Rainmatter-backed Zerocircle Onboards 3one4 Capital in New Funding Round

Pune-based sustainable packaging solutions startup Zerocircle has onboarded deeptech-focused venture capital firm 3one4 Capital in a new funding round. In an announcement on Thursday, the company said its total funding has now reached ₹25 crore, with existing investors Zerodha’s Rainmatter Capital, 1Crowd, LNB Group and 7th Gen also participating in the round.

In January last year, the firm raised ₹20 crore in a seed funding round.

Led by Neha Jain, Zerocircle works on developing natural alternatives to plastic. The company said the fresh capital will support its deeptech research and scale-up efforts focused on replacing plastic in food and consumer packaging using natural polymers and compounds.

The total funding figure includes venture capital investments as well as scientific grants and awards raised over the years.

“Zerocircle is building at the intersection of deeptech and meaningful impact at scale, applying material innovation to a problem that is both global and urgent,” said Nruthya Madappa, partner at 3one4 Capital. He added that the startup is building a category-leading plastic alternatives platform and working closely with some of the world’s largest enterprises to drive adoption at scale.

Nithin Kamath, CEO and founder of Zerodha, also praised the firm, saying that “Zerocircle makes coatings entirely from 100% natural compounds, eliminating the need for plastic use.”

“Sustainable packaging alternatives are no longer an option; they are a necessity, especially as they are now almost at the same price level as the most commonly used plastics,” he said.

Before the fundraise, the company’s founders held 65.3% of the equity, led by Neha Jain with a 64.6% stake, while Varun Jain owned 0.7%. Funds together owned 20% of the company, with Rainmatter as the largest institutional investor at 10.8%, followed by 1Crowd (4.5%), Trousdale Ventures (1.9%), LetsVenture and L N Bangur Group (1% each), and Aarem Ventures (0.9%), according to data from Tracxn. Angel investors held a combined 3.1% stake, while the ESOP pool accounted for 11.5% of the equity.

“With this round of funding, we are focused on the most critical food-contact applications and on building materials around how India and the world eats. Partnerships like these help us scale responsibly across food and consumer supply chains,” said Neha Jain, CEO and founder of Zerocircle.

Meanwhile, Zerocircle also announced that it has achieved a rare regulatory milestone, becoming the only materials company in Asia certified as 100% plastic-free under the European Union’s Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD). The certification confirms that its materials contain no plastic or synthetic components that could lead to microplastic leakage. Over the past year, the company said it has replaced around 1.6 million plastic food containers across India, the Netherlands and the Benelux region.

The company is now scaling up in markets where regulatory scrutiny and demand for plastic-free packaging are rising, including Europe, the UK, Oceania and India.

Zerocircle works with distributors, converters and foodservice partners to deploy its materials in high-volume applications such as food packaging and coated paper products, following a partnership-led and capital-efficient expansion strategy.

The company’s growth has also been supported by pilot projects with food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy. These pilots tested seaweed-coated, plastic-free containers across restaurant networks in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. Looking ahead, Zerocircle is targeting large coffee chains and paper converters.