Sachin Tendulkar has invested in Recykal, a Hyderabad-based waste management and recycling platform, joining as a strategic investor. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal investment extends the company’s $23 million bridge round, which closed in June 2026. Recykal announced the investment this week and did not disclose how much Tendulkar put in. Tendulkar will work with the company on its campaign to make responsible waste behaviour an everyday habit. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal announcement was made on Friday, 13 November.
Sachin Tendulkar Recykal deal: what the money is for
The bridge round behind the Sachin Tendulkar Recykal deal was made up of primary and secondary capital from existing investors and a group of new family offices. New investors put in $9 million, including Biological E Ltd managing director Mahima Datla and AIG Hospitals’ Dr D Nageshwar Reddy and P V S Raju. The remaining $14 million came from existing investors, including 360 ONE Asset Management. Recykal is using the money to strengthen its technology platform and Open Marketplace, scale up its Deposit Return System and expand into overseas markets. The round closed in June 2026, and Tendulkar’s investment extends that round rather than opening a new one.
Tendulkar said: “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 one billion people is what really connected with me.” He also said: “Lasting success is built on discipline and consistent efforts. I hope together we can encourage more people to make responsible choices every day.” Abhay Deshpande, Recykal’s chief executive officer and co-founder, called Tendulkar’s arrival incredibly meaningful. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal partnership is aimed at making responsible waste behaviour an everyday habit.
What Recykal does
Recykal was founded in 2015 by Abhay Deshpande and Abhishek Deshpande. The company runs a technology platform that links brands, producers, recyclers, aggregators and waste collectors. It sells software that helps companies meet India’s extended producer responsibility rules, runs a marketplace for recyclable materials, operates deposit return systems and builds AI-enabled reverse vending machines that are designed and made in India. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal deal is the latest investment in a company founded in 2015.
The company said it had channelled more than 3 million metric tonnes of waste through its platform and works with about 650 brands, including Hindustan Unilever, Samsung and BMW, and more than 5,000 aggregators and recyclers. Its Deposit Return System brings together technology, logistics and changes in behaviour to change how packaging waste is recovered, according to Deshpande.
Tendulkar is the highest run-scorer in the history of Test and one-day international cricket. He has been backing startups since 2013, when he made his first investment in travel company Musafir, and he now has 15 portfolio companies. Used-car platform Spinny is the only unicorn among them. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal investment adds a waste management and recycling business to that list.
Sachin Tendulkar Recykal investment in numbers
Recykal’s gross revenue rose 53.2 percent to Rs 1,498 crore in the financial year ended March 2026, from Rs 978 crore a year earlier. The figures convert to about $157.4 million, up from about $102.7 million a year earlier, at Rs 95.2 to the dollar. The company’s loss widened to Rs 60 crore from Rs 56 crore over the same period, but shrank to about 4 percent of gross revenue from roughly 5.7 percent. 360 ONE led Recykal’s Rs 110 crore pre-Series B round in April 2024, and funds managed by Morgan Stanley India are earlier investors. The pre-Series B round led by 360 ONE in April 2024 was worth about $11.6 million. Early backer Circulate Capital has made a full exit, earning about five times its money. The Sachin Tendulkar Recykal investment comes in a year when the company’s gross revenue rose by more than half.
Recykal said it had channelled more than 3 million metric tonnes of waste through its platform.