Uluu raises £7M to scale seaweed plastic alternative
Uluu, an Australian startup which turns seaweed into a plastic alternative, has raised over £7 million ($16 million AUD) in Series A funding to build a demonstration plant for the industrial production of its materials.
The round was led by German growth investor Burda Principal Investments with support from Main Sequence, Novel Investments, Startmate, and a consortium of leading impact and family investors, including Fairground and Trinity Ventures. They join prominent individuals, including Tame Impala musician Kevin Parker, American model Karlie Kloss, and British managing director of Festival Republic and director of Glastonbury Festival, Melvin Benn, in backing the startup.
Founded in 2021 in Perth, Australia, Uluu deploys a unique carbon-neutral fermentation process to turn farmed seaweed into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), materials that perform like conventional plastic and can be processed using existing plastic manufacturing equipment. Unlike plastic made from fossil fuels, Uluu’s materials are home compostable and marine biodegradable, meaning they break down naturally without releasing microplastics. They are strong, lightweight, waterproof and non-toxic, while being climate positive at scale.
At commercial scale, the Uluu production process has scope to capture and store up to 5kgs of carbon dioxide (CO₂) for every 1kg of material produced. This compares with 3kgs of CO₂ emitted to produce 1kg of plastic today. The technology has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions by more than 2 gigatonnes per year.
With the Series A raise, Uluu will scale from its 100kg per year pilot facility to a 10-tonne per year demonstration plant in Western Australia, enabling the company to deliver commercial volumes to customers.
Uluu already collaborates with a range of global partners in cosmetics, fashion and the automotive industry, including public campaigns with Quiksilver, Papinelle, and Audi.
“After four years of work developing this technology, including two years running our pilot plant, we’re excited to take this next step and start delivering meaningful volumes of our materials to customers,” said Uluu Co-Founder and Co-CEO Michael Kingsbury. “The demonstration plant is a critical step in showing Uluu can scale to truly compete with and replace fossil plastics.”
Uluu Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dr Julia Reisser said seaweed was one of the most sustainable resources on Earth: “Seaweed grows quickly and gets everything it needs from the sun and the sea. It locks away CO2 and helps clean up pollutants from the ocean. By harnessing seaweed, Uluu is producing materials that have a positive, rather than negative, impact on the environment, while helping to end plastic pollution.”
“At BPI, we invest in companies driving transformative innovation with the potential to become a global category leader,” said Christian Teichmann, CEO of Burda Principal Investments. “Having first invested in Uluu in 2023, we’re excited to further deepen our partnership as the company scales its pioneering technology. Uluu is redefining how materials can be produced more sustainably at industrial scale, and we look forward to supporting Julia, Michael, and their team on this next stage of their journey.”
The Series A round also primes Uluu for future growth, with plans underway for a commercial-scale facility capable of producing thousands of tonnes annually to serve major global markets.
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