FlexSea has bagged £3m in a combination of equity and grant funding to replace plastic packaging with a seaweed-based alternative.
The London-based startup has developed a range of biopolymer materials from seaweed and other natural ingredients
Thibaut Monfort, co-founder and CTO of FlexSea, said: “We are heavily investing in equipment and machinery for in-house R&D, speeding up the process tremendously.”
Indico Capital Partners led the £2m equity round, with Redrice Ventures, Btomorrow Ventures, Food Foundry, Vala Capital, ICON Capital and Pente Capital.
Innovate UK and “other institutions” provided £1m in grants.
So far the startup has produced biodegradable transparent film for packaging, and pellets which can be used in traditional plastic-molding machines. Both decompose in as little as eight weeks.
Producing its bioplastic does not require “harsh chemicals” or high temperatures, with water being the sole by-product. The seaweed used by FlexSea takes 45 days to grow back.
Stephan Morais, managing general partner at Indico Capital, said: “FlexSea has the potential to change the pattern of human consumption of plastic and therefore change the sustainability path of our planet.”
FlexSea’s seed round follows its £200,000 pre-seed funding that took place in April last year.
Startups looking to tackle the environmental impact of plastic include Kelpi, which is also using a seaweed alternative, and biodegradable plastic spinout Polymateria.