IIMA CIIE\'s Infuse Ventures invests Rs 3.5 crore in Proklean Technologies

IIMA CIIE’s sustainability and cleantech fund Infuse Ventures, which is backed by Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has announced an investment of Rs 3.5 crore for an undisclosed stake in Chennai-based Proklean Technologies Private Limited. 

Proklean manufactures completely natural products of probiotic origin, which can replace or reduce the use of currently used chemicals in various industrial and commercial applications like leather processing, textile processing and household cleaning. All products are sold under the brand name ‘Proviera’. Proklean uses a unique probiotic technology which makes the products 100 per cent bio-degradable, natural and non-toxic.

Founded by Dr. Sivaram Pillai, B. Chandrasekhar and Vishwadeep Kuila, the company has  already  developed  a  suite  of  products  for  customers  in  the  textile  and  leather  processing industries with marquee names in India like Vardhaman Group, Raymond, Mafatlal, Welspun, RSWM, Kapoor  Industries,  JK  Mills,  AVT,  Super  House  and  Upper  India.  Internationally,  Proklean  has customers  in  U.S.A.,  Brazil,  Mexico,  South  Africa, Germany,  Spain,  Hungary,  Turkey,  Thailand, China, Philippines, Australia and Bangladesh.

Dr Pillai, who had been the CEO of SCD Probiotics, USA, and head of the bio-products business at the Murugappa Group, India, prior to founding Proklean, said, “What differentiates our technology from most green technologies is that we do not require any subsidy, either from the government or the customer.  In  fact,  our  products  are  cost  and  performance  competitive  compared  to  traditional chemical products in every application that we serve. Our products save water, processing time and in some cases even energy. This is besides being completely biodegradable.”

“Proklean  has  developed  a  unique  technology  platform  with  wide-ranging  applications  across industries  and  even  in  the  consumer  space”,  said,  Kunal  Upadhyay,  CEO,  Infuse  Ventures.

“Environmental  concerns  from  industrial  effluents  are  on  the  rise  and  we  have  seen  very  few innovative solutions and products to solve this problem. Proklean’s range of products address this major pain point for many industries today”, he added.

Proklean had earlier raised an angel round from Chennai Angels. IIMA-CIIE’s fund Infuse has been investing actively in the cleantech sector and its investments include energy-management startup Ecolibrium Energy, thermal-energy storage startup Tessol, renewable energy services startup REConnect, solar-pumping start-up Surya PowerMagic and geothermal HVAC provider GIBSS, among others.