IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Circulate Capital
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Job creation and workforce developmentFirm Overview
Circulate Capital is the leading circular economy investment platform in high-growth markets – with investments and teams in 10+ countries. Partnering with global brands and institutions, we invest to transform recycled plastic supply chains at scale, by delivering financial, environmental and social returns. Launched in 2018 by supply chain experts and leading corporations - including PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Chanel, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC and Mondelēz International - aspiring toward a waste-free future, the firm’s US $245 million assets under management are invested across the waste management, recycling, and innovative materials value chains. We are also supported by a blended finance partnership with the U.S. International Development. Founded in and originally focused on South and Southeast Asia, the firm now targets scalable solutions and untapped opportunities in high growth markets to generate value and spark further investment in the emerging circular economy.
Years of Operation: 3 – 4 years
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
By investing in waste management, recycling systems, and the circular economy in high-growth markets like South and Southeast Asia, we can prevent plastic pollution and catalyze capital while delivering impactful financial, environmental, and social returns.
We believe the circular economy is essential to tackling the world’s most urgent challenges – including protecting the environment, combating the climate crisis, improving health and livelihoods, and reducing inequality. Circulate Capital was founded in 2018 to invest in high-potential companies that divert plastic waste from landfills and toward a circular future. Initially focused on ocean plastic pollution in South and Southeast Asia, the magnitude of the global waste crisis has recently pushed us to expand our focus to Latin America and the Caribbean. We adopt a venture capital-like approach and invest US$1 million or more in entities that offer (a) more efficient collection and aggregation, and/or (b) to apply more professional management, within the existing infrastructure, including the informal sector, for plastics. We leverage supply chains and relationships of multinational corporate LPs to source, diligence, and de-risk investment opportunities.
Circulate Capital is unique in that its founding investors are some of the world’s leading companies. These relationships allow us to source, diligence, and support portfolio companies unlike any other investor in emerging markets: -Sourcing: Many of our investments are current or potential suppliers to our corporate investors. -Due Diligence: Every investment is reviewed in partnership with our Technical Advisory Committee, composed of global and regional representatives from procurement and R&D from our corporate partners. -Portfolio Management: Our investors are actively engaged in supporting the development and improvement of our portfolio companies as they are the customers / end-market for their products. We are also one of the largest impact-focused investment funds currently open in South and Southeast Asia. Our strategy is focused on solving a specific problem (ie. Ocean plastic) by investing in financially viable solutions in emerging markets that create broader economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Investment Example
Lucro Plastecycle Private Limited (Lucro) is a homegrown Indian manufacturer that specializes in recycling difficult-to-manage flexible plastic packaging, and while this waste stream tends to be overlooked, the company’s success has demonstrated a scalable business model. Since Circulate Capital’s investment in 2020, Lucro has grown from a recycling startup to become a successful innovative materials science company: - Forged a groundbreaking partnership with Circulate Capital's investor Dow to develop and commercialize post-consumer recycled flexible plastic packaging - Became India’s largest supplier of recycled flexible plastic materials, having expanded processing capacity from 1,000 to 22,000 tonnes per year. - Established a fully integrated and traceable supply chain, including own collection centers and traceability software collection - Forged long-term agreements with global brands for post-consumer recycled packaging supply Lucro’s continued growth led us to do a larger follow-on investment in the company 2022.
Leadership and Team
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Rob Kaplan – CEO and Founder More Info
Rob is Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital. He established Circulate Capital to deploy catalytic capital in partnership with leading corporations and investors to scale solutions that advance the circular economy and prevent the flow of plastic waste into the ocean in South and Southeast Asia. Rob leads Circulate Capital’s strategy, team, and operations as the firm identifies, incubates, and invests in opportunities diverting waste from the environment into the recycling chain in South and Southeast Asian countries. Circulate Capital’s model relies on supporting the local innovators implementing solutions on the ground, on partnerships with global corporations to leverage their supply chains to drive scale, and on incentivizing a new generation of entrepreneurs to build a fresh pipeline of investable projects. |
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Regula Schegg – Founding Partner and CF & OO More Info
Regula is Founding Partner and Chief Financial & Operating Officer (CF&OO). A key member of the Leadership Team, Regula is responsible for all corporate functions, including corporate finance, HR, IT, investor relations, legal & compliance, and fund management. Throughout her career, Regula has held leadership roles in various sectors and regions, including corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, strategic finance/controlling, and business development. Prior to joining Circulate Capital, she worked with global companies such as Hilti Group, SAM Private Equity (now Emerald Ventures), and Sulzer Group. |
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Ellen Martin – Chief Impact Officer More Info
Ellen Martin is Circulate Capital’s Chief Impact Officer. In her role, Ellen is responsible for driving impact and insights for Circulate Capital and its affiliated nonprofit, The Circulate Initiative, and providing shared evaluation, research, analysis and strategy services across the organizations. As a member of each organization’s leadership team, Ellen is focused on ensuring our collective strategies, assets, and relationships deliver impact as we grow.Prior to joining Circulate Capital, Ellen was Vice President for Impact and Strategic Initiatives at Closed Loop Partners. At Closed Loop, Ellen led impact, research and portfolio management for Closed Loop’s Infrastructure Fund. During her tenure, the Fund deployed $50M with $200M co-invested in projects in North America, resulting in avoidance of 2 million tons of GHG emissions in the first three years. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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Informal waste workers play a critical role in the plastic recycling value chain and many of the estimated 15 million informal waste workers globally are vulnerable to exploitation. They often face persistent marginalization, lack of social safety nets, vulnerability to human rights abuses, and insufficient incomes and livelihoods. As the leading investor across the plastic recycling value chain in high growth markets, we recognize our role in being exemplary at firm level and also at portfolio level by ensuring that our capital goes to portfolio companies that respect human rights in their supply chain and helps to scale more inclusive models. We've committed to demonstrating transparency and rigor in supply chain engagement and risk management by incorporating responsible sourcing principles at each stage of our investment process, from sourcing and due diligence to portfolio management, and developing a first-of-its-kind roadmap, engaging our team, portfolio companies, and LPs. We've also
As part of our Gender Smart Investing strategy and 2x Challenge commitment, we made sure that all our tools in the investment process integrate a gender perspective to ensure women-owned and led enterprises are not excluded: - We expanded tools such as the screening and due diligence questionnaires to include questions related to gender. - At the pre-investment process, we embedded gender in the investment thesis and set specific terms (precedent and subsequent) for new investments based on gender targets. Gender metrics have been included as part of the fund’s quarterly reporting templates.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
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6 Temasek Boulevard, #09-05 Suntec Tower Four, Singapore 038986
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