Tackling Waste With Tech | Recykal

"India is a country where there is nothing called waste."

Have you heard of the word “junoon”? It’s a mix of passion and craziness, and this episode is a showcase of how sometimes all you need is junoon to be an entrepreneur.

I sat down to chat with Abhay Deshpande, founder of the sustainability tech startup, Recykal which is one of the few startups in India to be recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum!

Abhay started India’s very first pure-play e-commerce website called malamall.com way back in 1998, at a time when the internet ecosystem in India was non-existent and not even 1% of India’s population was online.  

His journey tells a candid and brutally honest story of the struggles of entrepreneurship and proof of how grit can make you successful, even if it takes decades.

He next founded Martjack, India’s and Middle East’s No 1 Enterprise Class eCommerce Platform. At present, he’s building and scaling Recykal.

Founded in 2016, Recykal is Asia's largest circular economy marketplace, providing end-to-end digital waste management solutions.

The startup connects trash generators, garbage aggregators, and waste recyclers through an ecosystem of digital cloud-based solutions.

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Some of the things he shared:-

• Building malamall.com, India’s first e-commerce site

• Experiences of building Martjack

• How do consumers look at waste

• Deposit return system

• Funding journey

Additional readings:-

1. Recykal on World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer list

2. How Recykal Foundation is empowering India’s safai mitras

3. Helping Recycle Waste Sustainably Using Technology

4. How Recykal is cleaning up the mess

5. Hyderabad-based Recykal says they want to encourage more government intervention in recycling exchanges

Before you go……the analytics only tell me so much, I want to hear what you feel and think about the conversations.

Mail me at ad@thepodium.in with your comments & feedback or if you just want to hear my comments on your startup idea - I love getting your emails!

Until the next founder's thesis📕,

Your host, AD