India, Monday, 25th Oct 2021 – On 15th Oct 2021 GreenJams completed its first-ever round of investment for an undisclosed amount. The Angel Round was led by InsightEdge Advisors with participation by multiple angels and marquee investors such as Mr. Surendra Goyal, CFO, Aditya Birla – Carbon Black business, Mr. Dishank Sehgal, Director, Xotik Frujus (Jeeru) and Niraj Manek, Serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Consverge.
“GreenJams’ innovation will go a long way in helping to create a sustainable environment. Moreover, the Agrocrete® blocks are commercially viable along with being carbon negative and hence will be a path breaker in the construction industry”
– Surendra Goyal, CFO, Aditya Birla – Carbon Black business
Founded by Tarun Jami and Varun Jami, GreenJams is solving for the 45% share of the built environment in global carbon emissions by making carbon-negative and thermally insulating building materials. The funds will be utilized for scaling up operations and piloting the innovative franchise manufacturing business model.
The company’s flagship product, Agrocrete®, is a carbon-negative building material made using crop residues such as paddy straw, cotton stalks, bagasse, etc., ashes and BINDR™. BINDR™ is an innovative zero-clinker replacement of cement made completely using slags from ferro-alloy manufacturing processes. Agrocrete® is currently available in the form of solid and hollow blocks, which replace conventional bricks and blocks for up to 50% lower costs and three times higher thermal insulation.
“This fundraise has filled wind in our sails. We are now gearing up to establish a model Agrocrete® blocks manufacturing unit and a full-scale BINDR™ manufacturing facility that will satisfy the demand of our franchisees. We are also going to use the funds to get international certifications proving our products are built for world but imagined in India”
– Tarun Jami, Founder, GreenJams
By using crop residues, the startup is also preventing air pollution caused by crop residues burning which costs India almost $27B due to public health and worker productivity losses. This year, fueled by the investment, GreenJams shall prevent 600 tonnes of paddy straw from burning and remove 3000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company has received more than 1200 sales enquiries totaling a volume of more than 11 million Agrocrete® blocks in the past 5 months. The franchising model is also attracting significant interest with over 300 enquiries.
The startup has been financially supported through grants by a-IDEA, NAARM-TBI, Hyderabad and Punjab Agri Business Incubator (PABI), Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
This round of investment was advised by ANOVA Corporate Services, Sarvaank Associates, and InsightEdge Advisors, for which the founding team is extremely grateful.
About GreenJams
GreenJams is bringing high-quality, thermally insulating and carbon-negative building materials to the market, helping the construction industry lower its carbon footprint, save costs, and benefit socio-economically marginalized communities. Backed by almost half a decade of research and technological innovation, GreenJams is changing how building materials are manufactured and reversing climate change. Today, they’re paving the way for the future built environment to become carbon-neutral and solving the acutely impacted public health through the prevention of crop residue burning. Recognizing their impact, GreenJams was listed on Forbes Asia’s ‘30 Under 30’. They are supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The company is headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Learn more at www.greenjams.org, and follow on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
