Startup founders are turning to science to try and replace some of the stuff that society has become reliant on — like plastic, steel and leather — that has a bad impact on the environment.
Advanced materials — a catch-all term for the intersection of chemistry, physics, nanotech, ceramics, metallurgy and biomaterials — aim to move us away from polluting products while minimising the impact on industrial production and the lives of consumers;startups in the space are working on everything from collagen-based leather to repurposing seaweed.
To find out which early-stage companies are set to lead in the space, Sifted turned to investors from Molten VC, High-Tech Gruenderfonds and FoodLabs. Here are their (non-portfolio) recommendations.
Leonora Ross-Skinner, investor at Molten VC
Molten Ventures is a London-based, publicly listed VC and fund of funds.
Xampla — UK
Xampla is using natural biopolymers originally inspired by spider silk, to develop a novel material from plant protein and other sustainably-sourced natural materials to function as a plastic replacement. The company uses a biodegradable material that has all the benefits of plastic, but biodegrades completely and leaves no microplastics behind, providing a sustainable alternative to plastic without replacing its existing importance.
Pact Earth — UK
Pact develops leather-like bio-based materials derived from waste to reduce the environmental footprint of leather in fashion. It’s based on the structural protein of collagen, which is a readily available by-product of many industries, such as sustainable fish farming. This creates a feedback cycle where waste products can be turned into useful materials and replace the environmentally straining process of leather creation.
Notpla — UK
Notpla uses seaweed to make an alternative to plastic, particularly for packaging. The forests below the sea are incredibly powerful; they capture carbon and make the surrounding waters less acidic. There is no freshwater, land or fertiliser required, so the process of creating alternative materials from seaweed is highly sustainable. The focus of Notpla is to heal our ecosystems and food chains from the toxic waste of plastic packaging, and so the seaweed counterpart aligns closely with this mission.
Nicolaus Norden, VC at FoodLabs
FoodLabs is an early-stage, Berlin-based VC investing in food, health and sustainability startups.
Revoltech — Germany
A spinout from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Revoltech uses hemp harvested in Germany and processes the raw material into a wide range of textiles that can be used in categories such as automotive, fashion and furniture to make everything from boots to car seats.
Hemp cultivation is an ever-growing market in Europe, with production having seen an increase of 84% between 2015 and 2022 (reaching 179k tonnes per year). Not only does hemp have a wide range of potential uses (food, textiles, building materials), it also has a positive impact on our environment, with each hectare of hemp sequestering up to 15 tonnes of CO2.
Strong by Form — Germany
Strong by Form aims to replace the use of steel and aluminium in a wide range of applications and industries with a composite material made from wood strands. Use cases could include lightweight construction to the replacement of car body parts and a new approach to interior design and furniture. Steel and aluminium are major carbon emitters: steel (together with cement) accounts for around 8% of CO2 emissions, while aluminium alone accounts for another 4%.
Dr. Anne Umbach, investment manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds is an early-stage German VC.
Apheros — Switzerland
A spinout from ETH Zurich, Apheros is developing a novel foam product made of metals that can be shaped and used in applications like industrial cooling catalysis and energy storage. It can synthesise a range of metal alternatives, including iron, stainless steel, copper and nickel, and can engineer the foam to retain the properties of the metal it offers an alternative to.
Sumteq — Germany
Sumteq is recycling plastics into polymer foam products — it currently offers an insulation material for buildings and a carrier material that can be used in the rubber and plastics industry to process liquids more efficiently, or in biocides and pesticides.
CeraSleeve — Germany
CeraSleeve is making a sustainable coating for water-repellant paper without synthetic resins or plastics, which could be used to make products like recyclable paper cups. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) as part of the EXIST research transfer funding programme, and last year received a grant from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to develop its scientific findings into a market-ready product.
FastCast — Germany
FastCast is making a ceramic slurry product — which is a mix of solid and liquid, like cement — which can be used for investment casting, an industrial process that produces a wide range of products like medical equipment, jewellery and complex machinery components. Investment casting is a precision process that already aims to reduce waste and recycle materials, but the casting process takes a while, slowing down production. FastCast’s ceramic slurry is designed to reduce that production time by allowing thicker layers and taking away the need to sand the material down.
