AUSTRALIA – Australian enviro-tech company Samsara Eco has raised A$100 million (US$65m) in Series A+ funding to scale its enzymatic plastic recycling solution.
The funding round was co-led by Temasek and Australian deep tech investment fund Main Sequence.
New and existing investors, including DCVC, Hitachi Ventures, Lululemon, Titanium Ventures, and Wollemi Capital, participated.
Since its founding in 2020, Samsara has raised US$105 million (A$164m).
CEO and founder Paul Riley shared the company’s progress with TechCrunch, noting significant advancements since their last funding round in 2022.
“We’ve expanded our library of enzymes and can now recycle the notoriously difficult nylon 6,6, in addition to polyester and nylon 6,” Riley said.
He also highlighted a partnership with Lululemon, leading to the market launch of the first product made from enzymatically recycled polyester.
Nylon 6,6, known as nylon 66, is a synthetic polymer widely used in the textile and plastic industries.
Samsara’s facilities in Jerrabomberra, New South Wales, are under construction. They will offer testing and development services to global brands.
The company plans to expand its team in North America and open its first facility on the continent.
Additional facilities are planned for Southeast Asia, where many manufacturing brands operate. “Creating pathways to broader commercialization on a global scale is our focus,” Riley said.
Lululemon is Samsara’s first textile partner. “With Lululemon’s products, we’ve made major progress in sustainable fashion and circularity, achieving this with a lower carbon footprint,” Riley said.
“Our process not only delivers on circularity but also reduces carbon emissions. The ability to recycle nylon 6,6 and polyester ensures clothes can have an infinite life and never end up in landfills.”
Samsara also targets strong demand from the apparel and consumer packaged goods industries and plans to expand into the automotive and electronics sectors.
Founded in 2020 in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), Woolworths, and Main Sequence Ventures, Samsara developed a biological catalyst (enzyme) for a new approach to recycling. This technology aims to divert plastic from landfills and oceans.
“The issue with conventional plastic recycling is that plastic degrades over time or gets converted into other products that don’t require its original structural integrity,” Riley explained.
“Most products with a recycled tag are made from recycled packaging, like plastic bottles, which is not true recycling but delayed landfill.”
Riley also criticized chemical recycling for being carbon-intensive, using heat and leaching chemicals, potentially worse than creating plastics from fossil fuels.
Samsara’s patented recycling technology, EosEco, reduces end-to-end recycling time, operates at lower temperatures and pressures, and significantly cuts energy, heat, and carbon emissions.
This results in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) well below the carbon footprint of fossil fuel-derived virgin plastics.
“We are ahead in recycling a range of plastics, including mixed and colored polymers,” Riley said. “Our goal is to recycle 1.5 million tonnes of plastic per year by 2030, saving millions of tonnes of carbon emissions.”
The latest funding comes about one-and-a-half years after Samsara raised approximately US$34.7 million in Series A (A$54 million).
Samsara’s team of 60 staff across Australia and North America plans to expand to 90 by the end of 2025, with new hires in North America and Singapore.
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