Sanitary Waste Startup PadCare Raise $3 million in pre-Series A Funding

Cleantech startup PadCare has secured $3 million (₹ 27.2 crores) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Zerodha’s investment arm Rainmatter by Zerodha. The funding round, which comprised a mix of equity and debt.

The round also saw participation from 3one4 Capital, Brigade Group and PKRBCV Shroff Trust, alongside its existing investors Lavni Ventures and 3i Partners.

Founded in 2018 by Ajinkya Dhariya, PadCare has built a proprietary technology to safely collect and recycle used sanitary pads, a waste stream that typically ends up in landfills or incinerators.

Sanitary waste left in landfills poses serious health hazards to waste pickers and sanitation workers who handle contaminated, non-segregated waste. Additionally, a lack of organised collection and disposal in both urban and rural areas is compounded by the cultural taboo of talking about menstruation.

PadCare solves the problem by offering sanitary pad disposal and recycling in India and by creating a menstrual hygiene management ecosystem. 

The company has three products: PadCare Bin, which helps store used sanitary pads; PadCare X, a sanitary pad recycling and disposal system; and PadCare Vend, a pad dispensing machine.

Padcare X is enabled by patented technology that helps extract materials from sanitary pads, which can then be further recycled into other products.

PadCare works with various organisations, housing societies, workplaces, and commercial hubs to offer sanitary waste solutions and promote responsible menstrual hygiene. 

In Shark Tank India Season 2 (2023), PadCare received an investment of ₹1 crore ($120,000) for 4% equity (1% each) from Namita Thapar of Emcure Pharma, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, and Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics.

The primary use of the capital will be to scale PadCare’s recycling capacity by setting up additional processing plants in Delhi and expanding its existing facility in Bengaluru. 

Sanitary waste startup PadCare was featured in Change Started’s 2023 edition of 11 Green Startups of the Year.