Recykal’s Rs. 218 Crore Bridge Round and Sachin Tendulkar’s Clean India Association – What It Means

Waste-management startup Recykal is drawing attention for two connected reasons: its $23 million, or roughly Rs. 218 crore, bridge funding round and its public association with cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.

What Recykal does

Hyderabad-based Recykal was founded in 2016. The company credits Abhay Deshpande as Founder and CEO, with Abhishek Deshpande, Anirudha Jalan, Ekta Narain, Sujan Parthasaradhi, and Vikram Prabhakar as co-founders.

Recykal uses a digital platform to connect waste generators, collectors, aggregators, recyclers, brands, and compliance teams. Its aim is to make India’s recycling chain more organized, traceable, and commercially viable.

For example, a consumer-goods company that sells packaged products has a responsibility to ensure that a portion of the packaging is collected and recycled. This responsibility is known as Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR. Recykal helps brands track waste collection and recycling activity while working with recyclers and informal waste-sector participants.

The platform covers areas including plastic waste, e-waste, batteries, tyres, lubricating oil, paper, and other recyclable materials.

How the $23 million bridge round works

A bridge round is funding raised between major investment rounds. It helps a company continue building, hiring, launching products, or expanding operations before a larger future fundraising round.

Recykal’s $23 million bridge round included both primary and secondary capital. Primary capital is fresh money invested into the company for its operations. Secondary capital is used when an existing shareholder sells shares to another investor.

Reports say Rs. 9 million of the round came from new investors, including Biological E and family offices connected with its Managing Director Mahima Datla, as well as Dr. Nageshwar Reddy and PVS Raju of AIG Hospitals. Existing investors, including 360 ONE, Trinity Combinator, Strat Ventures, and Ajay Parekh’s family office, contributed the remaining amount. Early investor Circulate Capital exited through the transaction.

Where Recykal plans to use the money

The startup says the new capital will support technology investments, wider deployment of its Deposit Refund System, behavioural-change programmes, and international expansion.

A Deposit Refund System, or DRS, works by adding a small refundable amount to a packaged product. When the consumer returns the empty packaging to an approved collection point, the deposit is returned. The model is designed to encourage people not to throw bottles and cans into general waste reported VCCircle.

Imagine buying a drink with a small extra deposit. If the empty bottle is returned through a collection machine or partner point, that amount comes back to the buyer. The packaging can then move into a more reliable recycling stream.

This approach could improve the collection of clean, sorted waste. It may also create more predictable supply for recyclers and make waste pickers’ work more visible within the formal system.

What Sachin Tendulkar’s association could add

A famous name cannot solve a waste problem alone, but it can bring public attention to a habit that is often ignored. Recykal’s stated mission is to drive responsible waste-management behaviour among one billion people.

Tendulkar’s association may help the company reach households, young consumers, brands, and local communities through awareness campaigns. But readers should separate this public-support role from a confirmed financial investment, which has not been disclosed in the available public information.

Competition and the road ahead

Recykal operates in a competitive circular-economy market. Its peers include EPR and collection-focused businesses such as Karo Sambhav and GEM Enviro, while companies such as Attero focus more strongly on e-waste and battery recycling.

Recykal’s advantage will depend on its ability to build trust across brands, recyclers, consumers, and waste workers. Technology can track material movement, but the real test is whether more waste is collected, sorted, and recycled at scale.

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