IAN Alpha Fund co-leads INR 32.5 Cr Round in Farm Watt Innovations

IAN Alpha Fund co-led a INR 32.5 crore funding round in Farm Watt Innovations, alongside Rainmatter. The capital will be used to expand the company’s biomass supply chain by increasing biomass collection networks, setting up aggregation hubs, investing in machinery and strengthening its workforce.

Founded in 2023 by Kumar Neelendu, Farm Watt addresses the gap between India’s abundant agricultural residue and the growing demand for biomass from the renewable energy sector.

Neelendu has over 23 years of experience in rural development, agriculture, financial inclusion, and sustainable livelihoods and has worked in the renewable energy and bioenergy sector since 2015, helping introduce compressed biogas (CBG) technologies in India.

India generates around 500 million tonnes of agricultural residue annually, while nearly 92 million tonnes is burned each year, contributing to air pollution, soil degradation and an estimated 34 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. At the same time, the government’s SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative is driving rapid expansion of CBG plants, creating demand for an organized biomass supply chain.

Farm Watt plans to expand its biomass aggregation network across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. The company also plans to expand into digital biomass supply chain solutions, carbon credits, biochar, biomass preprocessing and Bio-CBG projects, while developing its own portfolio of CBG, bio-pellet and biochar plants.

Kumar Neelendu, Founder & Managing Director, Farm Watt Innovations, said: “This investment marks an important milestone in Farm Watt’s journey towards building a scalable circular bioeconomy. On the one hand, we had industries coming up in the biogas sector, like Reliance, IOCL, HPCL, BPCL. And on the other hand, we had a situation where farmers were burning agri-waste. We thought it was the best time to get into the business.”

Sarika Saxena, Managing Partner at IAN Alpha Fund, said: “India’s transition to clean energy hinges on solving a massive, dual-sided challenge: managing millions of tonnes of underutilized crop residue while meeting the bioenergy sector’s soaring demand for reliable biomass. This isn’t just an environmental hurdle it’s a massive supply-chain opportunity.Farm Watt is capturing this market by building the missing link between farmers and the renewable energy ecosystem. Through their dependable biomass aggregation network, they are simultaneously curbing stubble burning, boosting rural incomes and accelerating India’s circular bioeconomy. We are proud to back a team whose deep rural market expertise and sharp execution capabilities position them to become a definitive leader in the space.”