How a Gurugram-based start-up converts air pollutants into ink and paint

Founded by IIT-Delhi graduates, it recently raised Rs 19 crore in Series A round led by IAN Fund, along with IDFC Parampara fund and Jyoti Sagar

Standing by a roadside stall for sugarcane juice in Gurugram, Arpit Dhupar saw the vendor using a small diesel engine to run the juicer and power the crushers. He fitted a pipe to the engine’s exhaust and as he worked, the wall behind him started to turn black due to the carbon emissions. Dhupar thought: “Can this be done purposefully?”

Gurugram-based Chakr Innovation is one of the few start-ups in the country that cash in on air pollution. Founded in 2016 by IIT-Delhi graduates Arpit Dhupar (CTO), Kushagra Srivastava (CEO) and Prateek Sachan (COO), the start-up aims to bring down pollution levels by capturing emissions from diesel generators and converting the carbon into usable products like ink and paint. 

It recently raised Rs 19 crore in Series A round led by IAN Fund, along with IDFC Parampara fund and Jyoti Sagar.  

This start-up has a patented retro-fit emission control device called ‘Chakr Shield’ that converts 70-90 per cent of particulate matter emitted from diesel generators with minimal back‐pressure into non-toxic ink pigment that can be used for printer cartridges, textile printing, sketching and painting. 

Indulged in a $1-billion market of clean energy, the company says the market potential is based on the number of diesel generators installed across the country; there are more than 80 GW capacity of diesel gensets running in India currently. Chakr Innovation has a team of engineers from mechanical, chemical and textile backgrounds, but finds it challenging to acquire working capital and expand the team. 

The firm is investing a lot in R&D and is yet to become profitable. Bharti Singhala, strategy head, said the company makes money through selling emission devices and also charges AMC (annual maintenance contract).

But Chakr Innovation is not the first start-up to see the benefit in using diesel exhausts. Bengaluru-based Graviky Labs is using similar technology to turn diesel exhaust from vehicles into ink. 

“Despite being similar in the business model, we’re capturing the pollution at ‘source’, while start-ups like Graviky Labs are capturing soot from vehicular exhausts. And we’re focusing on larger sources of pollution," said Singhala. 

Currently active in Delhi-NCR, Pune and Bengaluru, Chakr Innovation’s business model is based on the operation of its emission control devices, which are sold tocompanies, institutions and organisations using diesel generators. It has over 15 clients, including Indian Oil Corp, HPCL, Tata Realty and Dell.

Chakr Innovation aims to scale up its productivity and expand operations across over 12 cities in the next 18 months.