Tin Shed Ventures is Patagonia’s corporate venture capital fund, which invests in start-ups that offer solutions to the environmental crisis. Originally launched as $20 Million and Change in May 2013, Tin Shed Ventures partners with businesses focused on building renewable energy infrastructure, practicing regenerative organic agriculture, conserving water, diverting waste and creating sustainable materials.

Tin Shed Ventures

City Light is a venture capital firm that invests early in impactful companies. They partner with experienced teams building category-defining solutions in the areas of education, safety and care, and the environment - where more revenue equals better lives at scale, every time. As one of the earliest and most successful impacts investing firms, City Light has a track record of identifying and scaling impact in ways that build better companies.  The firm was founded in 2004 and is based in New York, New York. Some of its key portfolio investments are 2U (Nasdaq: TWOU), ShotSpotter (Nasdaq: SSTI), Trilogy Education, and Ready Responders.

City Light Capital

Marubeni America Corporation, which we also refer to as ''MAC,'' is a general trading company, engaged as an intermediary, importer/exporter, facilitator or broker in various types of trade between and among business enterprises and countries. We are the largest overseas subsidiary of the Japanese ''sogo shosha'' called Marubeni Corporation, which originated in Osaka in 1858. But unlike many other businesses of our size and scope, MAC has few fixed assets, relying instead on the creativity, ingenuity and innovation of our talented and experienced people, our intensive information gathering skills and our extensive financial resources and acumen.  MAC trades in a broad range of commodities, agricultural goods, machinery, energy products, and natural resources for our own account, and on behalf of our clients. In addition, we are more than just global traders and brokers. We also act as major financiers, investors and large-scale organizers. We play a vital role in the logistics of transactions, such as the global movement of products. We assume and manage risk involved in transactions and act as business consultants, using our vast trade experience in new business development. We provide many specialized services, including sales support, transportation, insurance, storage, financing and leasing, engineering and construction service, and traffic and logistics planning. We are also the holding company of, or significant investor in, a number of major companies within our specialty industries.

Marubeni America Corporation

Investing across deep tech, clean tech, consumer tech and SaaS, Alante Capital pairs a comprehensive investment strategy with deep sector expertise to build a risk adjusted portfolio with the potential for superior returns alongside transformative social and environmental impact.  Our deep industry focus and system-change approach give us the unique edge to find, select and support the most outstanding entrepreneurs modernizing the apparel industry.

Alante Capital

Card Sound Capital is provides capital and support to successful early and growth stage companies with the goal of creating sustained value. At CSC, we traditionally invest in the personalized healthcare sector and disruptive technology companies seeking to drive a positive social or environmental impact alongside strong financial performance.

Card Sound Capital

Backed by several multi-billion dollar family offices, 8090 Partners is a private partnership of industry-leading families and entrepreneurs focused on direct investments and other opportunistic transactions. 8090's flexible mandate and long-term horizon amplify and complement our partners' single family office investments.

8090 Partners

8090 Industries is a venture capital firm that partners with global conglomerates to invest in the industrial sectors. Specific focus is on decarbonization, aerospace, defense and advanced manufacturing.

8090 Industries

Zalando is a European online fashion platform- offering a broad assortment of fashion for men, women and children. It carries over 1.500 brands and over 150.000 product choices for over 17 million customers in 15 countries.  By constantly optimising its processes and platform offerings, using its e-commerce expertise and lots of can-do spirit, Zalando have become Europe's leading online fashion retailer in only a few years. Its goal is to create the world’s best online fashion experience. The cores of its business are what the company focuses on, always striving to be cutting-edge in fashion, technology, marketing, and logistics.  Zalando SE in Berlin is the group’s centrepiece which focuses on the development of its core product: the online shopping experience. Zalando SE operates the international business and takes care of their business development. Zalando SE comprises functions like the management, marketing, administration, and technology.

