British International Investment

Circulate Capital Ocean Fund I-B

IndiaUSAAsiaSouth AsiaCommunications & IT servicesConsumer - HealthInfrastructureManufacturing

Circulate Capital Oceans Fund I-B is Circulate Capital’s second fund, focused on investing in South and South-East Asia, and on investing in the circular economy, particularly plastic waste recycling. It was founded in 2018 to help solve the global crisis of plastic waste management, with Asia contributing 60 per cent of plastic marine pollution.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

We invested $7 million into the Circulate Capital Disrupt Fund. The fund is focused on South and South-East Asia, and on the circular economy, particularly plastic waste recycling.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact

Transition to more sustainable production and consumption by channelling finance towards waste management, reduction and recycling, while simultaneously improving economic opportunities and reducing poverty for low-income populations.

How?

Primary Secondary

The fund will invest in the circular economy and plastic re / upcycling sector in South and South-East Asia with a focus on plastic-to-plastic recycling. It will also support the creation of job opportunities, with a particular focus on informal workers (plastic collectors) and women.

Catalysing markets: The fund will support the development of a nascent and unproven sector and provide opportunities to replicate the model if proven commercially viable for other investors focusing on the region.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Planet

Global

N/A
Employees (formal and informal)

Urban/peri-urban centres in South and South-East Asia, where production centres can be found, and where informal waste collectors are operating.

This investment will provide opportunities for both skilled and unskilled workers in South and South-East Asia. Additionally, the fund expects a significant spill-over effect on informal waste workers who will be indirectly supported. According to the World Bank, there are an estimated one million informal waste collectors in the world who have limited to no education and precarious access to basic life necessities.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Expected job creation of over 2,000 direct jobs through the fund, as well as indirect support for thousands of informal waste workers.

Depth: Deep and long-term impact due to the increased market attractiveness of the circular economy and plastic up / recycling sector. By drawing more capital into this sector, this investment acts as a catalyst for more financial resources and therefore long-term market growth.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality

Financial additionality: The fund focuses on recycling and circular economy, which are very nascent/niche sectors. This has created challenges reaching the fund target size and generating interest from commercial investors. Due to these challenges, the fund has reopened their fundraising round to include BII, to maximise the fund size and be able to make more impactful investments.

Risk

Execution Risk

This relates to the ability of the investees to scale up and deliver the expected impact. Some of the riskier ventures may fail to scale up in the target geographies. This risk will be mitigated by the experience of the management team in the circular economy sector.

Alignment Risk

This relates to the probability of the fund investing in companies that do not meet the investment goals (plastic reduction, circular economy market catalyst), or are in non-ODA geographies. We have agreed to exclusion rights for investment in non-ODA geographies as a key mitigation strategy.

Impact score

Impact score (at point of investment)

The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. You can find out more here.

The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party.

8

Understanding our impact information (PDF)

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.
  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

As part of our investment, we agreed on an ESAP with the Fund Manager focused on enhancing the E&S Management System (ESMS) and external grievance mechanism. We will also support the Fund Manager on enhancing its supply chain risk management policies and procedures.

Environmental and social risk

Medium-High

Understanding our approach to environmental and social risk (PDF)

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk

  • Key facts
    First published

    When the investment was first published on the website database.
    :
    March 2024
    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.
    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.
    :
    D4808
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).
    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.
    :
    Asia, South Asia
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Communications & IT services, Consumer - Health, Infrastructure, Manufacturing

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.
    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    October 2023
    Amount :
    $7m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Fund Manager:
    Circulate Capital Management Pte. Ltd
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.
    :
    India
    Climate finance

    Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.
    :
    Fully qualified
    Climate finance type:
    Mitigation
    2X Gender Finance

    Indicates whether the investment is ‘2X qualified’ using the 2X Challenge criteria. You can find out more here. It only applies to investments made from 2018 onwards, when the 2X Challenge was first launched.
    :
    Fully qualified

    Download as PDF

    Click here to read our data guidance

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit https://www.circulatecapital.com/

Investment name Country Region Sector Start date Status
Algenesis Corp USA Rest of the World Consumer - Health September 2021 Active
Arzeda Corp. USA Rest of the World Consumer - Health July 2021 Active
Circ Inc USA Rest of the World Manufacturing July 2021 Active
Dalmia Polypro Industries Pvt. Ltd India South Asia Infrastructure December 2022 Active
Lucro Plastercycle Pvt. Ltd India South Asia Infrastructure June 2022 Active
Phase Change Solutions Inc India South Asia Manufacturing July 2021 Active
Rapidue Tech Pvt. Ltd India South Asia Communications & IT services January 2022 Active
Srichakra Polyplast (India) Private Limited India South Asia Infrastructure August 2022 Active

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