Participated · Series A · Oct 2024

Notpla is a materials-innovation company that creates natural, seaweed-derived packaging and coatings intended to disappear harmlessly after use. The firm is now spearheading a three-year consortium to design a market-ready coffee cup featuring a fully natural, plastic-free coating that can be home-composted. Backed by a €4 million Horizon Europe grant, the project will investigate new coating chemistries, scalable production methods and real-world performance testing that comply with EU waste-management regulations. Notpla’s existing solutions have already displaced more than 35 million plastic single-use items across food service, events and retail. By targeting the estimated 500 billion disposable cups used annually, the company seeks to unlock a major new application for its technology. Fourteen partners spanning material science, manufacturing, academia and food service will collaborate to ensure the cup performs under high-volume hospitality conditions. The non-dilutive funding strengthens Notpla’s balance sheet while expanding its IP portfolio and product roadmap. Successful execution could position Notpla as a leading supplier of plastic-free packaging to global beverage and hospitality markets.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2023

Spanish startup bound4blue designs and manufactures eSAIL®, a thick-profile, suction-assisted rigid sail that provides auxiliary wind propulsion for maritime vessels. Independently verified trials show fuel and emission reductions of 15–20 % on Odfjell’s Bow Olympus, with peaks up to 40 %, and daily fuel savings of up to 5.4 t on the Ville de Bordeaux ro-ro ship. The company has already installed its sails on seven ships and holds orders for twelve more, representing more than 50 eSAIL units. Customers include Maersk Tankers, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Odfjell, Klaveness Combination Carriers and BW Epic Kosan. With parallel production lines planned in Spain and China, bound4blue aims to manufacture several hundred sails annually and projects annual CO₂ savings exceeding 400,000 t by 2027. The newly raised capital positions the firm to transition from technology validation to full industrial scale-up while continuing R&D on additional wind-propulsion solutions.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2023

Ocean Rainforest develops and operates open-ocean kelp cultivation systems and produces kelp products across the value chain. Headquartered in the Faroe Islands with a U.S. subsidiary in Southern California, the company has operated first-of-its-kind offshore systems since 2010 and is one of the largest commercial seaweed cultivators based in Europe. Its California subsidiary recently obtained an R&D permit for seaweed cultivation in federal waters, a milestone toward commercial-scale production and processing. Ocean Rainforest grows Macrocystis pyrifera and plans to scale offshore operations, processing pilot biomass for target markets such as biostimulants and functional feed ingredients. The company is testing automation, partial-harvest techniques, upwelling-enabled system design, and automated monitoring in partnership with other MARINER awardees to advance economically feasible open-ocean cultivation. Ocean Rainforest grows and processes macroalgae using a proprietary open-ocean cultivation system proven in the North Atlantic and Pacific. It is among the largest commercial seaweed cultivators in Europe and has obtained the first-ever offshore seaweed cultivation permit in US federal waters offshore Santa Barbara, California. The company produces giant kelp for functional food and feed markets and has supplied fermented kelp to Danish feed producer European Protein; aquafeed producer Aller Aqua has trialled its kelp as a salmon feed additive. Ocean Rainforest leverages existing facilities in the Faroe Islands and operates in California while pursuing expansion across the North Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Rim. The company aims to commercialize cultivation and processing for food, feed, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biomaterials, beverages, texturing, and medical devices and to work with local partners to replicate its model in Europe and North America. The recent funding will support scaling production, accelerating product and market development, and expanding operations in both the Faroe Islands and California. Ocean Rainforest builds offshore seaweed cultivation systems and designs harvest and processing facilities aimed at reducing storm losses and heavy manual labour. The team farms multiple species of native seaweeds to guard against monoculture. The company secured $1.5 million in funding led by WWF (which invested $850,000), with the remainder from existing Faroese backers and board members including Olavur Gregersen, to scale its operations. WWF described the investment as part of a conservation finance and impact‑investment strategy to relieve environmental pressures from food, fiber, and fuel demand and said it plans further investments in the farmed seaweed value chain. Ocean Rainforest has also been tapped by ARPA‑E to join a three‑year open‑ocean giant kelp cultivation project in California with Primary Ocean and Hortimare, a project that faces different coastal regulatory challenges than the Faroes. Investors have expressed interest in seaweed applications such as feed supplements to reduce cattle methane emissions.