From Bakery Leftovers to Better Milk: How Wastelink is Building a Shock-Proof Future for India’s Farmers 

Wastelink, an Indian food upcycling startup, is tackling the volatile animal feed market by converting food surplus into a reliable resource. Their technology-powered platform transforms nutrient-rich waste from factories and bakeries into ECOMIX, a standardized, traceable feed ingredient. This innovation directly addresses the chronic issues of price swings and nutritional inconsistency plaguing farmers who depend on costly maize and soy. The model creates a circular economy, diverting waste from landfills to troughs.

With a recent ₹27 crore funding boost, Wastelink plans to expand nationally and enhance its AI-driven supply chain. Their impact is already significant, having upcycled 35,000 tons of surplus and reportedly increasing milk yields for farmers by up to 15%. This approach builds crucial resilience for India’s food system by protecting farmers from market shocks and creating a more sustainable agricultural future.

From Bakery Leftovers to Better Milk: How Wastelink is Building a Shock-Proof Future for India’s Farmers 

In the heart of India’s agricultural landscape, a silent crisis brews, not in the fields, but in the troughs. The animals that form the backbone of our dairy and livestock industry—the source of milk, meat, and livelihood for millions—are eating a diet plagued by volatility. The cost of their feed, primarily maize and soy, swings with the monsoon’s whims and global market tremors. Its nutritional quality is inconsistent, directly impacting the health of the animals and the economic health of the farmers who depend on them. 

This systemic fragility is precisely what a homegrown startup, Wastelink, is determined to fix. And with a recent infusion of ₹27 crore in Series A funding led by Avaana Capital, their vision of a more resilient food chain is gaining powerful momentum. 

But to understand why this funding matters, we must look beyond the headline number and into the innovative, circular economy model it supports. 

The Core Problem: A Precarious Plate 

For decades, the animal feed industry has operated on a linear and vulnerable model. A bad harvest, an export ban, or a spike in fuel prices can send feed costs soaring, squeezing farmers’ already thin margins. This price instability is compounded by nutritional inconsistency; one batch of feed might be rich in protein, the next lacking, leading to unpredictable animal health and milk yields. 

At the same time, a parallel problem exists: a massive stream of food surplus from factories, breweries, and bakeries. This nutrient-rich material often ends up in landfills, emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, or is sold as low-quality cattle feed with no standardisation. 

Wastelink spotted the connection between these two broken systems. Their insight wasn’t just to “recycle waste”; it was to orchestrate a nutrient upgrade. 

The Wastelink Model: Technology as the Conductor 

Wastelink’s genius lies in its tech-enabled platform that manages this complex balancing act. They don’t just collect surplus; they classify, analyse, and transform it. 

• The Collection: Their AI-powered system efficiently aggregates specific types of nutrient-rich surplus from food processors across the country. 

• The Transformation: This diverse stream of ingredients is then scientifically blended and processed into a standardized, performance-tested product called ECOMIX. 

• The Assurance: Every batch is traceable and consistent. This means a feed manufacturer in Punjab and a dairy farmer in Karnataka can both trust that the ECOMIX they receive today will have the same nutritional profile as the batch they get next month. 

This reliability is the cornerstone of the value they create. It insulates farmers from the shock of commodity price swings and gives them a predictable input that leads to a predictable output: healthier animals and higher yields. 

The Tangible Impact: Beyond Tonnage 

The metrics speak to a model that is working: 

• 35,000 tons of food surplus upcycled, preventing methane emissions from landfills. 

• Over 38,500 animals supported annually by their feed ingredients. 

• Reported milk yield increases of up to 15% for farmers using feed containing ECOMIX. 

This last point is crucial. For a small-scale dairy farmer, a 15% increase in yield isn’t just a statistic; it’s transformative. It’s extra income for a child’s education, a buffer against a medical emergency, or an investment in more livestock. 

The Road Ahead: Resilience at Scale 

The new funding is a rocket booster for this mission. As Saket, Founder and CEO of Wastelink, states, it will power nationwide expansion, allowing them to replicate their model across India’s diverse agricultural sectors. It will also deepen their R&D to create even more effective feed solutions and enhance their AI-driven logistics to maximise efficiency. 

Krishnan, Co-Founder, frames it as a blend of “science, technology, and circularity.” This isn’t just about waste management; it’s about building foundational resilience. 

As Swapna Gupta, Partner at Avaana Capital, astutely noted, this is the kind of “breakthrough innovation India can pioneer.” In a world facing climate change and supply chain disruptions, the ability to create stable, sustainable, and local nutritional systems is no longer a niche idea—it is a global imperative. 

Wastelink’s story is a powerful reminder that the solutions to some of our biggest challenges often lie not in creating something new, but in seeing the hidden value in what we already have and building a smarter system around it. They aren’t just cleaning up the food chain; they are fortifying it from the ground up.