altM raises $10.3M in Series A funding led by Rainmatter, Mela Ventures

Specialty chemicals startup altM has raised $10.3 million in a Series A funding round, with Rainmatter by Zerodha and Mela Ventures joining as new investors. Existing backers Omnivore, Theia Ventures, Aureolis Ventures and Spectrum Impact also participated in the round, along with strategic angel investors.

The Bengaluru-based company said it will use the funds to expand its manufacturing capacity, strengthen research and development, support customer qualification programmes, and grow its engineering and commercial teams. The investment will help altM transition from pilot-scale production to commercial manufacturing.

Founded in 2022 by Apoorv Garg and Yugal Raj Jain, altM uses lignocellulosic biomass, including sugarcane bagasse and rice straw, to produce industrial chemicals. Its processes use the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin components of biomass to derive multiple products from a single feedstock.

The startup caters to industries such as beauty and personal care, textiles, construction, packaging and consumer goods, with a focus on developing bio-based alternatives to fossil-derived raw materials.

"We are pleased to partner with altM as they move into commercial-scale production. Re-wiring foundational supply chains away from fossil-derived inputs is one of the most critical challenges facing modern manufacturing today," said Abhinav Negi, Lead - Climate & DeepTech, Rainmatter by Zerodha.

"Solving DeepTech problems involves research and understanding interplay of multiple areas. altM is tackling one of the hardest problems in industrial chemistry which is creating new age materials that can match the performance of fossil-derived inputs while fundamentally changing where their carbon comes from," said Krishnakumar N, Managing Partner, Mela Ventures.

Since raising a $3.5 million seed round in 2023, altM has built an integrated research and pilot manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, bringing laboratory research, demonstration manufacturing and pilot production under one roof. The company said it has expanded its laboratory footprint nearly fivefold in less than two years, commissioned a demonstration manufacturing facility, and taken six molecules to demonstration scale. Of these, three have been selected for pilot plant production.

The products being prepared for commercialisation include a lignin-derived SPF booster for suncare, a cellulose-based rheology modifier, and bio-derived ferulic acid for cosmetics and personal care formulations.

"Industrial manufacturing has relied on fossil carbon for more than a century. We are building a new source of industrial carbon from agricultural residue," said Apoorv Garg, Co-founder and CEO of altM. "Our focus is on developing materials and manufacturing processes that allow customers to adopt these materials at the performance, cost, quality, and scale required for industrial applications."

"We've believed in altM from early on, and what makes us double down on our confidence is the team's ability to turn ambitious science into something real and commercially scalable. Going from the lab to reliable manufacturing and, ultimately, customers is a difficult journey. altM has shown a rare ability to make that transition," said Abhilash Sethi, Partner at Omnivore.