Enviro-tech innovator, Samsara Eco has raised A$100 million in its latest funding round. Led by global investment company, Temasek and Australian deep tech investment fund, Main Sequence, as well as a cohort of new and existing backers including Wollemi Capital, lululemon, Hitachi Ventures, Titanium Ventures (formerly Telstra Ventures) and DCVC.
The capital will help Samsara Eco scale its enzymatic recycling capabilities with new commercial facilities to be built in South East Asia in the next few years. The facilities will recycle millions of tonnes of plastic waste like discarded textiles and packaging, to produce monomers (the molecular building blocks of plastics), which will be turned into new products, creating a truly circular loop.
The company will also scale up its global team of chemists, engineers and technicians, as well as increase its library of plastic-eating enzymes.
Samsara Eco CEO and founder, Paul Riley said, “Plastics have been an environmental disaster with almost every piece of the nine billion tonnes ever made still on the planet. But almost all plastic is reusable and recyclable with the right technology. We’re on a mission to end plastic waste and with it, repair our climate.
“The ability to infinitely recycle plastic in an environmentally friendly way is a game changer for brands and our planet. Our enzymatic recycling technology makes it easy for brands in almost every industry to meet their sustainability and decarbonisation goals by creating a circular loop for plastics. We’ve already made significant traction in the textile space, but this is just the beginning.”
Since launching in 2020, Samsara Eco has led world-first innovations in infinite recycling, pioneering the ability to recycle plastics including nylon 6,6 and polyester. Earlier this year, in partnership with its first textile partner, Samsara Eco unveiled the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product and also helped introduce lululemon’s first product made from enzymatically recycled polyester.
Samsara Eco’s plans to scale its technologies to infinitely recycle all forms of plastics, which can be used within existing cross-sector supply chains like in automotive, electronics, and consumer packaged goods.
“We’re creating a first-of-its-kind infinite recycling process that is genuinely better for our planet. EosEco reduces the end-to-end recycling time, while also operating at a lower temperature and pressure to ultimately reduce waste and carbon emissions. By solving the circularity piece of the puzzle for all plastics, we’re making it possible to imagine a more sustainable future,” Riley added.