rePurpose Global has closed a $20 million Series B funding round led by Circulate Capital, the Singapore-based investment management firm focused on plastic waste infrastructure, with participation from the Bezos Earth Fund and two undisclosed impact investors. The round will fund an accelerated expansion of rePurpose's project portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa, where the organisation currently operates projects in Ghana, Kenya, and Cameroon but has identified Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa as high-priority expansion markets based on plastic leakage modelling and infrastructure assessment conducted in 2024.
Strategic rationale for Africa expansion
rePurpose's Africa expansion thesis rests on a convergence of supply and demand factors. On the supply side, sub-Saharan Africa hosts some of the world's highest rates of mismanaged plastic waste by volume and very limited formal collection infrastructure, creating strong additionality conditions for credit projects and the potential for large-scale verified credit supply at competitive project development costs relative to saturated Asian markets. On the demand side, corporate buyers are increasingly seeking African project supply to diversify their credit portfolios geographically and to align with supply chains that operate in or source from African markets — a consideration relevant to fashion, food and beverage, and retail buyers whose scope 3 plastic exposure includes Africa-sourced supply chains. rePurpose's chief executive, Svanika Balasubramanian, described sub-Saharan Africa as the most significant untapped frontier for verified plastic credit supply, noting that the region's informal waste sector — while large in volume terms — remains almost entirely outside formal certification frameworks. The $20 million round will fund three elements: local team hiring across four new country offices, project due diligence and onboarding for an initial cohort of 15 new projects, and investment in digital MRV infrastructure adapted for operating conditions in markets with limited digital connectivity.
Market implications
If rePurpose's Africa expansion delivers on its projected 200,000-tonne annual supply addition within three years, it would represent a significant expansion of the certified voluntary credit supply and could provide some relief to the supply constraints that have contributed to sustained price premiums in the ocean-bound category.