Traceless Materials secures €36.6M in funding for industrial-scale biopolymer facility

26 Sep 2023 --- Traceless Materials, a German bioeconomy start-up, has secured €36.6 million (US$38.7 million) in series A funding to establish what it says is the first industrial-scale plant for a bio-circular alternative to conventional plastics. The financing will catalyze the company’s mission to combat plastic pollution and reduce carbon emissions in the plastics industry.

“To implement our innovative technology for the first time on an industrial scale, we plan to build a demonstration plant in Hamburg, Germany. The aim is to substitute several thousand metric tons of conventional plastic each year, thus saving considerable CO2 emissions, fossil resources, water and agricultural land,” Traceless CEO and co-founder Anne Lamp tells Packaging Insights.

Earlier this year, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) approved a €5 million (US$5.2 million) grant to construct this demonstration plant. “The series A financing round is now the second part of our financing strategy to expand our production capacities,” Lamp emphasizes.

Traceless’s material is entirely bio-based, made using agricultural industry plant residues. It is processed into a granulate form that can be integrated into standard technologies in the plastics and packaging industry. This versatility enables its use in various end products, ranging from rigid molded parts and flexible films to paper coatings and adhesives.

Lamp elaborates on the material’s sustainability: “Our technology supports the transition from fossils to renewable materials and also avoids direct food conflicts. Like natural materials, it is naturally compostable, for example, on a home compost. Unlike virgin plastics, the material is a toxic-free solution throughout the product life cycle.”

The Traceless Materials team celebrated the closing of series A funding. Challenges in funding start-ups
The series A funding round is led by the UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund (UB FIGG), a private equity fund specializing in sustainable and resource-efficient forest and bio-based industries, and is complemented by Swen Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean Fund. 

“Financing capital-intensive start-ups is still unfamiliar to many investors and banks. This makes it a special challenge for industrial manufacturing start-ups like us that are developing the innovative technologies of tomorrow,” Baare, co-founder and COO, notes.

The lead investors, UB FIGG and the Swen Capital Partners Blue Ocean Fund believe in Traceless’s commitment to using widely available agricultural side streams to replace fossil-based plastics and the financial and ecological opportunities this solution presents.

Sakari Saarela, partner at UB FIGG, states: “The Traceless team has achieved strong results in terms of material performance, development times and commercialization of the new material.”

Meanwhile, Olivier Raybaud, managing director of Swen Capital Partners, stresses the environmental importance of Traceless’s technology, which offers a sustainable alternative to applications where reusable solutions are not viable or technical recycling is not feasible.

“As plastic pollution is one of the main pollutants threatening our ocean, we were seduced by Traceless, a bio-based and biodegradable material that can replace plastics in products that easily end up in the environment, and hence in our ocean, such as single-use packaging as well as hidden plastics in adhesives and paper coatings,” says Raybaud. Traceless granulate is made from plant residues of agricultural industry.

Upcycling agricultural side stream
The patent-pending production technology is scalable and environmentally friendly, reportedly reducing carbon emissions by up to 91% and fossil energy demand by up to 89% during production and disposal compared to conventional plastics. 

“Following a holistic approach, it’s our mission to offer a solution that tackles global plastic pollution as well as climate change, resource crisis and biodiversity loss. We aspire to make a significant impact and pave the way for a pollution-free and waste-free future,” Lamp tells us.

Founded in 2020 by Anne Lamp and Johanna Baare, Traceless aims to contribute to a regenerative, climate-friendly economy while eradicating plastic pollution. The technology is currently transitioning from pilot scale to industrial scale.

“Traceless is part of a new generation of plastic-free biomaterials. Even though it looks and feels like plastic, the material is certified plastic- and microplastic-free and fully bio-circular – designed to leave no trace,” concludes Lamp.

By Radhika Sikaria