunities given the fact that there is less scope of big industries coming to the state because of non-availability of required land and limited scope of white collared jobs", said Tarun Gogoi at the launch event.

A special scheme for indigenous and traditional industries in the state was also announced by the Chief Minister on Friday.

According to Pradyut Bordoloi, Minister for Industries and Commerce, the department has conducted a resource mapping in Assam in order to identify the industries which can grow exponentially based on the raw materials that are easily and locally available in the state. He also added that the department is planning on setting up multi-disciplinary skill development training centre in each of the development block of Assam.

According to RT Jindal, additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce, the MSME sector has seen huge investments to the amount of Rs. 1,774 crore in the period of past four years.

It's Now Time for Assam Startups, State Govt. Unveils Angel Fund

In order to attract more and more youth entrepreneurs to Assam, the Congress led Assam government on Friday unveiled an angel fund which would help and assist the skilled youths and first generation entrepreneurs in setting up small and micro enterprises in the state.

Tarun Gogoi, who is the Assam Chief Minister, had also made the provisions for the Angel fund for micro enterprises while presenting his budget for 2014-15. The government has promised to contribute some 10 Crores to this fund.
The state government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday with the Regional rural bank, Assam Gramin Vikash Bank.

The scheme offers a maximum loan of Rs. 5 lakhs at just 5 percent interest rate per annum with no interest being charged at all during the moratorium period for maximum of ten months for setting up of micro enterprises. Under the special fund, about 80 percent of the project costs for existing units and 85 percent for new units are being offered without any mortgage.

Tarun Gogoi also added that his government would increase the maximum loan amount under the scheme in order to attract more and more young and skilled entrepreneurs towards setting up and expanding their business in Assam.
According to the Chief Minister, the MSME sector has a huge role to play in solving the problem of unemployment in the state of Assam. "The MSME sector has to play a bigger role in creating employment opportunities given the fact that there is less scope of big industries coming to the state because of non-availability of required land and limited scope of white collared jobs", said Tarun Gogoi at the launch event.

A special scheme for indigenous and traditional industries in the state was also announced by the Chief Minister on Friday.

According to Pradyut Bordoloi, Minister for Industries and Commerce, the department has conducted a resource mapping in Assam in order to identify the industries which can grow exponentially based on the raw materials that are easily and locally available in the state. He also added that the department is planning on setting up multi-disciplinary skill development training centre in each of the development block of Assam.

According to RT Jindal, additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce, the MSME sector has seen huge investments to the amount of Rs. 1,774 crore in the period of past four years.