MacroCycle Technologies, a biotech aiming to reduce waste in the plastic industry, has raised $6.5M in Seed funding.

MacroCycle Technologies is a company that uses chemistry to recycle plastic waste into virgin-grade plastic with zero carbon emissions. It uses patented SolvoGenesis technology upcycles plastic waste without breaking down the polymer. 

The process uses 80 percent less energy than traditional plastic recycling, with remaining 20 percent powered by renewable energy. MacroCycle’s technology can produce virgin-grade recycled PET from plastic waste like bottles, food trays, and polyester textiles. 

The round was led by global climate VC, Clean Energy Ventures and Volta Circle. KDT Ventures Home and Neotribe Ventures also participated.

MacroCycle will use the funding to hire and scale its pilot plant facilities to meet the demand for its upcycled PET and polyester resin from initial customers. The production and disposal of plastics today makes up more than 5 percent  of global greenhouse gas emissionsof the globe’s total CO2 emissions.

“There’s a $700B linear plastics market opportunity, but today’s recycling technologies are too expensive to build and operate, and still yield low-value products. Our technology provides a more efficient process to produce high-quality plastic that can be adopted as a drop-in solution and which is competitive with fossil fuel-based plastic,” said MacroCycle CEO Stwart Pena Feliz.

“Our technology will be a key enabler for plastic circularity, as we allow our customers and suppliers to finally unlock the economic and environmental benefits of recycling.”

The groundwork for MacroCycle’s technology was laid during the academic work of Dr. Jan-Georg Rosenboom, co-founder and CTO of MacroCycle, and his colleagues at MIT, ETH Zurich and Politecnico Di Milano. 

MacroCycle’s first pilot plant will support large-scale product validation and produce the first bottles and garments made entirely from MacroCycle’s recycled PET resin.

Catia Cesari, Managing Partner of Volta Circle said: “MacroCycle’s superior unit economics, energy efficiency, and ability to upcycle low-grade feedstocks gives them a critical competitive advantage in a sector that calls for innovation. The team, its technology and its ambition perfectly encapsulate our mission to back the best founders leading the way in the circular economy and we’re delighted to be supporting MacroCycle as it scales and creates genuine global impact.”