Oct 22, 2013

BY  Bhawna Gupta Investors include Kashyap Deorah who recently sold his mobile payments startup JustChalo to OpenTable. Solar power solutions startup Claro Energy has raised its first round of funding from a group of angel investors in India, Singapore, the US and Canada. Claro Energy offers solar powered water pumping solutions to meet the irrigation requirements and rural drinking water needs. The investment was led by Sheetal Bahl who is the MD of startup consultancy cum angel network Growx Ventures and an independent angel investor. Other investors include Abraham Thomas (co-founder at Quandl), Arun Singhal (MD at Standard Chartered Bank) and Kashyap Deorah (serial entrepreneur who recently sold his new mobile payments venture JustChalo to OpenTable). “We are very happy to associate with the angel investors who represent accomplished entrepreneurs, technologists, investors and bankers. Equity capital will further enhance our strategic initiatives that will set us up on a stable and solid growth trajectory," said Soumitra Mishra, co-founder and director of Claro Energy. Sheetal Bahl, who will be joining Claro Energy’s board, said “Claro has a great team and has a well thought out plan to grow its operations and is likely to become a key player not just in solar energy, but also in the broader area of agriculture in the coming years.” Claro Energy was founded by Kartik Wahi and Soumitra Mishra after completing their MBA at Kellogg School of Management, the US. They were later joined by Gaurav Kumar, who was earlier working with infrastructure firm Punj Lloyd. It offers design, centrifugal AC/DC pump, middleware, motor operations and engineering of off-grid solar PV irrigation pumps to farmers. Since its inception, Claro Energy has expanded its operations from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. Although a large fraction of its business is with government, Claro Energy is looking to sell its solution directly to farmers. (Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)