altM raises $10.3 million from Rainmatter, Mela Ventures to scale manufacturing

altM, a company that develops speciality chemicals and biomaterials from agricultural residue such as sugarcane bagasse and rice straw, announced Thursday that it has raised $10.3 million in Series A funding from new investors Rainmatter by Zerodha and Mela Ventures. Existing investors, including Omnivore, Theia Ventures, Aureolis Ventures and Spectrum Impact, also participated in the latest round.

Funding to expand commercial manufacturing

The company plans to use the funds to expand its manufacturing capabilities, research and development, customer qualification programs, and engineering and commercial teams as it moves from pilot-scale production toward commercial manufacturing, altM said in a statement.

Founded in 2022 by former Tesla manufacturing leaders Apoorv Garg and Yugal Raj Jain, with bioprocessing scientist Harshad Velankar later joining as Chief Scientific Officer, altM is developing a specialty chemicals platform that converts agricultural residue into high-performance industrial chemicals.

“We are pleased to partner with altM as they move into commercial-scale production. Re-wiring foundational supply chains away from fossil-derived inputs is one of the most critical challenges facing modern manufacturing today,” said Abhinav Negi, Lead - Climate & Deep Tech, Rainmatter by Zerodha.

Converting agricultural waste into industrial materials

altM’s processes convert lignocellulosic biomass, including sugarcane bagasse, rice straw and other agricultural residues, into materials for beauty and personal care, textiles, industrial chemicals, construction, packaging, and consumer goods. The platform uses the major fractions of biomass, including cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, to produce multiple products from a single feedstock. This lets agricultural residue serve as an industrial carbon source and reduces reliance on fossil-derived raw materials.

“Solving DeepTech problems involves research and understanding interplay of multiple areas. altM is tackling one of the hardest problems in industrial chemistry which is creating new age materials that can match the performance of fossil-derived inputs while fundamentally changing where their carbon comes from. At Mela, we like to invest at the inflection point, and with altM we think moment is here for creating new age materials which are more environmentally friendly,” said Krishnakumar N, Managing Partner, Mela Ventures.

“Industrial manufacturing has relied on fossil carbon for more than a century. We are building a new source of industrial carbon from agricultural residue,” said Apoorv Garg, Co-founder and CEO, altM.

Bengaluru facility and progress towards commercialisation

Since raising its $3.5 million seed round in 2023, altM has built an integrated R&D and pilot manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, bringing laboratory research, demonstration manufacturing, and pilot production together under one roof. In less than two years, the company has expanded its laboratory footprint nearly fivefold, commissioned its demonstration manufacturing facility, and advanced six molecules to demonstration scale, with three selected for pilot plant production.

The first products advancing toward commercialisation include a lignin-derived SPF Booster for suncare applications, a cellulose-based rheology modifier and a bio-derived Ferulic Acid for cosmetics and personal care formulations, the company said.