Hyderabad: Circulate Capital, the Singapore-based investment management company focused on preventing plastic from leaking into the ocean and advancing the circular economy, today announced that the Circulate Capital’s Ocean Fund (CCOF) has made a strategic investment into Hyderabad-based Rapidue Technologies (Recykal). Recykal is India’s first digital solutions waste-commerce (w-commerce) company that connects all stakeholders across the value chain to solve the biggest challenges faced by the industry. Established in partnership with PepsiCo (its first investor), Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Chanel, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, and Chevron Phillips Chemical, CCOF is the world’s first investment fund dedicated to combat ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia.
Underpinned by strong entrepreneurial experience in developing digital businesses, Recykal recognised that some of the most pressing challenges faced by the waste management and recycling industry in India could be solved through digital technology. These challenges include mismatch between buyers and sellers of plastic waste, as well as a lack of transparency, source segregation, material traceability and actionable analytics.
Recykal’s unique, integrated approach connects waste generators with waste processors and recyclers, and brand owners through an ecosystem of cloud-based solutions, that facilitate transparent and traceable material flows and transactions. The company enables more efficient and effective dry waste management through its digital marketplace for waste, Smart Centre Solutions and EPR Solution, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) management tool. Recykal’s digital footprint for waste collection and channelisation includes more than 400,000 consumers, over 1,000 businesses, 500 aggregators and waste management companies, more than 100 recyclers and 30 municipalities across 27 states and union territories in India.
Speaking on this occasion, Abhay Deshpande, Founder, Recykal, said, “We are proud to be India’s first w-commerce company, transforming the waste management and recycling industry and setting new standards using digital solutions. We believe that our unique proposition of providing the industry with a complete ecosystem to track and trace material flows and transactions brings unprecedented value to all key players along the value chain. By connecting stakeholders, we are also driving efficiency to promote higher throughputs in recycling. This investment will allow us to bring our offerings to more markets in India and put us in a good position to lead a digital revolution of the country’s waste management and recycling industry.”
Commenting on the commitment, Rob Kaplan, CEO, Circulate Capital said, “As the first company in India to set up a digital waste marketplace and provide comprehensive digital solutions to the whole waste management and recycling industry, Recykal is playing a pivotal role in bringing transformative change to India’s circular economy through targeted solutions for specific pain points like transparency and traceability. We are excited to be embarking on this journey with Recykal and look forward to supporting the company through this exciting expansionary phase.”
To date, Circulate Capital has committed US$39 million to form the largest investment portfolio dedicated to fighting plastic pollution and advancing the circular economy for plastic waste in India. The portfolio includes six local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are pioneers in the waste management sector and are disrupting the recycling value chain. In concert, the portfolio aims to materially improve the industry in India by driving scale to address key systemic gaps and pain points within the ecosystem, such as fragmentation, lack of traceability and low quality of recycled materials through three key innovation strategies: scaling upcycling to transform waste into value (Lucro Plastecycle, Srichakra Polyplast, Ricron and Dalmia Polypro); scaling digitization (Recykal); and, scaling collection and sorting (Nepra Resource Management).
The catalytic capital provided through CCOF’s investments will fund capacity expansion to help the portfolio companies embark on their next stage of growth. In addition to financing, Circulate Capital provides mentorship, technical expertise as well as introductions to its network of partners along the value chain so that they can thrive for the long term.
