Founded in 2019 by co-founders Federico Trotta, George Wang, both graduates of Imperial College London along with co-founder, Patrizia De Santis. Metalchemy quickly secured another round of funding earlier this year, enabling the start up to pioneer its food packaging, using bioplastics that are completely biodegradable, biocompatible, and made from natural ingredients. By embedding its green nanomaterials in its bioplastics, the company can exploit the antimicrobial properties to kill harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses, therefore delaying food degradation. Multiple studies show that through this process, food shelf life can be increased by seven days for meat, five days for cheese, and four days for fresh salad.

Metalchemy is striving ahead to bring a greener future to all and along with opening two production facilities, the company has recently developed its Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), submitted several pending patents and created a portfolio of partnerships. In addition, the company was selected as both an Alpha and Impact start-up at Web Summit 21 and joined the NatWest Accelerator Program that supports and empowers UK entrepreneurs to scale their businesses to the next level.

Currently looking to raise £150k via its Crowdcube campaign, this next phase will further support the company’s end-goal of helping businesses save up to £600M of food waste resulting in one million tons of CO2e reduction, as well as enabling further development of the nano-enhanced bioplastics in order to optimize the product as a whole. The company estimates that its scale-up manufacturing could produce up to 800kg/year of bioplastic, thus kickstarting its go-to-market strategy, starting with trial studies with clients and partners. Metalchemy has partnered with Platter, an online B2B platform for food suppliers and buyers, contributing towards better food packaging across the supply chain, with prospective manufacturers already expressing interest for the new technology.

“Developing innovative and greener nanomaterial manufacturing methods is not only imperative for a wide range of applications like food packaging, water & air filtration, sustainable energy, healthcare and computing, it also opens the biggest commercial opportunity of the 21st century,” said CEO and Co-Founder Federico. “Through our nanotechnology, we can produce green nanoparticles at a fraction of the cost of current manufacturers, resulting in lower cost and green credentials, which allows nanocomposite bioplastics to become a reality. This means that we have the potential to significantly reduce food waste globally, but also save the UK household up to £700 per year, food businesses up to £4.5bn per year and reduce up to 25 million tons of CO2 emissions, in the UK alone.”

Alongside the co-founders and joining Metalchemy are strategic advisors and renowned Scientists, Prof. S. Homer as Senior strategic Healthcare Advisor and Dr. Dean Carroll, Senior Scientific Advisor.