PolyCycl secures funding to scale chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastics

INDIA – PolyCycl, an Indian chemical recycling technology platform, has secured Series A investment from Rainmatter, the sustainability-focused equity arm of online trading platform Zerodha, as it looks to accelerate the deployment of its solutions for hard-to-recycle plastic waste.

The companies did not disclose the value of the investment.

The funding will support the next phase of development of PolyCycl’s chemical recycling technology, with a focus on moving from technical maturity to wider industrial deployment.

PolyCycl said the capital will also be used to deepen engagement with petrochemical producers and downstream manufacturing partners, positioning its technology within emerging circular petrochemical value chains.

“Our focus has been on building technology that can operate reliably at industrial scale and integrate into circular petrochemical chains,” said Amit Tandon, founder and chief executive officer of PolyCycl.

“Rainmatter’s investment strengthens our ability to move from technical maturity to wider deployment.”

Rainmatter, which invests patient capital into long-term sustainability-driven ventures, said PolyCycl aligns with its strategy of backing complex, engineering-led platforms with the potential to reshape entire sectors.

“We want to back complex technologies that take time to build but have the potential to reshape entire sectors,” said Abhinav Singh Negi, who works in business and investments at Rainmatter by Zerodha.

“PolyCycl fits this philosophy through its deep engineering focus and long-term intent.”

Negi added that the platform’s technology shows strong potential for both domestic and international licensing, enabling the expansion of chemical recycling capacity for plastics that are currently excluded from conventional recycling systems.

PolyCycl’s approach targets low-grade, contaminated and multi-layer plastic waste streams, such as single-use flexible films and mixed packaging, that are unsuitable for traditional mechanical recycling.

Using chemical recycling processes, these plastics are broken down into hydrocarbon molecules that can be used to produce circular polymers, green chemicals and renewable fuels.

The investment builds on PolyCycl’s 2023 partnership with Re Sustainability, Asia’s largest integrated waste management company.

Under the collaboration, the two companies are establishing a network of feedstock aggregation, sorting and pre-processing facilities across India to supply chemical recycling projects.

The first facility, focused on automated and high-throughput sorting of mixed plastic waste, is planned for Delhi.

“The plastics we are targeting are typically a mix of resins and heavily contaminated, which makes them difficult to recycle mechanically,” PolyCycl said.

“Chemical recycling allows us to convert this material into valuable molecular building blocks.”

Industry observers note that interest in chemical recycling is growing across India as policymakers, brand owners and petrochemical companies seek scalable solutions to address plastic waste while meeting recycled content and circularity targets.

With Rainmatter’s backing, PolyCycl is positioning itself as a technology enabler within this evolving ecosystem, aiming to demonstrate commercial-scale recovery of value from plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills or the environment.

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