Zalando

Avery Dennison Corporation (Avery Dennison), is engaged in the production of pressure-sensitive materials, and a variety of tickets, tags, labels other converted products, and office and consumer products through embossing, printing, stamping and die-cutting. The Company operates in two segments: Pressure-sensitive Materials and Retail Branding and Information Solutions. In addition to its reportable segments, the Company has other specialty converting businesses comprised of Vancive Medical Technologies (Vancive) and Designed and Engineered Solutions (DES). Some are sold by the Company in converted form as printable media, tapes and reflective sheeting. In July 2013, Avery Dennison Corp completed the sale of its Office and Consumer Products and Designed and Engineered Solutions businesses to CCL Industries Inc.

Avery Dennison

Vodia Ventures offers comprehensive asset management and financial advice services, utilizing the most sophisticated methodologies and delivering great customer care. They have the attention of a small firm while harnessing the resources of a smart advisor when you work with a dedicated team. Each client relationship is a collaboration built on mutual respect and trust, with our success evaluated by our clients' achievement of their life objectives.

Vodia Ventures

Circulate Capital is an investment management firm dedicated to incubating and financing companies and infrastructure that prevent ocean plastic. They focus on the prevention of mismanaged plastic waste in countries located in South Asia and Southeast Asia, regions that contribute disproportionately to ocean plastic pollution primarily because they often lack the critical waste infrastructure to manage the problem. They were created in collaboration with Closed Loop Partners and Ocean Conservancy, and their founding investors are expected to include PepsiCo, the first investor; Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company. They are also supported by many other leading consumer product goods and chemical companies, intergovernmental organizations and associations including 3M, American Chemistry Council, Kimberly-Clark, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) and the World Plastics Council.

Circulate Capital

Youngone is a producer and supplier of consumer goods. They provide products that include outerwear, shoes, and bags. They offer products that are available for shopping online.

Youngone

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is an investor-led fund made up of members of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, guided by scientific and technological expertise and committed to investing patiently in developing new ways to live, eat, travel, and build. Breakthrough Energy Ventures provides reliable and affordable power without contributing to climate change. Breakthrough Energy invests in new technologies that make power reliable and affordable for everyone while not warming the planet.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Lansdowne Partners is an alternative investment management firm that focused on equity portfolios. Founded in 1998, the company manages assets for a diversified institutional client base that includes some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated investors. Lansdowne Partners was founded in 1998 and is based in London, England.

Lansdowne Partners

Temasek Holdings is a lender provider. The company offers debt financing and focuses on transforming economies, increasing middle-income populations, developing comparative advantages, and emerging champions. Financial services, transportation, industrial, consumer, real estate, telecommunications, media, technology, and life sciences are among the industries served by the firm.

Temasek Holdings

By combining science with design and insights, Milliken tackles the issues and concerns of today, however big, however small. Every day, their community of innovators is invigorated by the challenge of finding creative ways to enhance people’s lives.They spend their days exploring, discovering, and creating, pushing at what’s possible while always considering what’s needed. Discover how Milliken associates around the world are working to add real value to people’s lives, to make the world around us easier, safer, more sustainable and more beautiful.

Milliken & Company

Inditex is a fashion conglomerate that retails several clothing brands. Zara is its flagship brand that includes Zara Home, generating over 69% of the company's revenue and around 72% of profits. Other brands include Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, and Uterque. The company operates through over 7,000 stores globally, over 2,000 of them belonging to the Zara brand. Sixty-five percent of revenue is generated in the European home market, while the Americas and Asia contribute 15% and 20%, respectively. The company keeps design in-house while mostly outsourcing manufacturing (its own manufacturing comprises only a low-single-digit percentage of output). Around 60% of manufacturing is done in proximity to the company's headquarters in Spain, and then shipped globally.

Inditex

Envisioning Partners is the largest impact investing venture capital firm based in Seoul, South Korea, with 100% of its portfolio dedicated to impact.

