UK’s Polymateria bags €22.8M from ABC Impact, Indorama Ventures to combat plastic pollution

London-based Polymateria, a biotransformation technology company, announced on Friday, April 28, that it has secured £20M (approximately €22.8M) in a Series B round of funding led by Singapore-based ABC Impact and sustainable chemical company Indorama Ventures.

The company says the capital will be used to increase the penetration of Polymateria’s technology in existing markets and expand into new markets where fugitive plastic pollution is most acute, including Asia. 

The company also plans to boost its R&D capabilities by investing in its in-house laboratory at Imperial College London.

Lee Davy-Martin, Co-Founder and Board Member of Polymateria, says, “I’m tremendously excited to be embarking on the next step of Polymateria’s journey. We founded Polymateria to make a real difference in one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. With the backing of investors like ABC Impact and Indorama Ventures, we are well on the way to achieving our mission.”

Besides the funding, Polymateria also announced the  appointment of Sugandhi Matta to its board, chaired by the Blackstone Group International Partners Chair, Marc Bolland.

Sugandhi Matta, Chief Impact Officer at ABC Impact, says, “With the strength of Polymateria’s scientific underpinning and the vast scalability of its technology, we believe that the solution developed by the company can help address challenges in plastic packaging-related pollution. We look forward to helping the team expand its commercialisation reach and further generate impact at scale in Asia.”

Polymateria: Combating plastic pollution

Founded at Imperial College London, Polymateria aims to combat plastic pollution by utilising scientific advancements to address the issue. 

The company’s biotransformation technology has proven full biodegradation of plastic items into water, CO2, and biomass without leaving any microplastic or toxic residue in the open environment. 

As per the company’s claims, the technology can be deployed with no changes to existing manufacturing processes and is compatible with existing recycling streams, giving it unrivalled scalability. 

The company’s customers include Twickenham Rugby Stadium, the Chicago Marathon, and 7-ELEVEN Taiwan.

With this, Polymateria has become the first entity to demonstrate through scientific evidence that the most prevalent sources of unmanaged plastic waste can be returned to nature without generating microplastics, negatively impacting the ecosystem, or disrupting recycling processes on a large scale. 

The Investors

ABC Impact is a Singapore-headquartered and Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to impact investing. 

The VC’s investment themes include financial and digital inclusion, better health and education, climate and water solutions, and sustainable food and agriculture.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited is one of the world’s leading petrochemical producers with a global manufacturing footprint across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. 

The company’s portfolio comprises Combined PET, Integrated Oxides and Derivatives, and Fibres.

Yash Lohia, Chairman of the ESG Council at Indorama Ventures, says, “We’re delighted to be following our money into Polymateria’s Series B round. What started as a relationship between the customer and technology provider has now become a strategic alliance. IVL is excited by the potential of Polymateria’s biotransformation technology and we look forward to seeing it rolled out on supermarket shelves with many of the world’s most recognised brands.”