Sweden’s textile impact company Syre raises €92.2M just two months after being launched

Stockholm-based Syre, a textile impact company initiated by Vargas Holding and H&M Group launched earlier this year, has secured $100M (approximately €92.20M) in a Series A round of funding.

Led by founding investor TPG Rise Climate, the round saw additional investments from Syre’s founder H&M Group and strategic partners, including Giant Ventures, IMAS Foundation, Norrsken VC and Volvo Cars.

Joerg Metzner, Business Unit Partner at TPG Rise Climate, says, “We look forward to accelerating the decarbonisation of the textile industry through Syre’s unique textile-to-textile recycling process.”

“Pairing TPG Rise Climate’s capital and global business-building capabilities with Syre’s world-class team and proprietary technology creates a strong foundation for scaling the company across major manufacturing plants around the world in the coming years.”

Capital utilisation

The funds will help Syre build a blueprint plant in the US, which should be ready later this year. It will also help the company prepare to set up its first two big recycling plants for textiles. Syre has chosen Vietnam and Iberia as possible places for these plants. 

Both areas are important in the textile industry and have access to the things Syre needs, like knowledge, feedstock and logistics as well as energy. Now, Syre is going through a process to pick the exact locations for these plants. The company hopes to start construction in 2025.

Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre, says, “I am thrilled that some of the most ambitious investors globally have joined our quest to lead the great textile shift. It’s inspiring to see their commitment to drive the green transition of the textile industry, across our key target industry verticals apparel, automotive, and interior.”

Partnership with Premirr

With this recent funding, Syre has completed the acquisition of patented technology crucial to its textile-to-textile recycling solution. Developed over nine years by Premirr, a US-based company, this technology transforms post-consumer waste into circular polyester.

Syre aims to rapidly scale this solution globally.

Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre, says, “We completed a rigorous search and evaluation of 20+ polyester recycling technologies worldwide. That’s how we found Chris Luft and Matthew Parrott, founders of Premirr.”

“Although the partnership agreement was entered into last year, it is now that Premirr is fully integrated into Syre and I’m really proud to have the founders onboard as we continue to scale the team and company.”

Syre says its research and development (R&D) hub will continue to grow in North Carolina, expanding from its origins near the Research Triangle Park where the technology was initially developed.

Decarbonising the textile industry

Syre is a textile impact company that is dedicated to transforming the textile industry by decarbonising and eliminating waste through hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, initially focusing on polyester.

The company aims to drive the green transformation of the textile sector towards a future where every textile fiber gets a new lease on life. Its textile-to-textile recycling solution delivers circular polyester of equivalent quality to virgin polyester but with superior sustainability credentials.

Founded in 2023, the name “Syre” translates to “oxygen” in Swedish, embodying the essence of continuous renewal, derived from “sy” (Swedish for sewing) and “re” (Latin for over and over again).

Brief about the investors backing Syre

Giant Ventures is a venture capital firm that supports purpose-driven founders tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, spanning climate, health, and the promotion of inclusive capitalism.

The IMAS Foundation is a purpose-driven sister foundation to INGKA Foundation, the owner of Ingka Group. It is responsible for operating the majority of IKEA stores worldwide.

Norrsken VC is a European early-stage impact investor with over $450M in assets under management and a portfolio of more than 50 companies addressing global challenges while building “massive” businesses.

Volvo Cars, established in 1927, claims to be one of the world’s most renowned car brands. Its aim is to transition into a fully electric car manufacturer by 2030 and attain net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.