Specialty chemicals startup altM has raised $10.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Rainmatter, backed by Zerodha, and Mela Ventures, as the company prepares to expand commercial manufacturing of chemicals developed from agricultural waste.
The funding round also attracted participation from existing investors Omnivore, Theia Ventures, Aureolis Ventures and Spectrum Impact, alongside venture capital firms and strategic angel investors.
The investment comes as altM moves beyond research and pilot-scale production towards commercial manufacturing. The company plans to strengthen its manufacturing infrastructure, expand research and development, accelerate customer qualification programmes and grow its engineering and commercial teams.
Founded in 2022 by former Tesla manufacturing leaders Apoorv Garg and Yugal Raj Jain, altM develops specialty chemicals using agricultural residues such as sugarcane bagasse and rice straw. Bioprocessing scientist Dr Harshad Velankar subsequently joined the company.
Its technology processes lignocellulosic biomass, extracting value from components including cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. By developing multiple chemical products from the same agricultural feedstock, altM aims to establish crop residues as an alternative source of raw materials for industrial applications.
The company’s products target several industries, including beauty and personal care, textiles, construction, packaging and industrial chemicals.
altM has already advanced six molecules to demonstration scale, with three progressing to pilot-plant production. Among the products being developed for commercialisation are a lignin-derived SPF booster for sunscreen formulations, a cellulose-based rheology modifier and bio-derived ferulic acid for cosmetics and other formulations.
These developments follow the company’s earlier $3.5 million seed funding round in 2023, which supported the establishment of an integrated research and pilot-production facility in Bengaluru.
The facility combines laboratory research, process demonstration and pilot manufacturing at a single location. Since its establishment, altM has expanded its laboratory footprint nearly fivefold and commissioned its demonstration facility.
The latest financing will support the next stage of growth, particularly the transition from developing chemical formulations at smaller scales to manufacturing them in commercially relevant quantities.
altM operates in an emerging segment of India’s specialty chemicals industry where companies are developing alternative manufacturing processes and raw materials. Other startups working in the broader specialty chemicals space include Scimplifi, Covvalent, Atomgrid and Tulon Materials, which have also attracted fresh investment.
In case of altM, the immediate concern would be to increase production capacity and customer deployment by developing a manufacturing platform which can transform agricultural waste into valuable industrial chemicals.
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