Envisioning Partners

Circ

Circ helps industries meet consumer expectations for sustainability without compromises in quality, price, or convenience. It recycles discarded clothing to produce the basis of petroleum- and plant-based fabrics. Tyton’s virgin-equivalent, market-grade dissolving pulp, and petroleum monomers can be sold at the same cost as virgin materials to manufacturers who make fibers. Whether cotton, poly-cotton, polyester, nylon, or other fibers, it aims to cost-effectively recycle these materials using water as a solvent.  It was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Danville, Virginia.

Circ (previously known as Tyton Biosciences) recycles textile waste using its flexible hydrothermal processing technology that recycles a wide range of material waste, such as cotton, polyester, and polycotton according to customer specifications.

Reinforcing recycling, rerouting refuse, and reducing wasteflows

Waste Recovery & Management Tech

Textile-to-Textile Recycler Circ Announces Partnership with Taiwanese Polyester Producer

Zara has partnered with Circ, a fashion technology company, to launch a women's capsule collection made from recycled textiles derived from polycotton waste.

Startups developing recycling technologies such as polymer recycling, flexible hydrothermal processing, etc., to recycle textile waste into products that include carbon neutral fiber or transform the waste into new products with greater value through upcycling technologies.

Invested in Circ, a U.S.-based chemical recycler focused on harvesting new yarns from mixed textile waste. Avery Dennison’s investment will help accelerate the commercialization of Circ's innovation.

Andritz

To develop a cutting-edge textile recycling technology that separates and recovers valuable raw materials, ANDRITZ will engineer, design, manufacture, and start up the process equipment for CIRC's demonstration and commercial facilities.

Circ (previously known as Tyton Biosciences) recycles textile waste using its flexible hydrothermal processing technology that recycles a wide range of material waste, such as cotton, polyester, and polycotton according to customer specifications.As of November 2023, Circ has diverted 103 tons of textile waste and prevented 130,000 kg of CO2 emissions. By 2030, Circ expects to quintuple its capacity to 300,000 tons. Additionally, by 2026, Circ plans to open an industrial-scale factory by 2026 (capacity undisclosed) and expand globally to recycle 60,000 tons of textile waste annually.Key customers and partnerships• In September 2020, via Fashion for Good’s “Full Circle Textile” project, the company partnered with brands and retailers such as Kering and Target to promote using its recycled fiber (commonly known as cellulosic fiber).• In April 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17742">Zara</a>, a Spanish multinational retail clothing chain, to release a line of women’s apparel made with recycled polyester and cotton fibers using Circ's hydrothermal process.• In June 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19278">Acegreen</a> Eco-Material Technology, a Taiwan-based fiber manufacturer, to manufacture filament lyocell and collaborate on research and development projects.• In September 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21673">Vivobarefoot</a>, a footwear company, to develop circular performance footwear.• In October 2023, Circ collaborated with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22952">Mara Hoffman</a> to create a luxury garment using Circ's lyocell.• In February 2024, the company partnered with material innovator <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26733">Pyratex</a> to advance sustainable textile production and recycling.Funding and FinancialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16785">March 2023</a>, the company raised USD 25 million in an extended Series B funding round backed by Zalando, Avery Dennison, and Youngone to accelerate its engineering expansion and deliver its first consumer products to market.

Based in the UK, SEaB Energy provides clients with a waste to energy technology. The company sells two products called Flexibuster and Muckbuster that convert waste into energy. Flexibuster converts organic waste, while Muckbuster is designed to convert slurry waste. These are anaerobic digestion units which are containerized and can be easily bought and installed by any entity to get the required power Flexibusters are suitable for small and medium sized entities that produce between 500kg and 2,500kg of organic waste per day. As of June 2021, the company operates and manufactures its products in England, Portugal, and the USA.According to the company, one cubic meter of waste creates one household unit of electricity. The company helps customers by collecting a sample of their feedstock and estimates how much power its products can deliver by converting the particular type of feedstock. The company reports that its clients include fortune 50 companies, hospitals, non-profit organizations, property developers, and hypermarkets.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://seabenergy.com/axon-partners-enagas-emprende-investment/">September 2022,</a> SEaB Energy raised an undisclosed investment led by Axon Partners Group to expand its solutions in Europe, Latin America and the US.

