Wastelink, a B2B food upcycling startup, has raised ₹27 crore ($3 million) in a Series A funding round from Avaana Capital, an early-stage investment firm.
The funds raised will be used to enhance its tech stack and expand into newer categories.
Founded in 2018 by Dave and Krishnan Kasturirangan, a brand of Forplanet Ingredients, Wastelink is a B2B food upcycling startup that combines feed science, proprietary processing, and AI-enabled supply chain technology to upcycle food surplus into traceable, high-quality animal feed.
It caters to two sets of clients – food processing (producer) and animal feed companies (manufacturing).
On the producer side, it procures surplus and rejected food and FMCG items which are then processed at its facilities (in Sonipat, Lucknow, Mumbai and Bengaluru) and turned into its proprietary feed ingredient called ECOMIX. This raw material is then used by animal feed companies in manufacturing animal food products.
The startup has also built an AI-powered reverse supply chain tracking system, which offers food processing companies visibility into the usage of their food waste and plastic packaging. Similarly, it helps the animal feeding companies to know how the raw material is being made.
Since its inception, Wastelink has upcycled more than 35,000 tons of FMCG surplus into feed ingredients. Each year, ECOMIX supports 38,500+ animals, improving milk yields by up to 15% while giving manufacturers a dependable, price-stable input.
Saket, Founder and CEO of Wastelink, said, “Animal feed is the backbone of our food system, yet it suffers from chronic volatility in quality and price. We’re addressing this by delivering consistent, traceable, and cost-stable nutrition at scale. This fundraise powers our nationwide expansion and strengthens our R&D and technology to build a category-defining company that ensures resilience for feed manufacturers, farmers, and the broader food chain.”
Krishnan, Co-Founder of Wastelink, said, “Our approach combines science, technology, and circularity to create a reliable feed input the industry can trust. Redirecting food surplus is the mechanism—but the outcome is resilience in animal nutrition that benefits farmers, businesses, and the planet.”
Swapna Gupta, Partner, Avaana Capital, said, “Wastelink is reimagining animal feed by solving two critical challenges- nutrient inconsistency and price volatility. By redirecting food surplus into standardized, traceable inputs, their platform solves for supply chain resilience. This is the kind of breakthrough innovation India can pioneer to build future-ready food systems for the world.“
