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Recykal aims to channel at least 10-15 per cent of the waste that ends up in landfills by 2025
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The waste management sector in India is highly informal and fragmented. Watching the country being crippled by growing waste, a group of tech entrepreneurs and waste enthusiasts decided to use their combined expertise to disrupt this ecosystem. Founded in 2016, Recykal is currently Asia’s largest circular economy marketplace that offers end-to-end digital waste management solutions.
To bridge the industry's demand-supply gaps, Recykal connects waste generators, waste aggregators and waste recyclers through an ecosystem of digital cloud-based solutions that facilitate transparent and traceable material flows and transactions for all stakeholders. By partnering with more than 190 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), over 210 brands, 325 recyclers and coprocessors and 3,000-plus service providers and aggregators, Recykal has channelised over 200,000 metric tonnes of waste in the year 2021.
A Startup With A Purpose
“As long as we live, waste is going to be generated irrespective of hard times like Covid-19 and we definitely can have a sustainable way to recycle it. We believe Recykal is a startup with a purpose, whose activities and technology solutions have a direct impact on the waste management ecosystem and its stakeholders. Recykal aims to channel at least 10-15 per cent of the 85 per cent of waste that ends up in landfills by 2025," says Abhay Deshpande, Founder and CEO, Recykal.
As to the funding and revenue, Recykal raised $22 million from Morgan Stanley India in January 2022. Returning investors Circulate Capital, Vellayan Subbiah, and Arun Venkatachalam of the Murugappa Family also participated in the round. This takes the total equity capital raised by the company to $26 million, including a $4 million round in 2020.
"Some of the many challenges we face are stakeholders' low adoption of the tech. To overcome this, Recykal often conducts IEC sessions to encourage stakeholders to actively adapt our methods and ensure a smooth flow of data in waste management," Deshpande says.
End-to-end Solutions
He adds that the fragmented waste ecosystem in India is a major challenge. However, with end-to-end solutions, Recykal is slowly revolutionising the industry by bridging this gap between the stakeholders involved and solving the demand-supply disparity for recycling waste.
By 2025, the company is planning to set up over 100 Recykal points – a network of partner-driven waste collection centres in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities equipped with smart centre solutions and state-of-the-art collection sorting facilities. "Our focus on channelising waste and aiding the nation to reach circularity plays a key role in mitigating ocean-bound plastic and other waste from reaching land fields," he says.
Speaking of unicorns, Deshpande says that the status of unicorn isn’t the destination but is definitely a milestone and a validation that the actions taken by the business are moving in the right direction.