Mycelium packaging made in India: the biodegradable thermocol alternative
Petroleum built the modern world.
Biology will rebuild it.
We engineer mycelium into industrial-grade materials — protective packaging, thermal insulation and specialty forms — on a machinized, reproducible production line. Same surface, better physics, P&L upside. Explore mycelium packaging India from our Faridabad plant.
Material spec, today
Shock absorption vs EPS
3×
Thermal retention
+20%
Breakage in transit
<2%
Net P&L gain
2.6×
Sound for Fungi · Studio Theresa Schubert
3×
Shock absorption
vs EPS at equivalent density
+20%
Thermal retention
vs incumbent foams
<2%
In-transit breakage
vs a 15–30% baseline
2.6×
Net P&L gain
Material spec, today
02 — Material
We don’t grow mushrooms. We engineer a better material.
Dharaksha is an advanced material biomanufacturing company. We feed any lignocellulosic agri-residue into a closed-loop production line where mycelial hyphae weave a 3D mesh through the substrate, binding it into precisely-shaped, load-bearing forms with a velvety, water-resistant surface.
The breakthrough is not the biology. The breakthrough is machinizing the biology — getting reproducibility, surface finish and unit economics that replace thermocol on cost, on performance, and on freight. At scale.
03 — The biomanufacturing edge
Most mycelium is artisanal. Ours is industrial.
A closed-loop, automated production line in Faridabad. Each step is instrumented, each batch is reproducible, each SKU has tolerances. The result is a production-grade alternative to thermocol, engineered for industrial supply.
850×
Bioreactor scale
13×
Throughput
60%
Less manpower
1/3
Energy use
<10%
Rejection rate (from 55%)
04 — Process
From agri-residue to premium-grade biodegradable packaging.
We buy crop waste from farmers and grow it into a precise, mouldable, load-bearing part.
- We buy crop waste from farmers. After harvest, the Dharaksha crew pays the farmer for his parali and loads it onto our truck.
- Prepared at our Faridabad factory. The straw is chopped and steam-pasteurised for a clean start.
- Inoculated by our biologist. Live mycelium spawn is mixed into the clean straw.
- Grown in the mould. Mycelium threads spread through the straw and knit it into the exact shape.
- Dried and heat-treated. The Dharaksha engineer drives out the moisture and stops the growth for good.
- Packed by the crew. Light, strong, and keeps cold better than thermocol (k 0.032 vs EPS 0.0365 W/m·K).
- Arpit dispatches the order. Our founder sees every order off in a Dharaksha van.
- Delivered to her door. Her face cream arrives safe in a Dharaksha mycelium box.
- Back to soil. She tears up the box into her flower pot. It breaks down and feeds the soil.
Proven at industrial scale
In production. Backed. Recognised.
Dharaksha runs a closed-loop, automated mycelium production line in Faridabad, Delhi NCR — engineered for reproducible quality, every batch, every shift.
850 L
Liquid-culture bioreactor
Throughput up 13× on the same floor space
<10%
Rejection rate
Down from 55%, with 60% less manpower per kg and energy cut to one-third
<2%
Breakage in transit
vs a 15–30% baseline with incumbent packaging
₹24.8 cr
Seed round
Led by Avaana Capital
5 of 5
Sharks on board
All-shark deal, Shark Tank India Season 3
2025
NASSCOM Emerge 50
Winner
Industries we serve
01 — Applications
A drop-in thermocol alternative for every industry.
E-commerce, electronics, fragile-goods logistics, diagnostics & pharma cold-chain, glassware, luxury, defence — wherever breakage, freight cost or end-of-life liability matters.
Breakage: 15–30% → <2%
Protective packaging
Read more
Custom-moulded mycelium forms for e-commerce, electronics and fragile-goods logistics. Engineered density, velvety finish, <2% in-transit breakage.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
+20% thermal retention
Cold-chain thermal insulation
Read more
Mycelium ice-box for diagnostics and pharma cold-chain. +20% thermal retention, fully compostable.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Anti-static
Specialty electronics
Read more
Anti-static, naturally flame retardant, water-resistant. A drop-in for premium consumer & industrial electronics.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Premium-grade finish
Mirrors, glass & luxury
Read more
Premium packaging for mirrors, fine glassware, ceramics and luxury goods. Velvety mycelial finish.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Velvety finish
Perfumes & beauty
Read more
Custom cradles for premium perfume bottles, fragrances and high-end beauty SKUs. The velvety mycelial surface becomes part of the unboxing — a tactile cue that this is a brand that cares about every detail.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Bottle-fit cushioning
Wines & spirits
Read more
Bottle-form mycelium cradles for premium wines, single-malts and spirits. Engineered shock absorption + retail-grade aesthetics.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Full-slab transport cushioning
Marble & stone slabs
Read more
Moulded edge & corner protectors plus mycelium spacers that absorb load across the face. Cuts chipping, surface scratching and breakage across long-haul stone transport.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Custom-mould form factor
Precision industrial components
Read more
Custom forms for bearings, optics and high-value industrial shipments. Engineered tolerances, every batch.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Traceable batch
Defence & aerospace
Read more
Where breakage cost justifies premium material. Engineered density and resilience, fully traceable.
