TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Coatings
Kelpi secures £4.35 million in investment to take their pioneering biomaterial technology to market. The funding round will allow Kelpi to expand operations, grow the team and run scale-up pilots to plot our pathway to launch.
Advancing Manufacturing Pilots for Paper Coatings
The funds will be used to advance manufacturing pilots and gain regulatory approval for their proprietary coatings for paper and card. It will also be used to continue a commercial roll-out which has already seen them win R&D contracts with various suppliers. It includes L’Oréal, Diageo, and Waitrose and their tropical fresh fruit supplier Blue Skies.
Kelpi’s biomaterial is unique in matching or even exceeding the performance of plastic, in particular with a strong water barrier and resistance to greasy contents or acidic foods. Kelpi uses only renewable feedstocks, sourcing seaweed farmed sustainably. This ensures a positive impact upon the environment as seaweed sequesters huge amounts of carbon dioxide as it grows, deacidifying the ocean and providing a rich environment for fish.
Kelpi’s equity funding round was led by Blackfinch Ventures, with funding from Green Angel Ventures, Kadmos Capital, QantX, Evenlode Foundation and the South West Investment Fund. It includes follow-on investment from Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC), One Planet Capital and private angel investors. Having initially sought £3m in equity investment, raising £4.35m (US $5.5m) constitutes a significant success for Kelpi.
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This landmark investment enables Kelpi to scale up our pioneering work and take to market our packaging material that is already being chosen by clients,” said Neil Morris, CEO, Kelpi. “
Kelpi can now play a key role in ending our dependence on fossil fuels to create single-use packaging and so eliminating a major source of plastic pollution. We’re delighted to receive this backing from investors like Blackfinch and Green Angel Ventures to allow us to accelerate our pioneering work.”
Dr Reuben Wilcock, head of Ventures at Blackfinch, said, “
Kelpi stood out to us as a strong combination of scientific innovation with extensive entrepreneurial experience. Their technology has immense commercial potential and we’re excited to be backing the company to scale up and go to market.”
Cam Ross, CEO of Green Angel Ventures, said, “
We’ve been consistently impressed with Kelpi’s team and technology, and their pioneering approach to developing biopolymers from renewable feedstocks like seaweed. At scale, the Kelpi approach will play a vital role in reducing fossil fuel dependency, addressing climate change and impacting on plastic pollution.”
Source: Kelpi