Greek startup Coffeeco Upcycle raises €715K to turn coffee waste into skincare and bioplastics

Patras, Greece-based Coffeeco Upcycle, a specialist in transforming coffee waste into high-value products, has announced the first close of its €1M seed round, securing €715,000 from international investors.

The round was led by London‘s boutique financial firm VDK Capital.

The funding round will stay open for three more months, with €285,000 still available for interested investors.

The funding allows the company to expand its operations in Europe and the U.S. while scaling its flagship product line—Auraskin—and its approach to circular, science-backed development.

Coffeeco Upcycle: Turning coffee waste into bioplastic and skincare products

Founded in 2021 by Dr. Alexis Pantziaros and Marios Vlachogiannis, the Greek company raised a pre-seed round to build its proprietary production unit in the Industrial Area of Patras (VIPE).

The company now collects over 10 tons of spent coffee grounds each month, transforming them into bioactive, minimalist skincare, and experimental bioplastic compounds.

“Our upcycled extract has shown exceptional microbiome-enhancing capacity,” says Marios Vlachogiannis, co-founder & COO. “That’s where the real differentiation lies. It’s not just about being natural or sustainable—it’s about offering high-performance skincare that respects the skin’s ecosystem while closing the loop on waste.”

Coffeeco has a simple idea: coffee waste can be a valuable resource.

The company takes used coffee grounds and extracts antioxidant-rich components to create functional, minimalist skincare products, which are sold under the Auraskin brand in coffee shops.

This “skincare-to-go” approach turns cafés into new places to buy beauty products.

Auraskin is now sold in over 90 locations across Greece, Cyprus, Madrid, London, Romania, and recently in Boston, where it launched in the South End and became popular, even on chilly -2°C winter mornings.

Coffeeco Upcycle SA’s cap table includes prominent figures from the food, sustainability, and startup sectors, such as Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos, Giannis Theodoropoulos, and Konstantinos Lambrou.

“Coffee and the Planet are two things very close to my heart,” says Alex Hadjipateras, “so I was delighted to find a way to combine both with my latest personal investment in Coffeeco.”