September 08, 2022

The eco-friendly brick manufacturing startup incubated in the first COHORT of Assam Startup, Zerund Manufacturing, has raised Rs. 7.8 crores from a clutch of strategic private investors, including Dreamweaver Investments. The investment was facilitated by the Gruhas ASPIRE accelerator program, a joint initiative of Gruhas Proptech Fund, the DLF Family Office and Anthill Ventures. Notably, this is one of the highest amounts raised by a startup from Assam.

The startup was presented the cheque by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, in the presence of Gruhas Proptech Fund promoters Abhijeet Pai (Puzzolana Group), Nikhil Kamath (Co-founder, Zerodha) and Rahul Talwar (Director, DLF Family Office), during a ceremony held on September 7 at the NEDFi Convention Centre (Guwahati). The event was also attended by Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal (CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park) and Pranjal Konwar (COO, Assam Startup & IIM Calcutta Innovation Park).

Prior to the round, the startup had already raised Rs. 4 crores from various institutions, including NEDFi Venture Capital Ltd. (NVCL), Villgro Foundation, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (NIDHI EiR) and the Govt. of Assam (MASI grant of Rs. 15 lakhs).

The company will use the new funding to scale up its annual production capacity, which currently stands at more than 25 lakh bricks, and expand its sales and distribution network beyond the region to other Indian states. Currently, the bricks are sold across North East India and in Bengal, yielding a monthly revenue of over Rs. 1 crore. They are targeting boosting their annual production to 2.3 crore bricks in 2026, in line with the expanding demand for sustainable bricks.

Zerund manufactures high-grade, lightweight, eco-friendly bricks made of cement, fly ash, organic chemicals and plastic waste, and they are 15-20% cheaper than the regular bricks available on the market. These bricks have high tensile strength, thermal and sound insulation properties, are earthquake, pest and fire resistant and have no weathering effect.

While studying at the Assam Engineering College, founders David Gogoi, Rupam Choudhury, and Mousam Talukdar invented this sustainable brick-making process as part of their college project. In 2019, they were selected for incubation at Assam Startup in the first COHORT. While they brought a promising innovation to the fore, the right kind of guidance and mentoring from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, along with the networking opportunities provided at Assam Startup, were instrumental in accelerating the growth of the startup.

“We got selected for incubation at Assam Startup immediately after incorporating our company. Since then, we have received a lot of support from them through the world-class mentors they provide. Through the capacity-building workshops and mentor connections, we have learnt a lot about the business intricacies. “Further, the MASI grant helped us immensely during the pandemic,” says David.

Right after being on-boarded for incubation, David had shared his vision of becoming India’s largest brick manufacturer within 10 years. Given the growth that the startup has shown in the last 3 years, Zerund is definitely on the right track to achieving its vision.