Uncaged Innovations

Uncaged Innovations is a New York-based manufacturer of plant-based leather, with a patent-pending technology that chooses different types of plants and ingredients, including plant collagen, and combines them to bring together different characteristics of leather. According to the company, clients will be able to customize what they buy from Uncaged; for instance, they can also ensure that vegan leather does not include plastic.

The resulting material from Uncaged is expected to mimic traditional leather without significant environmental impacts. The company claims that its plant-based leather emits 95% fewer greenhouse gasses than animal leather per meter and takes only hours to create instead of the years it generally takes in producing traditional leather. Uncaged also reports that the material can be recycled into bio-based leather when the product wears out, and it is also testing on biodegradability.

During early 2022, Uncaged conducted trials on pilot equipment and was planning to conduct larger trials by the end of 2022. Full rolls of the material were expected to be produced for brands in 2023. The company had no intention to sell any products directly to consumers.

Funding and financials

In April 2023, the company secured a USD 50,000 grant from Fuzehub, a New York-based non-profit organization to scale up its technology and continue conducting trials to further refine its product. In June 2023, the company secured USD 2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) investment arm.