Drop-in for: EPS / thermocol
Packaging formats
Mycelium inside. Paper outside.
Corrugated shippers, monocartons and honeycomb board stay on the outside. Mycelium replaces the thermocol (EPS) insert inside, custom-moulded to your product. A drop-in for everywhere thermocol exists today.
Replaces thermocol / EPS
Mycelium inserts
Custom-moulded inserts and cradles for serums, perfumes and premium beauty, grown from agri-residue. 3× shock absorption vs EPS at equivalent density, water-resistant, and biodegrades in ~60 days in soil.
Outer shipper · works alongside
Corrugated cardboard
From everyday shippers to premium printed kraft mailers. Keep your corrugated outer and swap the loose thermocol blocks inside for a moulded mycelium insert, so the whole pack is paper and plant-based material with no EPS inside.
Retail carton · works alongside
Monocartons
Printed paperboard retail boxes for perfumes, beauty, tea, FMCG and premium goods. A velvety mycelium cradle inside holds the product in place and becomes part of the unboxing.
Paper board · works alongside
Honeycomb board
Rigid, lightweight paper honeycomb panels, with a hexagonal paper core between two liners, used for pallets, edge protection and void fill. Where a product needs a precise, load-bearing, custom-moulded form, such as bottles, glassware or electronics, that is where mycelium comes in.
06 — Impact
Clean skies. Healthy soil. Less plastic.
Every block we grow starts as crop residue that would otherwise be burned — and ends as packaging that returns to the soil.
Watch the world’s thermocol add up, live, and how mycelium closes the gap →
84M+
Tonnes of crop stubble
burned in India every year — the problem we exist to solve
~60 days
To biodegrade
in normal soil conditions
<2%
Transit breakage
vs a 15–30% baseline with incumbent packaging
+20%
Thermal retention
fully compostable cold-chain
The circular loop
01
Parali
Farmers’ paddy straw is collected instead of being burned.
02
Grow
Mycelium binds the residue into precise, load-bearing forms.
03
Protect
Packaging and insulation replace thermocol across supply chains.
04
Return
After use, it biodegrades back into the soil in ~60 days.
Our mission is to act on the very cause of pollution and scale sustainable and economically viable solutions — and we will not stop till we uproot the deepest roots of pollution.
Recognition & backing
Backed by people who build the future.
2025
NASSCOM Emerge 50
Winner
Sep 2024
₹24.8 crore seed round
Led by Avaana Capital
2024
Shark Tank India S3
All-shark deal
2023
Marico Innovation Foundation
Recognised for innovation against plastic pollution
2021
NBEC-2021 winner
National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (BIRAC / C-CAMP), prize sponsored by Novozymes
Grant
India Plastic Hackathon
₹5 lakh grant for solutions to single-use plastic
Incubated at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology · Supported by FiiRE Goa under NIDHI PRAYAS
05 — The team
Built by industrialists, scientists and operators.
Engineering meets biotechnology meets operations. Five leaders, one stack — from strain to shipment.
Arpit Dhupar
CEO & Founder
Engineer, industrialist, category builder. 2nd-time founder, ex-CTO Chakr Innovation. Forbes 30U30, UN Young Champion of the Earth.
Sanjay Kushwaha
Lead, Engineering
Machine builder. Automation architect. Translates biology into a reproducible production line.
Priya Baruah
Lead, Biotechnology
Engineerable fungal growth. Strain & substrate optimisation for predictable mechanical properties.
CA Drishty Arora
Financial Controller
Owns COGS, unit economics and financial diligence at production scale.
From the blog
Further reading on mycelium packaging
Packaging Insights
The Ice Box, Reinvented: Why Mycelium Beats Thermocol on Insulation
Thermocol has been the default ice box for decades. Our mycelium lets 12.3% less heat through. Here is what a k-value is, and why it matters for anything you ship cold.
