After almost a decade of analysis and engineering, PolyCycl, a Chandigarh-based deep-tech start-up engaged on chemical recycling options for hard-to-recycle plastics, is moving into its industrial part, aiming to sort out one of many hardest issues in sustainability: what to do with plastics that can’t be mechanically recycled.
Based in 2016, the corporate has developed a totally steady chemical recycling platform that converts low-grade, end-of-life plastics into liquid hydrocarbon oils. These oils can then be refined and reused as feedstock by petrochemical corporations to fabricate new plastics, together with food-grade supplies. The corporate just lately obtained an undisclosed Collection A funding from Rainmatter, Zerodha’s climate-focused funding arm, to speed up industrial deployments of its expertise.
PolyCycl’s origins lie in founder Amit Tandon’s early curiosity in clear expertise, sparked whereas he was working within the US semiconductor business within the early 2000s. On the time, ideas such because the round financial system weren’t mainstream, however the thought of giving plastic’s carbon content material a second life resonated, Tandon stated, talking to Enterprise Immediately.
Not like conventional batch-based pyrolysis vegetation, that are sometimes small, troublesome to scale, and centered on gasoline markets, PolyCycl’s strategy is engineered for steady operations and industrial scale. “Massive petrochemical and oil and gasoline corporations won’t interact with applied sciences that don’t scale,” Tandon stated. The corporate’s platform is designed to combine into current petrochemical worth chains, enabling plastic-to-plastic circularity moderately than downcycling plastics into fuels which might be finally combusted.
The expertise has been developed over greater than ten years and was validated by way of prolonged steady operations in 2025 with the launch of PolyCycl’s Technology VI platform. In accordance with the corporate, a lot of the heavy engineering and scientific threat is now behind it. “Almost 90% of the engineering and science is completed. What stays is constructing the enterprise and market,” Tandon famous, describing the present part as an inflection level. PolyCycl operates on a licensing-led mannequin.
Whereas the chemical recycling sector stays nascent in India, world momentum is constructing. Related corporations in Europe and the US have attracted sturdy valuations and public listings. PolyCycl believes regulatory strikes mandating recycled content material in packaging and petrochemicals will additional catalyse adoption.
Rainmatter’s funding will likely be used to help industrial deployments, increase engineering and execution groups, and deepen partnerships with petrochemical and downstream manufacturing gamers, positioning PolyCycl for each home and worldwide scale.
Abhinav Singh Negi, Enterprise and Investments at Rainmatter by Zerodha, stated, “We wish to again advanced applied sciences that take time to construct however have the potential to reshape whole sectors. PolyCycl matches this philosophy by way of its deep engineering focus and long-term intent. Platforms like this are important to constructing credible circularity at scale. The collaboration brings collectively PolyCycl’s engineering-first strategy with Rainmatter’s concentrate on intentional capital. What stood out for us was the depth of engineering maturity and the potential of the expertise for each home and worldwide licensing to meaningfully increase recycling of hard-to-recycle plastics.”
