BASF Venture Capital invests in Euro 12.3 million round of startup DePoly
Ludwigshafen, Germany — BVC leads DePoly’s CHF 12.3 million seed financing round together with Wingman Ventures, with participation from Beiersdorf, Infinity Recycling, CIECH Ventures, Angel Invest and others. Proceeds from the financing round will enable DePoly to accelerate the scaling and development of its depolymerization process, leading to the construction of a demonstration plant expected to be operational in 2024.
Sion, Switzerland-based startup DePoly, founded in 2020 by Samantha Anderson, Bardiya Valizadeh and Christopher Ireland, is developing “an innovative chemical recycling technology.” The fledgling company’s technology can “convert mixed and difficult-to-recycle consumer and industrial waste streams, for example, mixed plastics, mixed paints, soiled plastic waste, and polyester-based fabrics and fibers back into their primary raw materials.”
Plastics are an essential part of everyday life. But only about 10 percent is recycled; the majority is incinerated or landfilled. As brand owners increasingly seek higher recycled content in their products, demand for advanced recycling technologies is expected to increase. DePoly offers a unique solution to meet this need.
“Our technology has the potential to fundamentally change the lifecycle of PET plastics and support global efforts to address climate change. We are very pleased that BASF Venture Capital and other strategic investors are supporting us in this round to implement our solution on a larger scale,” said Samantha Anderson (pictured), CEO and co-founder of DePoly.
BASF is striving to make the transition to a circular economy by making greater use of recycled and renewable raw materials, designing new material cycles and developing new business models. BASF is therefore implementing a circular economy program. The company aims to double its sales of circular economy solutions to €17 billion by 2030. One example of these efforts is BASF’s ChemCycling® business. The investment in DePoly is a further commitment to support this goal.
“To truly make the circular economy for plastics a reality, we need to change the way we do business, and that requires a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders. DePoly’s technology offers a promising solution to address the global problem of plastic waste, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by the production of virgin plastics. We are pleased to support the company in creating a more sustainable future,” said Markus Solibieda, Managing Director at BASF Venture Capital.