Scrapays Technologies Limited

Digital platform fusing recycling, tech, and finance for waste recovery in Africa

Website: https://scrapays.com

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Name Scrapays Technologies Limited
Tagline Digital platform fusing recycling, tech, and finance for waste recovery in Africa
Headquarters Lagos, Nigeria
Founded 2019
Stage Seed
Business Model Marketplace
Industry Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology Software (Non-AI)
Geography Sub-Saharan Africa
Growth Profile Social Enterprise
Founding Team Co-Founders (2)
Funding Label Seed (total disclosed ~$368,000)

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Executive Summary

Scrapays Technologies Limited operates a digital marketplace that coordinates the fragmented, informal recycling sector in Nigeria, connecting waste producers with collectors through a suite of embedded financial and logistics tools [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. The company's asset-light, agent-network model represents a capital-efficient approach to a critical environmental and economic challenge, creating a formalized supply chain for recyclable materials while generating income for thousands of micro-entrepreneurs [The Catalyst Fund, ~2023]. Founded in 2019 as an evolution of an undergraduate project, the platform uses USSD, web, and mobile applications to facilitate transactions, taking a 20% share of revenue while distributing the remainder between waste producers and collectors [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. Co-founders Tope Sulaimon and Boluwatife Arewa bring a blend of operational and product management experience, with Arewa having previously coordinated multi-regional operations for an HR tech firm [Orange Corners].

To date, the company has raised approximately $368,000 from a consortium of impact-focused accelerators and funds, including Jobtech Alliance and The Catalyst Fund, which has supported the signing of over 1,900 agents and the recovery of more than 114,000 kg of scrap in testing phases [PitchBook, 2025][The Catalyst Fund, ~2023]. The immediate focus for investors should be on validating the transition from pilot metrics to sustained, scaled commercial operations, and monitoring the company's ability to execute on its stated expansion plans beyond its initial three Nigerian states.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core model and historical metrics are documented by investor publications, but recent operational and financial updates are absent.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis Classification
Stage Seed
Business Model Marketplace
Industry / Vertical Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology Type Software (Non-AI)
Geography Sub-Saharan Africa
Growth Profile Social Enterprise
Founding Team Co-Founders (2)
Funding Seed (total disclosed ~$368,000)

How the Company Got Here

Scrapays Technologies Limited was founded in 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria, as an evolution of an undergraduate project aimed at tackling the country's pervasive waste management challenges [TechCabal, Sep 2021]. The company's founding premise was to apply technology to create a decentralized ecosystem for recovering recyclable waste, moving away from capital-intensive infrastructure models [TechCabal, Sep 2021]. The core legal entity is a private limited company registered in Nigeria.

A key operational milestone was the launch of its decentralized agent network model in January 2022, which expanded its presence from Lagos into Ogun and Ondo states [Jobtech Alliance]. This pivot to an asset-light, agent-driven platform marked a shift from earlier direct collection efforts and established the revenue-sharing framework that defines its current operations. By approximately 2023, the platform had signed up over 1,900 agents and reported recovering 114,320 kilograms of scrap material in a testing phase [The Catalyst Fund].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founding details and early milestones are corroborated by a dated press article. The 2022 agent launch and subsequent traction metrics are cited in investor blogs, but specific dates and the scale of operations post-2023 are not independently verified by recent public updates.

Product and Technology

The core product is a multi-channel digital platform designed to formalize and scale the informal waste collection economy in Nigeria. Scrapays provides households, businesses, and individual collectors with access points via USSD, a web portal, and a mobile app to list and sell recyclable scrap [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. The platform's operational wedge is its decentralized network of hyperlocal agents, who aggregate materials from sellers, manage logistics to processors, and are supported by a suite of embedded digital tools.

A publicly cited revenue-sharing model allocates 45% of proceeds to the waste producer, 35% to the collector or agent, and 20% to Scrapays [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. The platform aims to increase agent productivity through features like digital inventory management, e-wallets for payments, integration with smart scales for weighing, and performance-based loan offerings [The Catalyst Fund, ~2023]. For enterprise clients, the company promotes a data-driven solution that provides traceability for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and geographic insights into waste generation patterns [Scrapays.com/about, 2026].

The technology stack is not detailed in public materials, but the product's reliance on USSD for broad accessibility suggests a backend capable of integrating with telecom infrastructure. The mention of real-time tracking and smart scale integration points to an Internet of Things (IoT) component. The company's website states that "thousands of entrepreneurs use our app" to manage their recycling businesses [Scrapays.com/about, 2026].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are consistent across multiple investor publications, but specific technical details and recent feature updates are not independently verified.

Market Research and Opportunity

The market for formalizing Africa's informal waste sector is driven by a confluence of urbanization, environmental policy, and a growing corporate focus on ESG compliance, creating a window for asset-light platforms that can aggregate fragmented activity.

