DHARAKSHA: Converting rice straw stubble to sustainable packaging material
Every year during winter, air pollution in Delhi and surrounding areas become a major headline. AQIs that fall under the ‘severely polluted’ category and a smoky haze across the sky is a common phenomenon in the Indo-gangetic belt. One of the primary causes of this is stubble burning, which contributes to as much as 26% of Delhi’s air pollution.
What if there was an economically viable solution that could help avoid stubble burning? This was the genesis for Dharaksha, a deep-tech material startup that converts paddy straw stubble into biodegradable packaging material. Founded by Arpit Dhupar and Anand Bodh in 2019, the startup makes sustainable packaging material using crop stubble waste that otherwise would have been burnt in the field. The company utilises its proprietary biotechnology process to develop packaging material that can biodegrade in 60 days in normal soil conditions.
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Incubated at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Dharaksha utilises Mycelium, which is essentially the roots of a mushroom, to decompose paddy straw and transform it into packaging boxes. The company was founded with a two-fold goal in mind—one, to minimise air pollution by converting crop residue into a valuable product, and two, to combat plastic pollution by providing a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional packaging materials.
Before establishing Dharaksha, the co-founders had extensive experience in running and scaling their previous startups. Dhupar, for instance, was the founder of Chakr Innovation, a company that developed an emission control device to decrease pollution at the source and convert it into a useful product. Meanwhile, Bodh was a part of the core team of Pumpumpum Cars, a company that provides a smart car subscription service. Having known and collaborated on several projects for over 13 years, the duo decided to create a product that addresses a significant environmental issue.
“We are a deep-tech company, where we are driving data before each decision or using the same data to form focused and efficient SOPs making the entire process space and time optimised,” says Bodh, the chief growth officer and co-founder, Dharaksha. “We have formed internal software and processes which enables us to keep track of each unit produced from Day 0 till the end of its life cycle. Each unit produced holds a separate identity in our systems. We manufacture 20,000 pieces per month currently, scaling up 5x in the next four months. Our key customers are Dabur, V-Guard, Pernod Ricard, Nestle, Fyllo, Gourmet Jars, etc (both in startups and corporate segments),” he adds.
Dharaksha’s clients range from white goods companies, FMCG and pottery companies. “FMCG and white goods companies can utilise our packaging material to safely ship their products sold via online e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. E-commerce shipping inherently involves tossing of packages and fragile items and has a potential risk of breakage. Our product gives the much required protection for it,” says Bodh.
Dharaksha has raised funding from a host of investors including Nithin Kamath of Zerodha, Momentum Capital, Let’s Venture, Pragatt Dutt, Anshuman Bapna (ex-CPO, Make My Trip), among other angels. Going forward, the company is stepping into franchise manufacturing and setting up 200-250 odd plants all over India in order to curb over 23 million tonnes of stubble waste.
GREEN SOLUTION
* Dharaksha makes sustainable packaging material using crop stubble waste
* Makes use of its proprietary biotechnology process
* Key customers are Dabur, V-Guard, Pernod Ricard, Nestle etc
* Plans 200-250 plants pan-India to curb over 23 million tonnes of stubble waste