April 14 2016, 13.14 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Bangalore, 13th April 2016: ONergy Solar (Punam Energy Private Limited), a Kolkata based startup has raised a syndicated round of funding through IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). The fund was contributed by Bajaj Electricals Limited as a part of their CSR initiative to actively support the start-up through strategic engagement.
Bajaj Electricals Limited, a part of the Bajaj Group, is a consumer durables (brown goods) and electrical manufacturing company. With diversified interests in lighting, luminaries, appliances, engineering & special projects, Bajaj Electricals aims to help ONergy Solar in innovative, disruptive and scalable schemes.
ONergy is one of the leading social enterprise that provides reliable and affordable clean energy products for solar lighting, cooking and electrification by setting up energy distribution and service networks to underserved households and institutions.
Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Jaju, CEO, ONergy Solar said, “The investment from Bajaj Electricals has great strategic importance as we can bank on the expertise of Bajaj to grow our business. Also the investment is directed towards our growth in North East India, which faces acute energy poverty. We truly value the role of CIIE is facilitating this investment. Using CSR funds to invest in enterprises like ours can have a multiplier effect and can truly achieve greater impact than doing plain vanilla CSR.”
Mr. Shekhar Bajaj, CMD, Bajaj Electricals Limited, said “We would like to deploy our CSR funds by identifying right partner organizations who have the capability from ideation to execution, projects relevant to bring positive changes in the society we live in. We also try and leverage our in-house expertise and encourage employee engagement through volunteering from the vast pool of talent we have with us. Environmental sustainability is one our priority areas in CSR and supporting enterprises working in promoting renewable energies in energy deficit regions serves the larger purpose.”
CIIE, the technology business incubator at IIM-A, pursues entrepreneurship promotion through various funding, advisory, mentoring and incubation initiatives. CIIE helps corporates redirect their CSR contribution to a deserving startup and instigates relations between industry and incubators. In addition to these, CIIE engages in research about the industry trends and best practices. These are facilitated through extensive networks, and partnerships with the IIMA community, investors and other crucial stakeholders within the entrepreneurial ecosystem of India and abroad.
About Bajaj Electricals:
Bajaj Electricals Limited (BEL), a 75 year old company, is a part of the Bajaj Group. Bajaj Electricals Limited has six strategic business units – EPC, Appliances, Fans, Luminaires, Lighting and Morphy Richards. BEL is also in the business of manufacturing, erection and commissioning of Transmission Line Towers, Telecom Towers, Mobile Telecom Towers and Wind Energy Towers. BEL has 19 branch offices, a chain of 600 distributors, 3000 authorized dealers, over 250,000 retail outlets and over 230 service franchises spread across the country.
Website: www.bajajelectricals.com
About CIIE:
Set up under the aegis of IIM Ahmedabad, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into viable businesses. In partnership with our mentors, corporates, development agencies, IIMA community and investors, CIIE cultivates a rare breed of entrepreneurs by incubating, accelerating, mentoring and funding innovative start-ups. CIIE believes that entrepreneurship has an unmatched ability to bring about disruptive change in India and engages with ventures across technology and impact areas like energy, environment, agriculture, healthcare and affordable technology.
Website: www.ciie.co
About ONergy Solar:
ONergy is a leading and rapidly growing energy access social enterprise providing complete range of solar solutions to underserved households and institutions. ONergy has pioneered in developing innovative and customised solar solutions and setting up last mile energy distribution and service network's through Renewable Energy Centre's (RECs). ONergy provides energy solutions to the undeserved households and business by deploying solar LED lighting, solar electrification systems, solar microgrids, solar irrigation systems and cooking / thermal solutions, across East India. ONergy serves over 1000 villages in East India and has impacted over 170,000 lives by promoting a range of solar solutions. We are led by a mission to impact 1 Million lives by 2016 and 10 million lives by 2022.
Website: www.onergy.in