[Funding alert] Water purifier startup Aquvio raises Pre Series A round from Technology Development Board
Varanasi-based Aquvio says it has saved half a million litres of water in 2016, 10 million litres in 2017, and 50 million litres in 2018.
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Varanasi-based startup Aquvio on Monday announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount as part of its pre-Series A round from the Technology Development Board, Government of India, along with Villgro's INVENT and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
Aquvio is now planning to reach pan India by 2022, the company said in a statement. It also said that IIT Kanpur has been incubating them since last two years and supported with management activities.
Incubated at Malviya Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (MCIIE) in Varanasi, the startup said it hopes to build disrupting technologies to provide access to safe water, sanitation, sustainable use of water, and also generate employment opportunities. Aquvio works on water purification and treatment.
Founded by Naveen Kumar and Rohit Kumar Mittal in 2015, the startup claims it has saved half a million litres of water in 2016, 10 million litres in 2017 and 50 million litres in 2018.
In an official statement, the company said,
“Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use. In 2010, the UN General Assembly explicitly recognised the human right to water and sanitation.”
With its work, Aquvio claims that it is achieving three of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) laid down by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and climate action.
According to Aquvio, its revenue has clocked in over Rs 10 million and has sold more than 100 units of the product. It was recognised by the ‘Startup India and Standup India’ scheme by the government as well as the United Nations.
With a patent from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Aquvio said that more than 70 percent of water is recovered in the purification process.
The company began by installing water purifiers in various educational institutions in Varanasi. So far, its product is installed in private and government offices and institutes, factories, hospitals, and the Indian military.
In 2017, Aquvio won Rs 10 lakh at the APJ Abdul Kalam Centre Startup Impact Challenge.
Currently present in Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, its water purifier technology come in variants of 25 litres per hour (LPH), 50 LPH, 100 LPH and others with in-built water coolers.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
