GAS completes co-investment in Kelpi £3m Seed Round to develop fully biodegradable biomaterials from seaweed

Green Angel Syndicate has announced an investment as part of the £3 million seed round raised by pioneering seaweed company, Kelpi.

Climate tech innovator Kelpi has secured more than GBP 3 million fundraising to advance its pioneering technology creating biomaterial coatings from seaweed. The funding round, announced today, will bring sustainable packaging for the food & drink and cosmetics sectors a step closer to supermarket shelves. Kelpi’s unique coatings will enable recyclable and home- or industrially-compostable packaging to replace single-use fossil fuel plastics which take hundreds of years to decompose.

Kelpi’s seed round was led by Green Angel Syndicate and Science Creates Ventures, with funding from One Planet Capital and follow-on investment from Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC), together with private angel investors. The round includes £665,000 of grant funding from Innovate UK’s Combined Investor Partnership.

Kelpi will use the funds to conduct manufacturing pilots for their proprietary coatings for paper and card. In the last 2.5 years the company has developed high-performance materials from seaweed, with a uniquely strong water barrier, as well as oxygen barrier, grease and acid resistance. The company is already working with global leaders in food & drink and cosmetics, tuning the exact properties of the coatings to meet the needs of specific clients. In many cases, Kelpi materials can match or even exceed the performance of fossil fuel plastic, but in a material that is renewably sourced, marine-safe, compostable and enables the packaging to be recycled after use.

Cam Ross, CEO of Green Angel Syndicate, said “Our network of specialist members was impressed with Kelpi’s team and technology, and their pioneering approach to developing biopolymers from renewable feedstocks like seaweed. At scale, the Kelpi approach will play a vital role in reducing fossil fuel dependency, addressing climate change and impacting on plastic pollution.”

“This landmark investment enables Kelpi to scale up our pioneering work using seaweed to create bioplastic packaging with the barrier properties required by clients,” said Kelpi CEO and co-founder Neil Morris. “Kelpi can now play a key role in eliminating plastic pollution and ending our dependence on fossil fuels to create single-use packaging.”

As part of the round, Kelpi won grant-funding from the Future Economy Fund through the Combined Investor Partnership programme delivered by SETsquared and funded by Innovate UK.