An advanced upcycling company, Novoloop, converts end-of-life plastic into specialty materials. The company expanded its Series A to $21 million through an oversubscribed extension led by Mistletoe Singapore and Hanwha Solutions. This nearly doubled the company's raise of $11 million announced in February, 2022, which sparked additional investor interest.

Novoloop technology upcycles polyethylene, the most widely used plastic, in the form of LDPE, HDPE, and LLDPE. It is known as grocery bags, packaging, and containers. In 2020, the world produced more than 10 million metric tons of polyethylene, the equivalent weight of 19 Great Pyramids. But, sadly, only 5-10% of polyethylene was recycled and virtually none is upcycled. Virgin petroleum sources and carbon footprints' of our products are also problems that Novoloop can tackle.

This $10 million round nearly doubles Novoloop’s first raise of $11 million, which sparked the additional investor interest.

Novoloop will use the capital to begin developing industrial capabilities, including scaling up pilot production to make its Oistre product more readily available for customers in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive and electronics. 

Novoloop breaks down polyethylene at a molecular level into monomers using their patented chemical process technology ATOD™ (Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition). The company also builds the monomers into a platform of high-value chemicals and materials that perform much better than recycled products.

Made by upcycling plastic waste, Oistre is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) built as a sustainable high-performance solution for applications in footwear, automotive, electronics, textiles, apparel, construction, and more. TPU is a melt-processable thermoplastic elastomer with high durability, flexibility, and outstanding abrasion resistance. Formerly known as XIRC, Oistre is billed as the first thermoplastic polyurethane made from post-consumer polyethylene waste that matches the performance characteristics of virgin TPUs made from petrochemicals.

Oistre was created by world-class chemists at Novoloop as a solution to plastic pollution and climate change. It was named after the humble oyster – one of nature’s star waste upcyclers. What’s more, Oistre’s carbon footprint is up to 46% smaller than conventional thermoplastic polyurethanes, based on a life cycle assessment by Aspire Sustainability.

The joint partnership with Bemis aims to use the upcycled Oistre product in apparel bonding solutions such as seam tapes found in high-performance outwear. Bemis says in a news release that scaling Novoloop’s breakthrough will be “a huge step in shifting away from virgin petroleum sources and reducing our products’ carbon footprints”.

Novoloop is reportedly engaged with a number of consumer brands for footwear and apparel applications using Oistre. Those other partnerships aren’t ready to be revealed yet.

CEO Miranda Wang notes that for every kilogram of Oistre created, 0.5 kg of polyethylene plastic waste is upcycled, and 4-5 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions is prevented. What's more, Oistre’s carbon footprint is up to 46% smaller than conventional thermoplastic polyurethanes.

“All I can say right now is that we are initially starting with helping Bemis increase the sustainability of their seam tape product,” Wang says. “This is used for many applications including waterproofing performance outerwear. The plan between us is to over time, replace all the virgin fossil-based TPU Bemis is using with Novoloop's Oistre. They are very serious about leading on this front”.

Photo taken by Marc Newberry on Unsplash