With the U.S. economy still in the doldrums, venture firms are increasingly looking abroad to capital-starved developing markets for new growth opportunities -- with India and China quickly emerging as the main beneficiaries. Enter Attero, a Noida, India-based e-waste recycler, which has just snagged a $6.3 million first round cash infusion from VC heavyweight Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA-IndoUS Ventures, a Bangalore-based venture firm that provides early to mid-stage funding to Indian start-ups.
The company, whose name means "waste" in Latin, offers end-to-end recycling services for used electronic goods. Its process minimizes the use of labor-intensive manual disassembly to boost its efficiency, relying on a mix of mechanical separation of the materials and metallurgical treatment. Attero recycles the constituent metals and plastics after carefully separating and treating the various components and promises to destroy all sensitive data and hardware.
Attero picks up the products to be recycled from its customers and keeps them updated on the disassembly process. It plans on using the funds to expand its operations and to build a 100,000 plus square foot high-tech recycling plant in Roorkee to process all WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), which includes old computers, cell phones and TVs.
With e-waste now India's fastest growing waste stream -- thanks in large part to its residents' rising affluence and trash exports from the developed world -- finding a safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of it has become an imperative. And, with India's economy still expanding at a robust clip, there's plenty more room for Attero, and similar companies, to grow.