Aavishkaar, a micro equity fund, has invested in Hyderabad-based Waterlife India Pvt Ltd, a water purification company, for a significant minority stake. The amount of money pumped into the firm was not disclosed.
Waterlife has been founded by Sudesh Menon, Mohan Ranbaore and Indranil Das with the objective of providing potable water to rural communities. Waterlife installs and operates mini water purification plants (120,000–30,000 litres per day capacity) in rural areas that treat water for bacterial as well as chemical contamination, a press release said.
The company will deploy the funds to expand its reach.
The water purification sector has witnessed a few deals in the past. California-based WaterHealth International Inc, which has previously raised funds from India's ICICI Bank and Dr Anji Reddy (chairman of Dr Reddy's Labs), raised over $10 million for the first close of its series D round from return backers Dow Venture Capital and SAIL Venture Partners. Also, HaloSource, which launched its business in India in 2006 in partnership with Mumbai-based Eureka Forbes, raised $11.5 million from Origo Sino-India Plc (OSIL) and Unilever Technology Ventures in July last year.
Aavishkaar manages two social venture funds, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund and Aavishkaar Goodwell India Microfinance Development Company. The micro venture capital fund has till now invested in Zameen Organic, an organic cotton trading company, Swas Healthcare, a chain of naturopathy clinics and hospitals and Saraplast, a sanitation solutions provider among others.
May 24, 2010
Could it be possible to see a demo in or around Bangalore.