[Funding alert] Greentech startup Virtual Forest bags funding from Napino

Bengaluru-based green technology startup Virtual Forest has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Napino Auto and Electronics Ltd against 15 percent equity stakes.

Started in November 2019, Virtual Forest transforms ideas into innovative green technologies for home appliances like inverter air conditioners, BLDC ceiling fans, and solar pump controllers for Indian homes .

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The startup said in a release that in the short span of eight months, Virtual Forest has established deep technology partnerships with large domestic appliance manufacturers — enabling them to look at the viable option of reducing their dependence on China, which supplies over 80 percent of the domestic demand for intelligent motor controllers and human interface electronics.

As part of the deal, Gurugram-headquartered Napino will also manufacture products designed by Virtual Forest.

“The partnership with Napino gives us the manufacturing prowess needed to support the volumes that the domestic industry needs, which is growing at an average CAGR of 10 percent” said Omer Basith, Founding Director and CEO of Virtual Forest.

"We realised early on that to be an effective partner to Indian OEMs, we need to not only bring revolutionary green tech R&D capabilities, but ability to support through the product lifecycle with state-of-the-art testing lab and world class manufacturing facilities. We are now fully equipped to being a Virtual Lab and Virtual Factory for Indian appliance manufacturers”, he added.

Napino is one of the key players in automotive industry and going forward, it aims to expand its presence globally as a one-point solution provider from concept to manufactured products and tap segments including automotive, IoT, and home appliances.

Naveen Kumar CEO of Napino said:

“In Virtual Forest we have found a team who have been key stakeholders in the appliance and pump ecosystems for over two decades. They have a deep expertise in embedded systems development specifically in motor control engineering. This is coupled with a ground level understanding of the end user requirements, cost appetite and sector dynamics makes them an ideal partner for our foray into consumer durables”.