FINLAND – Espoo-based sustainable innovations company Paptic has secured €23 million (US$24.76m) to drive growth and expand its materials portfolio.
The round is led by the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), US-based chemical company Ecolab and Japanese trading house Itochu Fiber Ltd.
Guillaume Gras, Investment Director at ECBF said: “The versatile applicability of recyclable Paptic materials provides an excellent basis to reduce the use of fossil-based materials in packaging.
“Our investment will provide Paptic with the resources to accelerate its international expansion, as well as to serve the growing demand for innovative sustainable packaging materials.”
The new financing will support Paptic’s growth and expand its material portfolio, making Paptic® flexible packaging materials more available globally.
The company claims the capital infusion will also benefit its global customer base and accelerate the industrial scaling of Paptic’s foam-based manufacturing technology. In addition, the investment supports the company’s commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2030.
Tuomas Mustonen, CEO and co-founder of Paptic Ltd said: “We are very happy that our work and solutions to reduce the use of fossil-based materials in flexible packaging are recognized as sustainable and commercially viable alternatives for today and tomorrow.
“The new investments enable us to take the next step in our company’s journey to boost our growth to new markets.
“Our renewable and recyclable materials, with a unique touch and feel properties, are a drop-in solution to replace plastics in flexible packaging as they run efficiently on existing converting lines.”
Founded in 2015, Paptic has developed Paptic®, a fiber-based and recyclable material to replace plastics and conventional materials in packaging.
According to the company, the global market for flexible packaging is estimated at over €200 billion (US$215.30bn) annually – 70 percent of the materials used are plastics.
In nearly half of the end-uses, plastic could be replaced with renewable and recyclable Paptic materials, suggests the company.
Already many companies have committed to switching from plastics to packaging solutions from sustainable sources with low-carbon value chains, claims the company.
The company says that one of the sustainability forerunners in the toy industry, Germany-based fischertechnik, has replaced the plastic in the packaging of its bio-based construction set ‘Animal Friends’ with wood-fiber-based Paptic material.
The Finnish company claims all sustainability aspects are considered, including the substrate, design, printing, and inks, in its optimized packaging.
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