ImpactAlpha, October 3 — Hamburg-based Traceless Materials has developed a bio-based, low-emission plastic alternative made from agricultural waste, such as rice and wheat straw. The two-year old startup is building a demonstration plant to scale production and replace several thousand tons of conventional plastics per year.
“Financing capital-intensive start-ups is still unfamiliar to many investors and banks,” said Traceless Materials’ Johanna Baare. “We’re pleased we found partners…who understood the challenges of financing our hardware scale-up.”
Green materials
The Series A round was led by United Bankers’s Forest Industry Green Growth Fund and SWEN Capital Partners. Other investors in the $38.4 million Series A round include a local bank syndicate and existing seed investors.
Traceless’ materials can replace plastics that end up in the environment and in oceans “such as single-use packaging as well as hidden plastics in adhesive and paper coatings,” said Oliver Raybaud of SWEN, which backed the company via its €170 million Blue Ocean Fund.