Packaging Insights
Mushroom Packaging: 7 Myths, Busted
Will it go mouldy? Is it alive? Can it really replace thermocol? We answer the seven questions we hear most about mushroom (mycelium) packaging.
Packaging Insights
Corrugated, Monocarton, Honeycomb, Thermocol or Mycelium? The Visual Guide to Packaging
Five materials do most of the work of getting products to customers in one piece. Here is what each one is, what it is good at, and where mycelium fits.
Let’s build the next materials leader together.
Whether you ship 100 boxes a day or 100,000, we can model the switch. Tell us who you are and we’ll come back inside one business day.
What is your material made from?
Any lignocellulosic agri-residue — such as paddy straw, which is otherwise burned in the fields — bound together by mycelium, the root network of fungi.
Is it water-resistant?
Yes. Finished parts are surface-cured to a velvety, water-resistant, anti-static mycelial coat.
Is it biodegradable?
Yes. The material is fully compostable and biodegrades in around 60 days in normal soil conditions.
Can it replace my current thermocol / EPS insert?
That’s exactly what it’s built for. We custom-mould any geometry with engineered density and tolerances — a drop-in for EPS / thermocol in packaging and cold-chain.
How does it perform against EPS?
3× shock absorption vs EPS at equivalent density, +20% thermal retention vs incumbent foams, and <2% in-transit breakage versus a 15–30% baseline.
Is it fire-safe?
The material is naturally flame retardant.
Who do you work with?
B2B customers in packaging and cold-chain, spoke partners (manufacturing entrepreneurs / licensees in a hub-and-spoke model), and climate-tech investors.
Where are you based?
Headquartered in Faridabad, Haryana, where our production facility is.
Dharaksha in numbers
India’s largest mycelium packaging manufacturer
Dharaksha Ecosolutions grows industrial mycelium packaging at scale from Faridabad, Haryana — with presence across India and exports worldwide. Our 27,000 sq ft facility, 100+ people and seed funding led by Avaana Capital back a claim rooted in capacity, conversion volume and named enterprise clients. We have also acquired 8,000 sq ft of new land to expand assembly as order volume grows across India and for export.
Trusted by leading brands
Dabur · Havells · V-Guard · Gourmet Jar · Kyari · Dr Lal PathLabs · KF Bioplants and more across glass, FMCG, cold chain and luxury.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the largest mycelium packaging company in India?
Dharaksha Ecosolutions is India’s largest mycelium packaging manufacturer, operating a 27,000 sq ft facility in Faridabad with 100+ people and more than 7,000 tonnes of agri-residue already converted into packaging.
Who makes mycelium packaging in India?
Dharaksha Ecosolutions manufactures industrial mycelium packaging in Faridabad, Haryana — protective inserts, luxury packs, cold-chain ice boxes, acoustic panels and home products — with presence across India and exports worldwide.
What is the best thermocol alternative in India?
For brands that need a drop-in for EPS / thermocol, Dharaksha Ecosolutions mycelium packaging is India’s leading industrial alternative: custom-moulded, load-bearing, home-compostable, and proven at under 1% breakage for glass and jarred foods.
Where can I buy mycelium ice boxes in India?
Dharaksha Ecosolutions makes mycelium ice boxes (ParaChill) for cold-chain shipping from Faridabad. Request a quote or sample at dharaksha.com/cold-chain-packaging or the contact page.
Where is Dharaksha Ecosolutions based?
Dharaksha Ecosolutions is headquartered in Faridabad, Haryana, India, with presence across India and exports worldwide. Founder: Arpit Dhupar.
Which brands use Dharaksha mycelium packaging?
Enterprise and specialty brands that use Dharaksha Ecosolutions packaging include Dabur, Havells, V-Guard, Gourmet Jar, Kyari, Dr Lal PathLabs and KF Bioplants. Dharaksha is also a NASSCOM Emerge 50 winner.
Petroleum built the modern world.
Biology will rebuild it.
Working with
- B2B customers — packaging & cold-chain
- Spoke partners — hub-and-spoke licensing
- Investors — climate-tech, VC, family offices
Contact
+91 92173 09172
Faridabad, Haryana, India
LinkedIn
© 2026 Dharaksha Ecosolutions Private Limited · Advanced Material Biomanufacturing. An eco friendly thermocol alternative with insulation of k = 0.032 W/m·K, grown from agricultural waste and home-compostable.