SEaB Energy

RoadRunner Recycling helps predict recycling plans for businesses (such as hotels, mills, warehouses) by using algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI). While helping them recycle their waste, the company also offers scheduled and one-off waste pickup services for businesses in the US.The company claims that the usage of its services has on average allowed a 16% saving in waste and recycling expenditures for customers and increased diversion from landfills by threefold.The company operates a shared-savings business model, where it generates revenue based on the level of the customer’s savings. As of October 2022, the company has diverted over 300,000 tons of material from disposal across 12,000 accounts, saving customers nearly USD 50 million on waste and recycling services.In October 2022, RoadRunner acquired Compology, the world's largest waste and recycling smart metering technology company.Key customers and partnershipsRoadRunner Recycling partnered with Avery Dennison (a label and packaging materials company) in September 2020 to launch a scalable matrix recycling program to help Avery’s <a href="https://www.packagingtechtoday.com/news-headlines/avery-dennison-launches-matrix-recycling-program-with-roadrunner-recycling/label-tape/">label</a> converters achieve their zero-waste-to-landfill goals. Some of the company’s key customers are Boxer Property, Forman Mills, and the PM Hotel Group.&nbsp;Funding and financials&nbsp;In its latest funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14646">November 2022</a>, the company raised USD 20 million funding in its extended Series D round led by Fifth Wall. The funds were expected to support growth of the company's core business, expansion of enterprise offerings, and strengthening the investments in technology, thus improving sustainability in the real estate sector.

RoadRunner Recycling

<div>
 
 AMP (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26429">
 formerly
 </a>
 AMP Robotics) uses robots and AI to sort waste by type. Following the company&rsquo;s rebranding, it shifted focus from supplying sorting robots to building automated, facility-scale recycling solutions that incorporate AI and robotics. The company&rsquo;s AMP One-integrated sorting facility combines a number of AMP&rsquo;s modular solutions to deliver a material recovery facility (MRF) that requires no manual sorting. The facilities are able to autonomously sort multiple waste streams, including municipal solid waste, MRF residue, and mixed plastic waste into bales of materials.
 
 
 The modular solutions that make up AMP One include
 
 
 AMP Vision: 
 An AI-powered machine vision system capable of identifying over 50 categories of materials present in waste streams. The company claims it uses the world&rsquo;s largest real-world dataset for materials with over 75 billion data points.&nbsp;
 
 
 AMP Jet and Microjet: 
 An AI-based sorting system that leverages AMP Vision to identify materials and separates these two material streams simultaneously using two rows of 50 air nozzles. The system also uses AI to track the path of sorted materials and adjust jets. AMP Jet is claimed to be able to recover over 90% of target materials without human intervention. The Microjet is a compact version that can be mounted on the side of a conveyor belt.
 
 
 AMP Delta: 
 A robotic sortation system that uses AMP Vision to mechanically sort waste streams, reaching pick rates of over 80 items per mimute. Also available in Tandem (120 items per minute) and Compact (65 items per minute) variants.
 
 
 AMP Vac:
 A belt-mounted vacuum array that removes and collects thin film that can be used for pyrolysis applications. It is able to collect up to 120 picks per minute.
 
 
 AMP Insight and AMP SmartTons
 : A real-time reporting tool and system for tagging sorted bales, which can specify the exact composition and purity of the recovered material.
 