Quantifying the total addressable market for recycling in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa is challenging due to the dominance of informal systems. Nigeria generates an estimated 32 million tonnes of solid waste annually, with a recycling rate below 10% [TechCabal, Sep 2021]. This suggests a substantial volume of recoverable material, though the commercial value accessible to a platform depends on its ability to capture and process specific waste streams like plastics, metals, and electronics.

Key demand drivers are visible across three fronts. First, urban population growth in cities like Lagos, where Scrapays initially launched, is increasing waste generation and straining municipal collection systems, creating a supply gap for private solutions. Second, regulatory momentum is building, with Nigeria's National Policy on Solid Waste Management aiming to promote recycling and extended producer responsibility schemes, which could incentivize manufacturers to seek traceable recovery data [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. Third, corporate sustainability goals are becoming a tangible demand source. The company's enterprise product, which offers "data-driven insights and full traceability for ESG goals," directly targets this need for verifiable environmental impact reporting from multinationals and large local firms [Scrapays.com/about, 2026].

Adjacent and substitute markets include traditional waste management contractors and pure-play fintech lenders serving micro-entrepreneurs. Scrapays's wedge is its integration of logistics coordination, transaction enablement, and credit, positioning it not just as a waste broker but as an operating system for informal recyclers. A key macro force is the continued informality of the labor market; the platform's value proposition hinges on its ability to improve incomes and stability for thousands of individual agents, a social impact angle that resonates with development-focused grantmakers and impact investors.

Metric Value
Scrap Recovered (Testing) 114,320 kg
Agents Signed Up 1,900 agents
States of Operation 3 states

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing context is inferred from general reports on Nigeria's waste sector; operational metrics are from a single investor blog circa 2023.

Competitive Landscape

Scrapays positions itself as an asset-light digital intermediary in a market historically defined by informal collection and direct corporate recycling programs, aiming to coordinate rather than replace the existing informal sector.

Company Positioning Stage / Funding Notable Differentiator
Scrapays Digital marketplace connecting waste producers, informal collectors, and processors via USSD/app. Seed (~$368k from accelerators) Decentralized agent network with embedded fintech. Revenue-sharing model (45%/35%/20%).
Wecyclers Integrated waste collection service using a fleet of cargo bikes and a reward-for-recycling program. Seed/Series A (raised $1.6M in 2022) Owns physical logistics and collection infrastructure.
RecyclePoints Incentive-based recycling platform where households earn points for waste, redeemable for goods/services. Early-stage (grant and prize funding) Focus on household behavior change through a points-based loyalty system.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor profiles and Scrapays' positioning are drawn from public sources and company materials, but direct, recent competitive intelligence is limited.

Opportunity

The prize for Scrapays is the transformation of Africa's fragmented, informal recycling sector into a digitized, efficient, and investable supply chain, unlocking value from waste while creating a network of micro-entrepreneurs at scale. The headline opportunity is for Scrapays to become the default operating system for informal waste collection across Sub-Saharan Africa. This outcome is reachable because the company's cited model directly addresses the sector's core constraints. It is not building capital-intensive collection fleets or processing plants, but instead providing the digital rails,USSD, app, and web interfaces,that connect existing actors [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022]. By layering embedded fintech and logistics tools onto a decentralized agent network, the platform aims to professionalize and scale thousands of micro-businesses, a wedge into a market that has historically resisted formalization. The evidence of initial traction, with over 1,900 agents signed up and more than 114,000 kg of material recovered in testing, demonstrates a proof-of-concept for the asset-light aggregation model [The Catalyst Fund, ~2023].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Growth scenarios and market opportunity are extrapolated from company claims and investor blog posts; specific expansion timelines and partnership details are not recently corroborated.

Sources

  1. [Jobtech Alliance, ~2022] Why We Invested: Scrapays, tackling Nigeria's waste management problem through innovative technology driving job growth | https://jobtechalliance.com/why-we-invested-scrapays-tackling-nigerias-waste-management-problem-through-innovative-technology-driving-job-growth/
  2. [The Catalyst Fund, ~2023] Why we invested in Scrapays, a startup enabling waste entrepreneurship in Nigeria | https://www.thecatalystfund.com/insights/why-we-invested-in-scrapays-a-startup-enabling-waste-entrepreneurship-in-nigeria
  3. [PitchBook, 2025] Scrapays 2025 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/492853-51
  4. [Orange Corners] Orange Corners Profile | https://www.f6s.com/scrapays
  5. [TechCabal, Sep 2021] Meet the startup transforming informal recycling in Nigeria | https://techcabal.com/2021/09/10/scrapays-is-transforming-informal-recycling-in-nigeria/
  6. [Scrapays.com/about, 2026] About - Scrapays | https://scrapays.com/about
  7. [Scrapays.com/enterprise, 2026] Enterprise - Scrapays | https://scrapays.com/about
  8. [TechCrunch, 2022] Wecyclers raises $1.6M to scale its waste collection and recycling services across Nigeria | https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/27/wecyclers-raises-1-6m-to-scale-its-waste-collection-and-recycling-services-across-nigeria/
  9. [Company Website] RecyclePoints | https://recyclepoints.com

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