Lululemon backs nylon recycling startup Syntetica in a $30 million Series A

Sportswear company Lululemon Invested in a $30 million funding round, Syntetica, a French startup, has developed a new approach to recycling nylon, whose properties make it too good to throw away but difficult to reuse.

Syntetica promises to recycle two types of nylon — Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6 — that can’t be easily sorted from each other in textile waste collected from consumers, its CEO Marco Burton told TechCrunch.

With tons of clothing ending up in landfills every year, one of the main reasons for the fashion industry to invest in more mainstreaming is customer perception, especially for luxury clothing brands. Startups like Syntetica are also benefiting from this Regulatory regulatory windsIt is the recent price fluctuations that have had an unusual impact on nylon.

In the past six months, Geopolitical turmoil in the oil industry This led to the renegotiation of nylon prices on a quarterly or weekly basis, Bertone said. “It was a wake-up call for many brands that had been relying on gasoline-sourced nylon and gasoline-sourced synthetics for pricing and comfort, and which today saw massive shocks to their systems.”

According to Bertone, this is a perfect fit for Synteca’s practical approach. “We built the company with the clarity that there is no green premium. If you want to scale real solutions for a sustainable world, they have to be cost competitive, highly scalable, and you need to build partnerships from the beginning.”

The startup’s partners include brands like Lululemon, but also Victoria’s Secret and Etam, with the upcycling project potentially coming to market early next year. Syntetica’s Series A was also backed by a large apparel manufacturer, Mas Holding “Recognizing how important the problem is,” Bertone said.

It is really unusual for a supply chain representative to invest in a player that has not yet expanded. But before the Series A, Syntetica had already done that The partnership closed With the Michelin Center for Sustainable Materials to create a trade show facility in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand, the company’s industrial birthplace.

Unlike other startups in its field, Syntetica will not be producing textiles itself, let alone producing new materials. The product of the recycling process will be pellets, which can then be used by others to make yarn for the likes of MAS. “It is a story of practical industrial partnerships with the right players to get buy-in across the entire value chain,” Bertone said.

Bertone has experience in fashion and used e-commerce, and is the entrepreneur at Syntetica. But through the Entrepreneur First-style matchmaking accelerator hosted at Paris Camp F stationHe collaborated with the researcher, chemist Luis Monsigny. The duo then strengthened their cooperation in Reims, where they benefited AgroParisTech Laboratory.

Since then, they have also hired a CTO, Ash Ward, who previously worked for them The failure of the Northvolt battery companyand its co-founder Peter Carlson is also one of Syntetica’s advisors. For Bertone, their scars and first-hand experience with the ups and downs of expansion give them experience in when and where to take risks.

“As a startup, we have to be comfortable taking more risks than industrial companies; otherwise there will be no innovation,” he said. “But there is also a dividing line – when you juxtapose too many risks, it can get complicated.” This is also why Syntetica has not diversified yet.

Although it could eventually recycle other materials or serve other industries, it is focused on using its funding to demonstrate its ability to produce hundreds of tons of pellets annually and deliver them to customers in the apparel supply chain. Then, Bertone said, “Synteca will build facilities all over the world, close to waste sources and close to textile production.”

Although the startup has global ambitions, it benefits from its presence in France. The Series A was led by the Ecotechnologies 2 fund managed by the Green Venture team at Bpifrance, the French public investment bank as part of its Green Venture project. France 2030 plan. It has also received support from the European Innovation Council (EIC) through equity and grants Acceleration program.

For these public sector backers, startups like Synteca are part of a broader plan to boost Europe’s industrial capabilities while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. But the startup is also hoping for returns, and is also backed by private investors including EQT Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners and family offices.

Syntetica also has competitors, some of which use an enzymatic approach to “eat” plastics, but also chemicals giant BASF, which Development of recycled nylon. However, after attending industry events, Bertone hopes they will all grow. “If everyone expands to dozens of factories, we won’t be able to solve this problem,” he said. “Everyone needs to succeed in order for us to succeed as a society.”

Lululemon has also invested in other textile recycling startups such as The era of biophilic design and Samsara Eco.