Indian waste ♻️ firm sweeps in $22m in Morgan Stanley-led round

India-based Recykal, a B2B marketplace for waste management, has raised US$22 million in a new financing round led by Morgan Stanley.

Existing investors including Vellayan Subbiah, managing director of Tube Investments of India, and Arun Venkatachalam, who has invested in Zoomcar, Zetwerk, and City Mall, also took part.

The Recykal team / Photo credit: Recykal

This is Recykal’s second institutional fundraise after a US$4 million round in 2020.

Founded in 2016, the startup launched a B2B marketplace that connects participants across the waste recycling value chain and helps Indian companies implement sustainability solutions.

“Waste management in India and many other parts of the world is already a big problem, and it is getting worse,” said Raja Parthasarathy, managing director of Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure.

Through its platform, Recykal has so far channelized 200,000 tonnes of dry waste back into the circular economy by connecting over 100 brands, 1,000 corporates, 150 recyclers, and more than 80 government agencies across India.

The company plans to use these funds to expand its B2B marketplace across the country, strengthen its technology, and build hyperlocal waste processing infrastructure.

The latest fundraise will help Recykal tap into the rapidly growing waste management market in India, which is poised to hit US$13.62 billion by 2025.

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The startup was established by Abhay Deshpande, a board member at Payswiff Solutions, and Vikram Prabakar, who was previously chief product officer at the transaction processing firm. Other Recykal founders include Anirudha Jalan, former vice president of partnerships at Ambee; Abhishek Deshpande, ex-operations manager at Accor; and Ekta Narain, a former manager at IBM.