Novoloop says it’s labored out the way to upcycle plastic waste, raises $11M Collection A

Upcycling polyethylene (the conventional ubiquitous plastic we’re all conversant in) into high-value plastics that may compete with “virgin” plastic (that means plastics made immediately from petro-chemicals) is a fiendish downside to resolve. The truth that it’s been extraordinarily exhausting to take action means billions of tonnes of plastic is rarely recycled, and it’s on the market pouting the planet and our oceans. A brand new US-based startup, Novoloop, claims to have provide you with a solution.

The 2 feminine founder scientists, Jeanny Yao and Miranda Wang have been working for over 5 years on this downside.

They’ve now raised $11 million in a Collection A financing led by Envisioning Companions with participation from Valo Ventures and Bemis Associates; earlier traders who joined the spherical included SOSV, Mistletoe, and TIME Ventures. Novoloop can also be partnering with Bemis Associates, which makes attire bonding options similar to seam tapes, which will be present in high-performance outerwear.

Novoloop is getting down to remodel plastic waste into high-performance chemical compounds and supplies. The corporate says it has developed a proprietary course of know-how it calls ATOD™ (Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition). It claims that this breaks down polyethylene (essentially the most broadly used plastic at this time) into chemical constructing blocks that may be synthesized into high-value merchandise.

The primary product can be Oistre™, a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to be used in footwear, attire, sporting items, automotive, and electronics. Novoloop claims this has a carbon footprint that’s as much as 46% smaller than typical TPUs.

Novoloop Co-founder and CEO Miranda Wang mentioned in a press release: “Plastics should not going away anytime quickly, so we have to innovate to shut the hole between what’s produced and what’s repurposed. After years of know-how improvement, we’re thrilled to announce backing by high-caliber traders and companions to commercialize this much-needed know-how.”

“What actually compelled us to guide the funding spherical is that Novoloop has discovered product-market match,” mentioned June Cha, Companion of Envisioning Companions. “Novoloop has confirmed that Oistre has a variety of purposes available in the market even at their early stage.”

Talking to me over a name, Wang added: “Polyethylene plastic is the most typical packaging used however is extraordinarily exhausting to chemically change and break aside and switch into helpful issues. We cracked this by basically adopting a brand new chemical method to oxidise this polyethylene.”

“All people else is popping this plastic waste polyethylene into fossil gasoline reserves. However for us, our method is to immediately take the polyethylene waste and convert it in a single step… So this basically bypasses many steps and chemistries that may in any other case occur if folks have been to take it again into oil or into gasoline,” she mentioned.

Rivals to Novoloop would come with BASF, Covestro, Lubrizol, Huntsman. These are corporations that make virgin fossil fuel-based TPU. About 99% of TPUs are virgin at this time. In different phrases, this can be a large trade prepared for disruption.