Online alternate fuel marketplace Buyofuel has raised over ₹11.5 crore (around $1.4 million) in a pre-series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
The round also saw participation from Venture Catalysts, LetsVenture, Lead Angels Fund, and Gruhas Proptech. The funds raised will be utilised to expand services across geographies, product and technology development.
The startup has the largest supply base of quality assured-biofuels and fuel consumers, offering economic prices for wastes and biofuels. Buyer-base with purchasing capacity of more than 6,00,000 metric tonne per month and seller-base with sell capacity of more than 2,00,000 metric tonne a month.
“Biofuels are a powerful alternative fuel substitute for most of the mainstream fossil fuel options whether diesel, petrol or even CNG. Buyofuel has an ambition to scale its business and make the adoption of clean fuel options seamless and more efficient. At IPV, we are keenly watching the ESG and Cleantech segment and have made bets across different business models. We back the vision of Buyofuel founders and want to help them scale up faster," said Ankur Mittal, Co-founder & COO, Inflection Point Ventures.
Buyofuel has emerged with the largest seller and buyer base in the alternate fuel category. It is helping non-renewable fuel consumers to switch to low or zero emission fuel options and helping them to cut their carbon emissions by moving to biofuels.
Currently it has over 1600 verified registered users, with supply of biodiesel, solid biofuels and organic waste on a per-day basis. Their clients include large, reputed companies like Aditya Birla, JSW, TVS Tyres, Ramco Cements, Dalmia cements, Thermax and many others are registered users of Buyofuel. The company has recorded a monthly revenue of over ₹2 crore.
“Buyofuel looks to mainstream biofuels as a major fuel in India’s energy mix by ensuring that biofuels contribute to more than 10% of India’s fuel consumption, Buyofuel’s journey for a green India has been tremendously supported by IPV. IPV has continuously engaged with Buyofuel on a regular basis and has played a big part in the growth of Buyofuel. We are glad that Buyofuel got to benefit from the tremendous experience that IPV team brings with it," said Kishan Karunakaran, Founder and CEO, Buyofuel.
Buyofuel functions in the large energy & fuels market in India. India is currently the third largest consumer of energy in the world, importing more than 80% of its fuel requirements while generating more than 350 million tonne of organic wastes within India.
Buyofuel aims to make India energy-secure and meet its emission goals by substituting fossil fuel consumption with biofuels manufactured within India, from wastes generated within India. Biofuels is a $110 billion market globally, with the Indian biofuels market estimated at $10 billion which will ,likely touch $50 billion over the next few years.
