Samsara lines up financing for plastic recycling investments
Samsara lines up financing for plastic recycling investments
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Samsara Eco, an Australia-based plastics recycling technology firm, says it has raised $54 million in a Series A funding round as it prepares to scale up its technology. The company says it is “creating infinite recycling to end plastic pollution with its plastic-eating enzymes that break down plastic to its core molecules regardless of color and state.”
The capital infusion is intended to help Samsara Eco as it prepares to build its first plastic recycling facility later this year ahead of full-scale production in 2023.
Among the new investors supporting Samsara’s mission are Australia-based Breakthrough Victoria; Singapore-based Temasek; Australia-based Assembly Climate Capital; California-based DCVC; Canada-based INP Capital; and Australia-based Main Sequence.
Samsara says last year, in partnership with the Australian National University (ANU), it developed a “new way to infinitely recycle plastic.” Samsara’s technology uses enzymes to break plastic down to its “core building blocks,” which can then be used to recreate brand new, virgin-quality plastic repeatedly, says the company.
The capital round is being used to grow the company’s engineering team, develop its library of plastic-eating enzymes and fund its first commercial facility that will facilitate the infinite recycling of 20,000 metric tons of plastic scrap starting 2024. Samsara is also looking into expanding its operations into Europe and North America.
“You can’t solve the climate crisis unless you solve the plastics crisis,” says Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara. “Unlike other alternative recycling practices, our process is economical, with a low-carbon footprint and allows for the effective recycling of challenging plastics including colored, multi-layered or mixed plastics and textiles. Our technology means we have enough plastic in the world already and with our technology you never need to produce plastic from fossil fuels again.”
As it gears up for commercialization, Samsara says it is working with its retail partner Woolworths Group to bring the potential of “infinite recycling” to supermarket shelves. The first enzymatically recycled packaging is set to be launched in Woolworths next year, serving as a milestone for Samsara’s roadmap to recycling 1.5 million metric tons of plastic per year by 2030.
Says Phil Morle, a partner with Main Sequence, “Samsara is a powerful example of how deep tech can be used to solve real world problems. Its breakthrough technology based on science has the potential to end our reliance on fossil fuels for plastic creation, and with it, bring us one step closer to ending the plastic pollution crisis we currently face. These are exactly the types of ideas and startups we want to help grow and scale.”
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Source: Recycling Today
Samsara lines up financing for plastic recycling investments
<![CDATA[Samsara Eco, an Australia-based plastics recycling technology firm, says it has raised $54 million in a Series A funding round as it prepares to scale up its technology. The company says it is “creating infinite recycling to end plastic pollution with its plastic-eating enzymes that break down plastic to its core molecules regardless of color and state.”The capital infusion is intended to help Samsara Eco as it prepares to build its first plastic recycling facility later this year ahead of full-scale production in 2023. Among the new investors supporting Samsara’s mission are Australia-based Breakthrough Victoria; Singapore-based Temasek; Australia-based Assembly Climate Capital; California-based DCVC; Canada-based INP Capital; and Australia-based Main Sequence.Samsara says last year, in partnership with the Australian National University (ANU), it developed a “new way to infinitely recycle plastic.” Samsara’s technology uses enzymes to break plastic down to its “core building blocks,” which can then be used to recreate brand new, virgin-quality plastic repeatedly, says the company. The capital round is being used to grow the company’s engineering team, develop its library of plastic-eating enzymes and fund its first commercial facility that will facilitate the infinite recycling of 20,000 metric tons of plastic scrap starting 2024. Samsara is also…