Tessol, a Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics space, has recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

Image Source – Tessol

Founded by IIT Delhi – Harvard alumnus Rajat Gupta, Tessol aims to revolutionize the cold chain distribution in India using its proprietary ‘Energy Storage’ technology based solutions. These products and solutions, while being environmentally sustainable, reduce the lifetime cost of cooling by more than 50% therefore making cold chain on low value products viable.

Over the last few years, Tessol has developed solutions ranging from farm level collection to home delivery and works with the largest FMCG, food processing and e-commerce players in India. Funds raised in this round would be utilized by Tessol for strengthening the current product suite and bringing some disruptive products that were under development to pilot and commercialization.

Rajat Gupta, CEO of Tessol, who has several years of past industry experience, said

There are huge gaps in the Indian food supply chain and while there are several cold chain products available in the market, there is a dearth of viable solutions. At Tessol, we believe in partnering with our customers and working out system level solutions that can drastically impact costs while improving the performance.

Anil Gudibande, Co-founder – 1Crowd, said

We see Tessol occupy a sweet spot at the intersection of India’s underserved cold chain architecture and a vacuum in environmentally-friendly clean energy solutions. Tessol’s farm-to-fork product range serves myriad use cases, application segments and customer profiles, and the breadth and depth of their client roster bears ample testimony to the efficacy of their innovation-driven offerings.

Amber Maheshwari, Vice President – Infuse Ventures, said

Tessol is one of the very few innovation-driven cold chain product companies. With their superior energy-efficient technology, already adopted by many marquee clients across industries, the company is well-positioned to service the growing demand for cold chain infrastructure.

Krishnan Neelakantan, Senior Director – Ankur Capital, said

We are excited about the rapid growth in Tessol’s range of cost efficient, high performance cold-chain solutions, which is bringing in new, quality-conscious customers across end-user segments. We believe Tessol’s technology can, over the longer-term, aid significant reduction in losses in the agri/food chain from the current high levels.

About 1crowd

1Crowd is an early stage investor and startup ecosystem with a unique co-investment lead equity crowdfunding platform and seed & early stage Fund. Launched in 2015 by a team of experienced bankers, with two offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, the platform has invested in over 17 ventures, with over Rs. 40 crores in AUM. Recently, 1Crowd announced the first close of its seed & early stage Fund. For more information, please visit 1Crowd.

The Indian School of Business [ISB] and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation have joined hands to launch the Clean Energy Lab, a uniquely designed incubation programme to support early stage non-profits working on creating policy impacts in clean energy.

Image Source – ISB CleanTech

Supported by DLabs, the incubation and acceleration arm of ISB, the Clean Energy Lab invites entries from non-profits, working in the areas of renewable energy, climate change and energy efficiency. The Lab aims to identify individuals and thinkers with big, audacious ideas to create research based policy impact in India and build their concepts into scalable institutions.

Talking about the need and importance of such an initiative, Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, ISB, said

Clean energy is the need of the future and India is already making a mark globally for its initiatives in this space. The government has drawn up an ambitious agenda to become self-reliant in generating renewable energy by 2022. Against this backdrop, research focused non-profits can play an important role in influencing policy and pushing India towards a cleaner environment in the years to come. Through the Clean Energy Lab, ISB is excited to partner with Shakti Foundation to support non-profits who are seeking to create large scale policy impact in building and scaling their ideas and contribute to the larger goal of nation- building.

The Clean Energy Lab will identify and incubate five exceptional ideas to create policy action on clean energy. The selected participants will have access to the following

  • Sustenance Support of up to INR 4.8L
  • Dedicated Mentorship by an Expert Panel consisting of energy and non-profit experts
  • Access to infrastructure at the ISB Campuses
  • Strategic advisory support and access to networks
  • Impact Measurement Support to determine milestones and assess growth
  • Access to Organizational Development Services

Sharing his views on the rationale for developing the Lab, Krishan Dhawan, CEO, Shakti  Sustainable Energy Foundation said

One of Shakti’s roles as the only foundation focused on India’s clean energy sector is to build and strengthen the capacity of civil society in order to participate more effectively in policy dialogue and action. Platforms like the Clean Energy Lab are an important part of the solution. The Lab is India’s first incubation programme to support high potential ideas that can be built into scalable institutions as well as create evidence-based policy impact in the area of clean energy. Given India’s increasing energy demand and urgent development priorities, outcomes from the Lab can make a very important contribution.

Who can apply and more details

Early stage non-profits including NGOs, community based organisations, think tanks, foundations, research institutions working in this space and individuals with potential ideas are eligible to apply. The last date to apply is November 15, 2017. To know more visit this page

The yearlong incubation programme commences in January 2018 and will include dedicated mentorship with assigned experts, capacity building and training sessions and a multitude of opportunities to network and partner with potential collaborators.  The Lab would conclude in December 2018 by which the all the non-profits would be registered entities culminating in a Showcase Pitch Session where the non-profits would pitch to philanthropic organisations for funding.

DLabs is the incubation and acceleration arm of the ISB set up in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. It aims to support the creation of a vibrant and high impact entrepreneurial ecosystem focused on innovation in key sectors including technology commercialization. DLabs leverages the vast resources, expertise and networks of Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ISB through mentorship, education and investor connect.

Further details about the program are available here