Algenesis Corporation, a plant-based material science company in the US, has secured US$5 million in a seed funding round co-led by First Bight Ventures and Singapore-based Circulate Capital.
MIH Capital, Diamond Sports Group, and RhinoShield also participated.
The investment follows a US$5 million grant from the US Department of Energy to scale up the production of bio-based isocyanates from algae oils using a green-flow chemistry process.
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Algenesis develops bio-based plastics using its patented Soleic technology, which it claims is the world’s first renewable, high-performance, fully biodegradable, backyard compostable bioPolyurethane (bioPU) made from plants and algae.
Unlike petroleum-based PU, Algenesis’s Soleic bioPU can biodegrade in compost within a matter of months and does not contain harmful PFAS chemical additives found in other plastics. The company claims its production process further leads to up to 50 per cent lower GHG emissions than petroleum PU.
The Soleic PU is currently available in soft foam applications, such as midsoles and insoles for footwear.
The startup will use the new funds to expand Soleic product lines into breathable waterproof textiles and injection moulded products like phone cases. It also plans to expand and strengthen its supply chain by bringing more of its processes in-house to scale production and commercialisation of these materials that are increasingly in demand by various consumer-facing brands, further cementing its position as a leader in eco-innovation.
“We invest in industrial biomanufacturing and Algenesis is an excellent representation of new companies creating a highly demanded product, such as bioPU, that come from Biology versus Petroleum. This is a win for the industry, sustainability, and the world,” said First Bight Ventures Founder Veronica Wu. “To save our planet and ourselves, we must move away from petroleum-based plastics and toward bio-based alternatives. Algenesis is clearly at the forefront of making this possible.”
Today, 25 million tons of PU are manufactured annually (6 per cent of total plastics) for extensive use across footwear, medical, and textile industries. Due to the material’s composition, PU is hard to recycle and primarily ends up in landfills or as microplastics in the environment.
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Circulate Capital is an environmental impact investor advancing the circular economy for plastics in high-growth markets – with activities and teams in over ten countries. Launched in 2018, the firm is scaling solutions across the recycling and innovative materials value chains. Founded in and focused initially on South and Southeast Asia, the firm now targets untapped opportunities in high-growth markets to spark further development in the emerging circular economy.
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