 
 The company reports that its plants are able to handle between 15 and 100+ kilotons of waste annually. AMP also has turnkey plants available, and claims it can deploy custom-built plants in as little as nine months. As of February 2024, the company has more than 230 deployments in more than 80 facilities and robotic systems in over 20 states in the US, and in Canada, Japan, and Europe.
 
 
 In May 2023, the company unveiled a complete line of 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18116">
 AI-powered automation solutions 
 </a>
 for materials recovery facilities (MRFs), including a new compact robotic sortation solution, AI-driven improvements in targeting and robotic gripping reliability, and integrated AI-powered facility solution.
 
 
 In November 2022, the company opened its new 84,000 sq ft facility in Louisville.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In September 2021, AMP installed its 
 <a href="https://ampsortation.com/articles/amp-robotics-installs-its-first-recycling-robots-in-the-united-kingdom-and-ireland-with-recyco">
 first AI-guided robotics
 </a>
 systems in the UK and Ireland with Recyco, a recycling and waste management business in Northern Ireland. In July 2023, the Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) acquired three recycling robots from AMP Robotics. In March 2022, AMP extended its partnership with Evergreen, adding six robots in Riverside, California, and planned to add three more in Albany, New York, in addition to the existing six robots in Clyde. In June 2022, AMP expanded its partnership with its reportedly largest customer waste connections.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In November 2022, the company raised USD 91 million in corporate equity in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=54">
 Series C
 </a>
 funding round led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management. In May 2023, the company also raised an undisclosed amount from 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18384">
 Microsoft&rsquo;s Climate Innovation 
 </a>
 Fund, bringing AMP&rsquo;s Series C round to a total of more than USD 99 million. The company intended to use the funds to retrofit existing recycling infrastructure with technology solutions, as well as develop new infrastructure using AI-powered automation.
 
</div>

Redwood Materials was founded by Tesla’s former CTO to focus on e-waste recycling for remanufacturing and reuse. The company uses a proprietary technology to recover elements including cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese and graphite from old battery cells (from vehicles and consumer electronics), which can be re-used for battery production.The company announced its first energy storage system recycling project&nbsp; in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23461">November 2023</a> — dismantling and recycling a 4MWh stationary storage substation in Kauai, Hawaii. In <a href="https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/redwood-materials-launches-pricing-tool-for-ev-batteries/">October 2023</a>, Redwood launched an online tool with advanced tracking and management systems for automotive dismantlers to value and sell recovered EV battery packs directly back to the company.&nbsp;In September 2023, Redwood Materials acquired <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22008">Redux Recycling</a> to accelerate Redwood's expansion into Europe.Key customers and partnershipsThe company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5878">Ford </a>in September 2021 to build a closed-loop for battery recycling and create a domestic battery supply chain for EVs in the US. The company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11597">Volkswagen</a> Group (Audi’s parent company) in July 2022 and Lyft in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14863">November 2022</a>, to recycle batteries while expanding its presence in the US.In January 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15516">Flite</a>, an Australian electric hydrofoil producer, to recycle end-of-life Flitecell e-foil batteries in the US. In April 2023, the company expanded its partnership with Volkswagen to launch a consumer recycling program for rechargeable devices and lithium-ion batteries. During the same period, the company partnered with e-bike manufacturer <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18071">Rad Power Bikes</a> to launch an electric bike battery recycling program.In October 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22440">Panasonic</a> to extracting high-purity nickel from end-of-life batteries and supplying it to Panasonic Energy, a subsidiary of Panasonic Holdings, by 2028. This partnership is preceded by the agreement to purchase cathode-active materials and copper foil for EV lithium-ion batteries in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14645">November 2022.</a>In November 2023, the company announced that it would supply cathode materials and copper coils for battery cells produced at Toyota’s North Carolina plant (due to go into production in 2025). This builds on Redwood’s initial partnership with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11217">Toyota</a> in June 2022, under which the company would refurbish/recycle batteries from hybrid vehicles.Funding and financialsIn August 2023, Redwood Materials raised more than USD 1 billion in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21369">Series D funding</a> round to expand its capacity, grow the domestic battery supply chain, and enable its customers to purchase battery materials made in the US for the first time. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16272">February 2023</a>, the Department of Energy (DOE) committed a USD 2 billion loan to Redwood Materials to construct and expand its battery recycling facility west of Reno, Nevada.

