# RecyCard

RecyCard is an Asset Manager based in São Paulo, Brazil.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** São Paulo, Brazil
- **Region:** Latin America
- **Address:** São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** recycard.com.br
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/recycard

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

RecyCard operates as a green fintech based in São Paulo, launched by Thiago Carvalho Pinto to address the intersection of urban waste management and transit access. The firm's founding thesis targets a specific structural gap: Brazil's largest city generates thousands of tons of recyclable material daily, while millions of residents face cash-constrained commutes. Rather than paying cash, the company issues stored-value transit cards in exchange for verified recyclable materials, effectively underwriting a parallel civic currency backed by corporate sustainability mandates and recovered commodity value. The firm's deployment model spans direct physical infrastructure, digital credit underwriting, and corporate partnership structuring. Strategically, it covers climate technology, mobility, and financial inclusion in a single integrated pipeline. The operational footprint is concentrated in the São Paulo metropolitan region, where collection points feed a processing backend that validates recyclable inputs and issues credits to the state-run transit network. Confirmed corporate offtake partners remain undisclosed in public record, though the model mirrors extended producer responsibility (EPR) constructs seen in European waste markets. The platform does not operate as a fund or SPV series; its deployment is balance-sheet operational expenditure on collection hardware, logistics, and card issuance technology. Team size and professional headcount are not publicly disclosed. The firm maintains its headquarters in São Paulo, with no additional offices confirmed. Public records do not identify adjacent philanthropic foundations, real-asset arms, or operating-business spinouts. In November 2023, RecyCard was profiled by the Global Innovation Fund as part of its emerging-markets climate-adaptation landscape, highlighting the firm's role in linking informal waste collectors to formal financial rails. This remains the most recent material third-party acknowledgment of the platform's operational posture. The firm's structural differentiator lies in its currency-design function: it is not a waste collector, a transit operator, or a consumer lender. It is an issuer of a purpose-bound digital credit — a mobility token — collateralized by verified recycling behavior. This architecture means its balance-sheet capacity is tied to the spread between recovered material value and corporate sustainability payments, not to interest margins or fare arbitrage. The governance and succession structure remain opaque, which is typical for a founder-operated Brazilian climate venture at its disclosed scale.

## Sectors

- ClimateTech
- FinTech
- Mobility & Transportation
- Infrastructure

## People

- Thiago Carvalho Pinto — CEO & Founder

## Questions

### How does RecyCard generate revenue from recycling programs?

The firm captures value through the spread between the cost of issuing mobility credits and the revenue from selling recovered recyclable commodities, plus payments from corporate partners fulfilling sustainability mandates. Public record does not disclose specific margin ranges or volume targets. The model is structurally similar to extended producer responsibility schemes where a third-party operator monetizes the gap between waste-generation obligations and consumer incentives.

### Is the transit credit a general-purpose payment card or restricted to mobility?

The credit is purpose-bound to São Paulo's public transit network, functioning as a stored-value fare card rather than an open-loop payment instrument. This design keeps the credit within the municipal mobility ecosystem and simplifies regulatory treatment, avoiding classification as a generalized e-money issuer under Brazilian central bank rules.

### Does RecyCard hold the underlying recyclable materials, or sell them immediately?

The firm operates collection and sorting infrastructure that aggregates materials for sale to commodity recyclers. There is no public evidence that RecyCard retains material inventory for speculative purposes. Revenue is recognized upon sale of the processed recyclables, with a portion recycled into funding additional transit credits, creating a continuous redemption loop.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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