IAN funds tech to control diesel cost

BENGALURU: Indian Angel Network (IAN) has invested Rs 5 crore in California-based LoudCell that has development centres in India and China. Loudcell is IAN's maiden investment in an internet-of-things (IoT) startup.
Loudcell, co-founded by Ramesh Gupta and Ashish Srivastava, offers an IoT and cloud technology platform that saves diesel cost and reduces inefficiencies for diesel generator owners in the country. India has an installed base of more than 5 million diesel generators of capacity greater than 15 KVA and these generators consume $13 billion worth of diesel annually.
LoudCell’s Intelligent Fuel Management System (iFMS) has a web-based MIS and dashboard as part of the user interface that enables easy monitoring, fuel consumption, report generation and fuel reconciliation. Its master control unit, a micro-processor based hardware unit, uses sensors to remotely transmit data to the cloud to monitor the usage of diesel generators.
IAN’s angel investors Pradeep Gupta and Vishal Lalani co-led the investment. Gupta will join LoudCell’s board. “The criticality of this technology rests on the single fact that developing economies are struggling to meet their production costs owing to high level of fuel costs and spillovers. Also, LoudCell’s device reduces diesel wastage by 20% to 50% and controls pilferage,” said co-founder Gupta.
Srivastava said the company has 50 customers and is betting big on commercial and residential buildings, SMEs and manufacturing firms.
IAN’s Gupta said the investment was primarily driven by the fact that “India has a huge market for diesel consumption as it is fast becoming a manufacturing base for most companies.”