Compostable seaweed packaging start-up raises £4.3m
Summary
Kelpi, which was founded in Bath and is now based in Bristol, has created a coating that can be applied to paper and card, replacing plastic packaging.The biotech company said it would use the investment to recruit more scientists, engineers and commercial staff to conduct large-scale pilots of the material its spent three years developing in the lab. The plan, Kelpi said, is to scale up production, complete the regulatory approval process, and take its product to market by mid-2025.The funding round was led by Blackfinch Ventures, with investment from Green Angel Ventures; Kadmos Partners; QantX; Evenlode Foundation; and the South West Investment Fund. The business also received follow-on investment from Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC); One Planet Capital; and private angel investors.Kelpi has already developed partnerships with brands including LOr\xe9al and Diageo, UK supermarket Waitrose, and tropical fresh fruit supplier Blue Skies.This landmark investment enables Kelpi to scale up our pioneering work and take to market our world-leading packaging material that is already being chosen by clients, said Kelpi chief executive Neil Morris . Kelpi can now play a key role in ending our dependence on fossil fuels to create single-use packaging and so eliminating a major source of plastic pollution. If washed out to sea, the firm said it would break down completely in a matter of months.Dr Reuben Wilcock, head of ventures at Blackfinch, said: Kelpi stood out to us as a strong combination of world-leading scientific innovation with extensive entrepreneurial experience.