Hyderabad-based Recykal has brought cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on board as a strategic investor, the company announced on 12 November 2026. Tendulkar will champion a nationwide push to make responsible waste behaviour an everyday habit for a billion Indians.
His investment extends Recykal’s $23 million bridge round, which the company closed in June 2026. The size of Tendulkar’s investment has not been disclosed, and the company has not shared a valuation for it.
“Throughout my career, I’ve learnt that lasting success is built on discipline and consistent efforts, however big or small. The same is true for building a cleaner India. What drew me to Recykal was seeing how technology was being used to solve an everyday problem. Recykal’s mission to use technology to drive behavioural change across 1 billion people is what really connected with me, and I hope together we can encourage more people to make responsible choices every day.” Sachin Tendulkar, Strategic Investor, Recykal, said.
What the bridge round looks like
Recykal closed the $23 million bridge round in June 2026 with a mix of primary and secondary capital. New investors put in $9 million, including biopharma company Biological E and the family offices of its managing director Mahima Datla, Dr Nageshwar Reddy and PVS Raju of AIG Hospitals.
The remaining $14 million came from existing investors such as 360 ONE, Trinity, Strat Ventures and the family office of Pidilite vice-chairman Ajay Parekh. The capital is being used to strengthen Recykal’s technology platform and open marketplace, scale its deposit return system and support international expansion.
Before the bridge round, Recykal raised 110 crore rupees from 360 ONE Asset in April 2024. The company has raised more than $68 million in total since it was founded.
What Recykal actually does
Recykal runs a digital platform for waste management and the circular economy. Its managed marketplace connects recyclers, enterprises and brands for traceable trade in recyclable materials, and its EPR platform helps brands meet extended producer responsibility rules.
Its deposit return system, built around the Retearn platform, pays consumers their deposit back when they return used packaging. AI-enabled Reklaim collection devices automate the returns and refunds, and the company has run digital deposit return pilots at Char Dham, Mani Mahesh and Gelephu.
Technology runs through the whole operation. The company uses computer vision to identify and classify waste, pricing models to forecast recycling markets and analytics to trace material through the supply chain.
Recykal was founded in 2015 by Abhay Deshpande, who leads the company as chief executive, along with co-founders Abhishek Deshpande, Anirudha Jalan, Ekta Narain, Sujan Parthasaradhi and Vikram Prabhakar.
“Recykal was built on a simple conviction that the circular economy is fundamentally a technology problem. Deposit Return Systems are perhaps the clearest expression of this thesis, bringing together technology, logistics and behavioural change to transform how packaging waste is recovered. To have Sachin join us as a strategic investor is incredibly meaningful. For decades, he has inspired millions of Indians through his discipline, integrity and ability to unite people around a common purpose. Together, we hope to inspire a movement where doing the right thing for the environment becomes an everyday habit.” Abhay Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Recykal, said.
The scale behind the mission
Recykal says it has channelled more than 3 million tonnes of waste through its platform. It works with over 650 brands, including Hindustan Unilever, Samsung and BMW, and more than 5,000 aggregators and recyclers across 28 states and union territories.
The company employs over 600 people. Its stated goal is to divert at least 10 percent of India’s waste back into the circular economy.
Why behaviour change is the bet
India generates about 65 million tonnes of waste every year, and only around 12 million tonnes of it is treated. Recykal’s argument is that the gap is a behaviour problem as much as a logistics problem, and that paying people to return packaging is the fastest way to close it.
Tendulkar’s role is to carry that message to households across the country. If a face as familiar as his can make returning a bottle feel normal, Recykal’s bet is that the habit will follow, and the tonnes will follow the habit.
