Aavishkaar and Asha Impact said they have invested Rs44 crore in Nepra Resource Management Pvt. Ltd, an Ahmedabad-based waste aggregation and processing company, which operates under the ‘Let’s Recycle’ brand. The investment is part of Nepra’s Series-B funding round.
Ahmedabad-based Nepra has built an organised dry waste supply-chain that connects waste generators and collectors to recyclers. It has integrated over 1,800 waste pickers into the formal economy. The company says that it has developed a model that is modular, scalable and highly replicable. It can currently process 100 tonnes of waste per day in Ahmedabad and will be extending its footprint across new cities following the recent fundraising.
“We have seen impressive growth in Ahmedabad and this new round of funding from Aavishkaar and Asha Impact will help us expand our operations to three more cities and help us to build the foundation for expansion across the country over the next five years,” said Nepra CEO Sandeep Patel.
Aavishkaar is an impact fund advisory firm and part of the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group. Asha Impact is an impact investment and policy advocacy platform for Indian business leaders set up by Vikram Gandhi, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Pramod Bhasin, the founder and former chief executive officer of Genpact.
“We built a thesis around an investment in waste management, backed the founders of Nepra at a very nascent stage and have been continuously investing in this company since 2013. Nepra has clearly demonstrated the ability to create scale with sound economics, while creating massive impact on the ground,” said Anurag Agrawal, partner at Aavishkaar Venture Management Services.
India generates more than one lakh metric tonnes of solid waste every day. According to Nepra, the country’s waste processing sector has been plagued with poor segregation practices, which result in overfilling of landfills and loss of valuable recyclable waste, including paper, plastic, cardboard and glass.
With government initiatives, such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a push on solid waste management regulations and extended producer responsibility, there is large demand for organised waste management enterprises, the company added.
“The government’s commitment to sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission is supported by an increasingly favourable policy environment towards waste management in major cities. With these tailwinds, Nepra is well positioned, given its unique tech-enabled model to create meaningful social and environmental impact, while generating market-based returns for its investors,” said Asha Impact founders Gandhi and Bhasin.
Source: Mint