Phool.co secures US$ 1.4M in a pre-Series A round
Phool.co secures US$ 1.4M in a pre-Series A round

Kanpur-based organic materials startup Phool.co has secured US$ 1.4M in a pre-Series A round held in September 2020, led by IAN Fund and San Francisco’s Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.

Proceeds from the round will be used to enhance the research and expand the operations of the startup.

Engineering graduates Ankit Agarwal and Prateek Kumar founded the startup in 2017. Phool.co focuses on converting floral waste into charcoal-free luxury incense products. The holy Ganges, which is the largest river in India is dying. Contamination, over-extraction of water and pollution are killing the expansive river. Phool.co collects floral waste from the temples and mosques in Uttar Pradesh, thus stopping 7600 Kgs waste flowers and 97 Kgs toxic substances from flowing into the river daily.

The waste is handcrafted by rural women self-help groups into original organic fertilizer and incense sticks (agarbatti) via flower-cycling. The startup is aiming to popularize this crusade by establishing a presence all over India in the coming time.

CEO Ankit Agarwal was quoted to say, “Phool.co is a sustainable solution to the monumental temple-waste problem in India. Through our efforts, we aim to build natural alternatives to synthetic chemical-based products by using deep-tech and research. We are perhaps India’s first natural incense brand taking a digital-first approach and have a first-mover advantage as bio-leathers are barely available in India.” 

Phool.co has developed “Fleather”, an alternative to animal leather. While the team was working on their flower-based products, they noticed a thick, fibrous-mat growing on a heap of unused flowers. The surface of the mat looked a lot like leather in appearance, elasticity and tensile strength. That is what commenced the course of exploration into Fleather.

The startup has received multiple international acknowledgments for its  ventures to make pioneering and sustainable products. Some of these rewards include-

  1. United Nations Momentum of Change Award at COP 2018.
  2. Asia Sustainability Award 2020, Hong Kong.
  3. Alquity Transforming Lives Awards, London.
  4. Breaking the Wall of Science, Berlin.
  5. United Nations Young Leaders Award for Sustainable Development Goals.

Co-founder and CEO Ankit Agarwal has also won many laurels for the exceptional work he has done in the field of environmental sustainability.

These include:

  1. The Unilever Young Entrepreneur Award 2017.
  2. The ‘Goalkeepers’ award by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  3. GSG Millennial Honour 2018.
  4. He has been named in ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ list.
  5. He has also received a grant from DBS, Singapore.

The startup had previously raised US$ 0.4M in a seed round from Social Alpha (FISE), DRK Foundation, IIT Kanpur and Balmer Lawrie.

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Aishwarya writes about the startup ecosystem on VCBay. She is a third-year Computer Science engineering student who looks forward to exploring the world of startups and finance.

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