Pune-based solar cold storage solutions provider Ecozen has raised $25 million in equity and debt capital in its series C round as it looks beyond agriculture to expand into new climate deep-technology fields.

The company is looking to accelerate the broader energy transition through its deep-tech expertise in energy storage, motor controls, and analytics.

The Series C equity portion was led by Nuveen and Dare Ventures, with participation from the Export-Import Bank of India (India EXIM Bank) and existing investors Caspian and Hivos-Triodos Funds (managed by Triodos Investment Management).

Rekha Unnithan, Managing Director at Nuveen, mentioned Ecozen has built products that replace diesel water pumps and fossil-fuels-dependent coolers, improve drought resiliency for smallholder farms, and simultaneously increase farmer incomes.

“With Ecozen’s proven expertise in delivering climate-smart technology solutions while maintaining profitability, together we will exponentially grow their impact globally and beyond agriculture,” she added.

Ecozen estimates India’s market size for its innovative technology stacks will grow to $25 billion by 2025.

“As we expand beyond India and agriculture, we will continue to focus on profitable growth and sustainable technology solutions. Ecozen will aggressively expand production capacity and product range,” Devendra Gupta, CEO, and Co-Founder at Ecozen, said.

The company said it aims to capitalize on a slate of successful projects by establishing itself as a trusted agri value chain participant in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Ecozen has applied its technology stacks to the agricultural sector and positively impacted cold chains through its Ecofrost product line and the irrigation industry through its Ecotron product line.

The company claims to have helped generate over 1 billion units of clean energy, potentially saving 20,000 metric tons of food loss and reducing over 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The company will leverage Nuveen’s experience in scaling impact-oriented businesses to augment its commercial offering, and the funding from India Exim Bank will support it in its export-related activities.

Early investors in Ecozen, Omnivore, and IFA achieved partial exits in the funding round.

The debt portion was provided by Maanaveeya Development and Finance, Oxyzo, Northern Arc group, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

In June 2022, Ecozen raised ₹540 million (~$6.93 million) as part of a planned ₹2 billion (~$25.67 million) Series C funding round.

The company also raised $6 million in a Series A fundraise from Sathguru Catalyser’s Innovation in Fund and Agriculture Fund.