Singapore-based investment firm Circulate Capital has committed US$150 million (£111 million) to recycling and resource recovery businesses in India, in a move said to signal growing investor confidence in the circular economy sector despite a challenging fundraising environment for many climate technology ventures.
The funding will come from the firm’s second Asia-focused fund, which is targeting US$300 million and recently achieved a first close of US$220 million. The investor plans to support companies involved in plastics recycling, materials recovery and circular supply chains, while also expanding into critical materials such as aluminium, copper and rare earth elements recovered from discarded products and industrial waste streams.
Founded in Singapore, Circulate Capital focuses exclusively on circular economy investments across South and Southeast Asia and is backed by a range of multinational corporations and development finance institutions, including The Coca-Cola Company, Dow, Danone, Procter & Gamble, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and British International Investment.
The latest commitment follows a series of investments in Indian recycling businesses, including digital waste marketplace Recykal, plastics recycler Lucro Plastecycle and food-grade PET recycler Srichakra Polyplast.
According to reports, the decision to allocate additional capital to India was driven by the performance of the firm’s earlier investments in the country, which have demonstrated both commercial growth and environmental impact.
The move comes as governments and investors increasingly view recycling infrastructure as a strategic asset. Rising demand for recycled materials, concerns over resource security and efforts to diversify supply chains away from China are creating new opportunities for businesses that can recover valuable materials from waste streams.
In March, Circulate Capital announced that its second Asia fund had exceeded 70% of its fundraising target at first close, attracting support from institutional investors, development finance organisations and family offices.
Commenting on the fund’s strategy, Rob Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital, said: “Circulate Capital is the first and only private markets manager to bet exclusively on circular supply chains across South and Southeast Asia. Our track record of successful exits demonstrates that the circular economy is no longer just a subset of ESG or sustainability. It is a sophisticated asset class that can deliver liquidity to private equity investors. With Fund II, we are ready to scale and capture the massive growth potential inherent in these high-velocity economies, to build businesses that deliver financial and impact returns for our investors.”
The company said its portfolio has added nearly 900,000 tonnes of annual collection and recycling capacity since 2020, while Fund II is expected to finance substantial additional recycling and materials recovery infrastructure across the region.
Industry observers view the latest investment as further evidence that recycling infrastructure is increasingly being recognised not only as an environmental necessity but also as an investable industrial sector capable of generating long-term returns.
The announcement comes amid growing global interest in circular economy investments, with policymakers in Europe, Asia and North America seeking to increase domestic supplies of recycled materials and reduce dependence on virgin resource extraction.
