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Seaweed-based packaging company Notpla has successfully completed a £20m Series A funding round to fuel innovation and accelerate its expansion into the North American market.

The funding round was led by UB Forest Industry Green Growth and saw participation from existing and new investors, including Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate & Health, Horizon Ventures and Astanor, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Radicle Impact, EIT Food’s AgriFoodInvest, and more.

In addition to scaling up manufacturing facilities and broadening the product range, the funds will also be used to establish a foothold in new regions, with a particular focus on the US. Its materials are currently used in ten European markets.

Based in London, UK, Notpla launched in 2014 and has since replaced over 16 million single-use plastic items across Europe. Its innovations include seaweed-lined takeaway food containers and the ‘Ooho’ – an edible liquid packaging solution for beverages and condiments.

The company expects to increase this volume to over 100 million units annually within the next two years, fuelled by consumer demand for environmentally friendly switch-outs. Notpla’s solutions, which are home compostable and plastic-free, have now been adopted by major corporations in Europe including Compass Group, Decathlon and Just Eat Takeaway.

Last year, the Dutch government concluded that Notpla’s food packaging coating was the only application currently on the market in the Netherlands to meet its definition of ‘plastic-free’ under the Single Use Plastic Directive. The materials used are natural polymers derived from seaweed and are not chemically modified.

Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, co-founder and co-CEO of Notpla, said: “We are thrilled to have secured this level of investment in such a competitive environment. This round not only validates our approach but also positions us to capitalise on the growing demand for truly plastic-free packaging solutions in global markets, especially as we look towards expansion into the US.”

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