Morgan Stanley-backed Recykal’s scale jumps nearly 4X to Rs 745 Cr in FY23

Recykal, a B2B marketplace for waste management, has transitioned its topline from Rs 61 crore in FY21 to Rs 745 crore in FY23 with over 12X growth. However, the Hyderabad-based startup slipped into losses during FY23.

Recykal’s gross revenue grew 3.9X to Rs 745 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023 as compared to Rs 190.5 crore in FY22, according to the company’s consolidated financial statements with the Registrar of Companies.

Founded in 2016, Recykal is an end-to-end digital solutions provider for waste management. It helps businesses fulfill their EPR targets, become plastic neutral, dispose of IT assets, source recyclable materials, and track and trace industrial waste flow. Recykal's solutions include EPR, plastic neutrality, ITAD, marketplace, and circularity. These solutions help businesses to reduce their environmental impact and create a more sustainable future.

The company collected 88% of its operating revenue from the sale of waste/scrap goods. These collections jumped 5.2X to Rs 656.5 crore during FY23 from Rs 125.8 crore in FY22.

Revenue from the sale of sustainable services went up 37% to Rs 88.5 crore in FY23 from Rs 64.6 crore in FY22. The company also received a grant/donation worth Rs 5 lakh during the fiscal year.

Besides this, it earned Rs 2.53 crore as interest and gains on financial assets during FY23, taking the overall revenue to Rs 747.6 crore.

Purchases of goods and services was the largest contributor (90.3%) to the total expenses of the company. In line with scale, this cost surged over 4X to Rs 698.4 crore in FY23 from Rs 164.2 crore in FY22.

Employee benefits expenses inclined 123% to Rs 29.62 crore during the fiscal. This cost also includes employee stock option expense of Rs 1.85 crore.

Further, logistics, legal, and promotional expenses spiked 3.3X, 2.1X and 3.9X respectively to Rs 23.8 crore, Rs 1.6 crore and Rs 1.07 crore during FY23. At the end, the company’s total expenditure soared 4X to Rs 773.4 crore in FY23 in comparison to Rs 189.6 crore in FY22.

Following the significant investments in new-age waste management solutions, Recykal’s bottomline slipped into the red. The company posted Rs 25.8 crore loss in FY23 against Rs 1.26 crore profits in FY22. The cash burn can also be observed from the company’s operating cash outflows which jumped 3.7X to Rs 64.6 crore during the last fiscal year.

As per Fintrackr’s analysis, Recykal’s EBITDA margin and ROCE worsened to -3.01% and -16.32% in FY23. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 1.04 to earn a rupee of operating revenue.

Recykal has raised around $26 million or Rs 180 crore to date from the likes of Morgan Stanley, Circulate Capital,  and Triton,  among others. Lastly, it raised $22 million or Rs 158 crore in Series A round in January 2022.

The waste management business is finally getting the attention it deserves, and policy moves will also support growth, as stricter norms are implemented. However, it also has some very well established firms already, and more are bound to come in. Recykal is well placed to leverage its experience as a digital platform that offers a marketplace and more to stakeholders.  The opportunity is massive, as one would expect in an economy India’s size, and there is every possibility that Recykal will eventually spread out like the global supply chains it seeks to clean up.

Update on 8th Sep, 10 PM: A Recykal spokesperson reached out to Entrackr after the story was published, stating the reason behind the losses. The same has been updated in the story.