Circulate Capital, a Singapore based circular economy investment firm, has raised $220 million as the first close of the Circulate Capital Asia II fund. This accounts for more than 70% of the fund’s overall target of $300 million.
The fund will be deployed as growth capital to scale circular supply chains and recycling businesses across South and Southeast Asia, with a focus on plastic solutions and packaging, as well as electronics and apparel.
The firm had raised $188 million from Fund I.
Circulate Capital has a significant presence in India as it got a full exit from Recykal, a digital waste management platform. It has also partially exited from Lucro, a recycler specialising in difficult-to-manage flexible plastic packaging, and Srichakra Polyplast, a food-grade plastic recycler.
The participants in the second fund are a diverse group of global investors, including corporate firms, development finance institutions, and institutional and family offices. The corporate firms include The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Dow, and Procter & Gamble.
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.”
According to Circulate Capital, Fund II will execute high-growth investments in key markets such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. These include scaling mature plastic recycling streams, such as PET; building nascent markets for other plastic materials, including polyolefins; driving innovation in alternative paper-based packaging solutions; and recovering critical and rare earth materials trapped in recyclable electronics and batteries.
Fund II will aim to finance nearly 2 million tonnes of collection and recycling capacity. Over 10 years, these investments are projected to prevent a cumulative 30 million tonnes of unmanaged waste and avoid or reduce more than 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. At least 50% of the portfolio will be aligned to 2x gender-smart investing targets on exit, said the company.
Edited by Swetha Kannan
Original Article
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