Redwood Materials

SmarterX (formerly Smarter Sorting) uses machine learning, algorithms, and a cloud-based platform to scan, identify, categorize, and sort chemical-containing products. This helps retailers and their suppliers get rid of unwanted chemicals, which Smarter Sorting will pick up to recycle instead of having them incinerated. The company also introduced a new regulatory platform in 2020 by partnering with a major retailer, to help retailers to ship and sell lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries sustainably, by providing them adequate support on regulatory requirements around li-ion battery products. The company provides its services in the USA and Canada.The company charges businesses a subscription fee per month based on the number of items they register for the sorting assessment.&nbsp;As of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12053">August 2022</a>, the company had secured over 1,600 consumer brands and partnerships with 24 national supermarkets and retailers, including Costco, Wegmans, and Albertsons Companies. They claim their technology can classify 2 million consumer products across 3,500+ data points and 150 million chemical compounds.Funding and financialsIn August 2022, the company raised USD 7 million in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12053">funding round</a> led by Regeneration VC. This is an extension of the company’s previous funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9315">March 2022</a>.

SmarterX

Startups offering platforms or software solutions incorporating technologies such as sensors, robotics, and AI to monitor and improve the waste collection process using several methods: identifying optimal waste collection time, connecting businesses and individuals with haulers, optimizing trash pickup routes, and increasing transparency in waste management throughout the production process.

Startups that separate waste by type, either by using robotics or analytics (AI, machine learning), to help streamline the recycling process.

Startups that develop recycling technologies or provide solutions such as AI-based online platforms or algorithm-based predictive solutions to primarily support businesses in their in-house recycling efforts.

Startups developing recycling technologies, including the pyrolysis process or a recycled propylene technology, to convert plastic waste into products such as pure propylene, recycled plastic, crude oil, and furniture.

Startups developing recycling technologies such as lithium-ion battery recycling processes or a Magnet-to-Magnetä recycling process to convert electronic waste into products that include recycled batteries and cathode materials.

Startups developing recycling technologies to separate materials made by combining two or more materials with different properties (composite materials) and recycle them into secondary use raw materials such as aluminum, plastic, leather, and cardboard.

Startups using proprietary technologies to recycle waste (besides plastic, textile, and electronic waste) into harmless waste materials or into materials that can be used to make household goods, furniture, and construction material.

Startups using recycling technologies such as anaerobic digestion or a chemical process to convert waste into energy.

Solutions that aim to keep waste out of landfills

Waste management platforms use AI/ML for analysis and real-time updates

Develops waste collection systems such as sensored bins, monitored waste collection, and on-demand waste collection

Reuses and recycles waste to keep them out of landfills

Provides sensor-based automated processes for waste management

IoT-enable devices and platforms to manage waste and improve recycling rates

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 Circ, a startup from Virginia that focuses on recycling textile waste, has launched a collaborative women's collection with apparel company, Zara. The garments are crafted entirely from Circ Lyocell, showcasing how this recycled material can contribute to creating timeless, minimalistic fashion.
 This special collection, consisting of four unique pieces crafted from Circ Lyocell, is set to be launched in the US and selected markets on August 15.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Circ’s partnership with Zara dates back to <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/11574"> April 2023 </a> , when Zara’s parent Inditex participated in Circ’s USD 30 million Series B funding round. Later in the same month, the partners launched the <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/17742"> Circ x Zara </a> poly-cotton capsule collection for women, featuring items made from 50% and 43% recycled poly-cotton waste lyocell and polyester, respectively.

Circ

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