Wastelink, a Delhi-based agritech startup, is tackling two huge problems at once: food surplus in India and the volatile cost of animal feed. By collecting surplus food that never reached consumers and converting it into a proprietary feed ingredient crop-ready for cattle, poultry and aquaculture, Wastelink is building a circular economy play that has shown strong early momentum. With revenue growing and a fresh funding round behind it, the company is seeking to scale nationally and become a keystone in India’s food-waste-to-feed ecosystem.
Table of Contents
The Problem: Food Surplus + Animal Feed Volatility
India wastes millions of tonnes of food each year, much of which is still fit for human consumption but fails to reach the table because of supply chain issues, spoilage, or manufacturing surplus. At the same time, the animal-feed industry faces challenges: raw materials such as maize and soya are subject to price swings, inconsistent nutrient profiles, and supply risk. Wastelink recognised that these two issues could be solved together: surplus food becomes feed input.
The Startup & Vision
Founded in 2018 by chemical-engineering graduate Saket Dave and later joined by co-founder Krishnan Kasturirangan, Wastelink began with the concept of “reverse logistics” of food surplus. The goal: build a platform that sources surplus food (from packaging rejects, manufacturing oversupply, logistics wastage), processes it into a consistent feed input, and offers this to animal feed manufacturers as a reliable ingredient. Their mission: zero waste, circular economy, and improved affordability in animal nutrition.
How It Works: From Surplus to “EcoMix”
Wastelink’s unique value lies in the processing flow and product formulation:
- Sourcing: Surplus food (pre-consumption) from manufacturers, food service, FMCG supply chain.
- Logistics & Processing: Reverse logistics bring the surplus to Wastelink’s facilities (across Sonipat, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bengaluru). The waste is segregated, packaging removed, food dried/dehydrated, ground and processed.
- Formulation: The result is a product called EcoMix — a feed ingredient with consistent nutrient profile (protein, fat, moisture, etc.). Because input food streams vary, Wastelink uses algorithms and live data to balance formulations to hit target nutrient specs.
- B2B Supply: Wastelink sells this ingredient to animal-feed manufacturers (cattle/poultry/aqua) who incorporate it into their feed blends. This helps them reduce cost and manage nutrient consistency better.
| Metric | Latest data / Target |
|---|---|
| Revenue (FY25) | ~₹ 26.5 crore |
| Target Revenue | Cross ~₹ 60 crore this fiscal year |
| Surplus processed (to date) | ~35,000 tonnes+ |
| Animals supported via EcoMix | 38,000+ animals |
| Pincodes served | 5,000+ |
Why the Model Works
- High-need adjacencies: Both food waste and feed raw-material volatility are urgent problems; solving both gives Wastelink a compelling value proposition.
- Circular economy appeal: Many corporates and regulators are pushing waste-to-value models; Wastelink sits well in this trend.
- Cost advantage: Their feed ingredient claims to be 2-5% cheaper than equivalent nutrition from maize, giving manufacturers a cost edge.
- Traceability and tech: By building an AI-enabled supply-chain tracking and formulation system, they create a barrier to commoditisation and establish credibility in a low-trust space.
Challenges & Risks
- Input variability: Surplus food streams are heterogeneous; managing nutrition, contamination, packaging removal, moisture levels demands strong processing and quality control.
- Scale required for margin improvement: To make the business highly profitable, volume scale will matter — many fixed costs (logistics, processing) need to be spread widely.
- Trust & regulatory scrutiny: Animal-feed inputs are subject to safety and quality regulations. Achieving customer trust (feed manufacturers, farmers) is mission-critical.
- Logistics cost & geography: Serving far-flung surplus sources and wide geographic zones adds cost; optimising reverse logistics is complex.
- Competition & commoditisation: As the feed ingredient becomes more visible, new entrants could undermine pricing or margins unless Wastelink sustains differentiation.
Future Roadmap
Wastelink plans to expand in several dimensions:
- Deepen processing capacity across more facilities to serve more animal segments (pets, aquaculture) and geographies.
- Export the model to neighbouring markets (Southeast Asia / Middle East) where feed cost pressures are high.
- Enhance technology stack for supply-chain traceability, nutrient optimisation and algorithmic procurement of surplus.
- Increase partnerships with food-manufacturers and FMCG players to source more surplus and build upstream value.
Why It Matters for Profit Journal Readers
From a business-stories point of view, Wastelink is interesting because it:
- Combines sustainability with profit potential — something more readers and investors are looking for.
- Operates in a large but under-organised sector (animal feed + food waste) — offering startup scale-opportunity.
- Demonstrates the importance of tech (AI, reverse logistics) even in “material/processing” businesses, not just software.
- Shows how Indian startups are moving beyond “consumer apps” into deeper value-chain businesses, manufacturing + processing + B2B supply.
Key Takeaways
- Wastelink is making surplus food into a feed-ingredient business, tackling both waste and feed cost problems.
- The startup is already revenue-positive and scaling rapidly; next growth phase will test scale, margin and process quality.
- For companies in agritech and circular-economy themes, this is a blueprint: source waste, add value, sell into an adjacent large market.
- Execution matters a lot — the processing, logistics and trust dimensions will define whether the business is sustainable or not.
- If the model works at scale, it could shift norms in feed raw materials and food-waste management in India and beyond.
FAQs
Q1. What exactly does Wastelink make?
It produces a feed-ingredient called EcoMix that is made from surplus food (fit for human consumption) but diverted before consumption, processed and formulated for animal feed usage.
Q2. Who are its customers?
Its clients are primarily animal-feed manufacturers (cattle feed, poultry, aqua), and upstream food producers/retailers who supply surplus food to them.
Q3. How has Wastelink grown so far?
The company reported revenue of ~₹ 26.5 crore in FY25 and aims to cross ~₹ 60 crore in the current fiscal. It has processed 35,000+ tonnes of surplus and supports 38,000+ animals via its ingredient supply.
Q4. Why is this business important in India?
India generates vast food surplus and waste, and also uses expensive feed raw materials in its large animal-feed industry. The upcycling model means environmental benefit + cost benefit + supply-chain resilience.
Q5. What are the major risks for Wastelink?
Key risks include maintaining consistent quality of input (surplus food), controlling logistics and processing costs, building trust and regulatory compliance in feed supply, and scale-economics to improve margins.
