Swiss start-up DePoly raises $13.8 million to scale its operations converting plastics and polyester textiles back to raw materials

Swiss start-up DePoly converts PET plastics and polyester textiles back to their main raw materials. The climate tech is reacting to the waste plastic issue where only clean plastics and sorted waste is recycled. Its energy efficient chemical recycling technology requires none of the ‘preparations’ before recycling products. 

It has raised a $13.8 million oversubscribed Seed round which was co-led by BASF Venture Capital and Wingman Ventures and includes Beiersdorf, Infinity Recycling, CIECH Ventures, Angel Invest, and others.

"Plastic pollution is a public health crisis and demands urgent action. Plastic waste has infiltrated every corner of our planet, poisoning our food chain and imperilling wildlife. DePoly is paving the way for a truly sustainable plastic economy. We are extremely proud to support DePoly since day one on their journey to tackle this planetary crisis to clean our oceans and landfills from plastic waste and to welcome leading investors from the chemicals, recycling, climate- and deep tech space on board to build the global leader for the sustainable plastics recycling," says Antonia Albert, Principal at Wingman Ventures.

Founded by Samantha Anderson (CEO), Bardiya Valizadeh (CTO), and Christopher Ireland (CSO) in 2020 the start-up is processing ‘a capacity of 50 tonnes per year’ through its pilot plant. It is working on a ‘showcase plant with a capacity of 500 tonnes per year to demonstrate the technology at a commercial scale’.

“Plastics are a part of our lives and an existential dilemma facing us all. The plastic market isn’t slowing down, as it’s currently growing at a yearly rate of 5% CAGR and is estimated to be worth over $500 billion. We believe that to tackle this problem effectively, a simple, scalable solution is required that can treat difficult plastic streams. By recycling pre-/post-consumer and post-industrial plastics that otherwise would be sent to incineration centres or be landfilled, we at DePoly aim to eliminate plastic waste and create a sustainable source of chemicals by diverting this waste from our environment and lowering our carbon footprint up to 65% at the same time. The raw materials produced match that of their fossil-fuel-based equivalents, meaning customers no longer have to choose between PET quality and its sustainability,” says Samantha Anderson, CEO and co-founder of DePoly. 

Images provided by DePloy