Contents

Key takeaways
Equity funding and the startup ecosystem
Startup maturity and funding rounds
The significance of early-stage scouting
Pre-seed
Untuvia – Down recycling
Seed
Syntetica – Nylon recycling
Series A
Series A – Polyester recycling
Innovation in the face of adversity

Key takeaways

1. The economic, legislative and market conditions facing textile businesses has developed an appetite for disruptive technologies which offer sustainability, compliance and operational benefits.
2. As such, there’s a flurry of innovation across multiple areas in the textile value chain. However, many developments are still at a nascent stage and require industrial and fiscal support to make it to market.
3. Non-dilutive and equity funding are two vehicles for providing this support, with industry investors penning exclusive first-mover access agreements and steering R&D.
4. Tracking relevant pre-seed, seed and series A funding helps textile businesses map and intercept potentially disruptive technologies while at an early stage of development, which can help safeguard the business against legislative and economic turbulence.

Despite its price-sensitive and demanding nature, the textile & apparel space has appeared an attractive prospect for innovative startups in recent years. Hotspots for development include biomaterials, novel dyeing approaches and traceability technologies.

While numerous ingredient and manufacturing names have long dominated the industry’s technical landscape, economic, legislative and environmental challenges are spurring an appetite for new, market disrupting technologies. If given the chance, some of these emergent ideas have the potential to remap supply chains, reimagine processes and forever change