Aafrin Kidwai 
Screenshot of Indore MRF taken from official Twitter handle of NEPRA @LetsRecycle_IN
Ahmedabad-based Nepra Resource Management, which operates under the brand name ‘Let’s Recycle’, has raised $18 million in Series C funding from Aavishkaar Capital and Circulate Capital, an investment management firm dedicated to incubating and financing companies that prevent ocean plastic.
The capital infusion also provided a partial exit to an Aavishkaar Capital fund that had invested in Nepra back in 2013. Nepra has a unique model that focuses on dry waste recovery and recycling. It processes over 500 tonnes of dry waste every day across Ahmedabad, Indore, and Pune and works with 1,700 waste pickers and collectors. Nepra has positively impacted the lives of 5,000 people at the very bottom of the waste management industry over the last eight years.
Speaking on their investment, Mr Anurag Agrawal, Partner, Aavishkaar Capital, said, “Nepra is a unique story in the country that has grown many-fold from the time we made our first investment in 2013 when the company had ideated the concept and epitomises our philosophy of how scale, sustainability and impact can go hand in hand. The success of Nepra’s model has led us to regularly invest across all their rounds and partner them in their journey to take their unique solid waste management solutions pan-India.”
Commenting on the firm’s investment, Mr Rob Kaplan, Founder and CEO from Circulate Capital, added, “With this investment, we see tremendous opportunity to disrupt the waste management and recycling value chain while creating financial, environmental and social value. Alongside our corporate investors, we look forward to supporting Nepra’s expansion and scaling their impact across the country. “
Mr Sandeep Patel, Co-Founder & CEO, NEPRA, said, “We aim to utilize this Series C funding to further expand our operations nationally and strengthen our capacity to cater to the growing needs of cities for dry waste management solutions. Our ability to work closely with municipalities to organize dry waste collection, improve revenues for the informal sector, and ensure quality feedstock for recyclers, has seen our systems become indispensable and improve efficiency along the entire value chain.”
Nepra’s “zero waste to landfill” model diverts recyclable waste away from landfills and delivers quality materials to recyclers. Non-recyclables are used for energy recovery.
