Indonesian tycoon Edwin Soeryadjaya’s Saratoga Investama Sedaya and K3 Ventures—founded by Kuok Meng Xiong, grandson of Malaysia’s richest person, Robert Kuok—led a $7 million series A funding round in Rekosistem, a Jakarta-based waste management startup.
With the fresh capital, the company plans to scale up its waste collection and recycling operations beyond Jakarta and the surrounding Java region. Rekosistem currently manages around 4,500 tonnes of waste and processes over 3,500 tonnes per month, serving over 90,000 individuals and more than 200 companies including Danone, Nestle, L’Oreal, and Toyota Astra Motor.
Rekosistem cofounders Ernest Christian Layman and Joshua Valentino joined Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list of up and coming entrepreneurs in 2022, a year after they founded the startup at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The company will develop its next-generation waste management operating system, implement wide-scale machine learning and automation, dedicate resources to advancing waste-to-materials technologies, and increase the number of material recovery facilities,” Layman says in a statement adding, Rekosistem also aims to broaden the range of recyclable materials it handles.
Indonesia needs to step up its recycling efforts. With a population of 250 million, it is the fourth most populous country and second-largest plastic polluter in the world after China, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. The country produces 3.2 million tonnes of unmanaged plastic waste a year, of which about 1.3 million tonnes ends up in the sea, it added.
“Rekosistem has emerged as a leading player in Indonesia’s fragmented waste supply chain—an industry ripe for disruption,” Nicholas Tyson, investment principal at K3 Ventures, said in the statement. “Their strong execution across supply aggregation and demand distribution puts them ahead of the curve,”
Apart from its investment in Rekosistem, Saratoga has been deepening its exposure in environment-friendly companies. Its green portfolio includes carbon offset firm Forrest Carbon and solar company Xurya. For K3 Ventures, its impact investments include energy efficiency solutions firm BBP and fertilizer company Pivot Bio.
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