On Monday, a bioeconomy firm located in Hamburg named Traceless Materials said it had secured €36.6 million in a Series A investment round.
The Blue Ocean Fund of UB FIGG and SWEN CP took the lead in the fundraising round. A local banking consortium made up of GLS Bank and Hamburger Sparkasse participated in the fundraising round with three of the company’s current backers, including deep tech investor b.value, green tech investor Planet A Ventures, and seed investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).
Thanks to the money, the breakthrough biomaterial technology from the German business will reportedly be produced on an industrial scale.
The firm made the news shortly after being chosen for Norrsken’s 2023 Impact/100 list, an annual rating highlighting the top 100 organizations improving the world.
Materials with no traces: a bioeconomy startup
Due to its resource-intensive manufacture from fossil fuels, plastic pollution is a critical issue since it not only leaves behind observable traces but also greatly contributes to climate catastrophe.
Traceless Materials has created a 100% bio-based, biodegradable, and plastic-free biomaterial called traceless to address this problem sustainably.
Co-founder and CEO Anne Lamp says, “We demonstrate that a climate-friendly, circular, resilient, and regenerative sector is feasible by growing our breakthrough technology. We can significantly aid in reducing plastic pollution by using our innovative biomaterial. Given their expertise in our sector, we are certain that UB FIGG and SWEN’s Blue Ocean fund will be a wonderful addition to our shareholders. We decided based on the fact that both our investors and the banks completely support our goal.
Dr. Anne Lamp and Johanna Baare founded Traceless Materials in 2020 to transform agricultural sector plant waste into natural biomaterials that are bio-based, biodegradable at home, plastic-free, and have little environmental impact.
Precious biomass resources are preserved by using agricultural waste as a source of this natural biomaterial. The technique has a small environmental impact because it is based on natural polymers and doesn’t include any chemicals that may be hazardous.
Traceless reduces fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions during manufacture and disposal by 89% and 91%, respectively, compared to plastic. Traceless is constructing a demonstration factory in Hamburg to put its concept into practice on an industrial scale.
The manufacturer asserts that this facility will replace tens of thousands of tons of conventional plastic annually while simultaneously lowering CO2 emissions and protecting fossil fuels, fresh water, and farmland.
Johanna Baare, co-founder and COO, said, “Many investors and banks are still inexperienced with financing capital-intensive enterprises. This makes it particularly difficult for industrial manufacturing startups like us who are creating tomorrow’s cutting-edge technology. We are happy to have found partners who share our vision and wave, recognize and grasp the obstacles of funding our hardware scale-up in UB FIGG, SWEN CP, Planet A, and HTGF, and value the local bank consortium.
The Investor UB FIGG is a private equity fund that makes investments in businesses that prioritize replacing plastic and other materials used from fossil fuels, extracting greater value, and using wood and agricultural byproducts more effectively.
Additionally, they want to encourage the increased use of these basic materials for various intermediate and final purposes.
The “traceless’ strategy of using widely accessible agricultural side streams to substitute fossil-based plastic and the cash potential their solution provides impressed us both economically and ecologically, according to Sakari Saarela, Partner at UB FIGG. Regarding material performance, development periods, and the commercialization of the new material, the traceless team has produced incredibly impressive outcomes. We are eager to support Anne, Johanna, and the team as they scale out this cutting-edge technology.
With more than €7.7 billion in assets under management and a variety of investment programs for both institutional and private customers, SWEN Capital Partners is a major participant in responsible investing in private assets in Europe.
According to Olivier Raybaud, Managing Director of SWEN Capital Partners, “The Blue Ocean Fund seeks to invest in startups bringing innovative solutions to address the 3 main threats to our ocean: overfishing, ocean pollution, and climate change.”
Because plastic pollution is one of the main pollutants endangering our ocean, traceless, a bio-based and biodegradable material, enticed us by replacing plastics in products that are likely to end up in the environment and consequently in our ocean, such as single-use packaging and hidden plastics in adhesives and paper coatings. When technical recycling is not possible, or reusable solutions are not viable, traceless is a compelling alternative.
