Eco-friendly brick maker Zerund raises USD 1 mn funding

Zerund, a Guwahati-based manufacturer of sustainable bricks, has raised USD 1 million (around Rs 7.8 crore) funding from a clutch of strategic investors, including Dreamweaver Investments, a senior official said on Friday.

The investment was facilitated through the Gruhas ASPIRE accelerator programme, a joint initiative of Gruhas Proptech Fund, The DLF Family office and Anthill Ventures. “We are on track to boost our annual production nine fold to 2.3 crore bricks by 2026 in line with the expanding demand for sustainable bricks,” Zerund Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Gogoi said.

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The investors in the latest round of fund raising exercise comprise experts with an “in-depth knowledge” of the property-technology space, he added. “Their support will be critical as we grow beyond our base in Assam and take our homegrown idea to the rest of India and beyond,” Gogoi said. He further said that the company will use the new funding to increase its annual production capacity, which stands at more than 25 lakh bricks at present.

The amount will also be utilised in enhancing the firm’s sales and distribution network beyond Assam to other Indian states in the coming months, the CEO said. Investor Gruhas Proptech Fund Co-Founder Abhijeet Pai said, “Bricks are the fundamental building blocks in construction and innovations such as Zerund’s product lie at the heart of Gruhas Proptech’s focus on decarbonizing construction and real estate.

“We will work closely with the Zerund team as they scale their business to meet the increased emphasis on sustainability to future-proof the construction industry”. In 2021 also, Zerund had raised Rs 4 crore from investors, including NEDFi Venture Capital Ltd (NVCL) and Villgro Foundation. Started in 2018 by civil engineering classmates David Gogoi, Mousum Talukdar and Rupam Choudhury from Assam Engineering College, Zerund has brick manufacturing plants in Guwahati and Pathsala in Assam.

The company manufactures high-grade and lightweight bricks, which utilise 70 per cent waste material, including plastic and fly ash, sourced from the NTPC plant in Kokrajhar district of Assam.