Monthly update from our startups

This month, the market-leader for supply chain transparency and product traceability announced that they closed a 5.17 million € series A funding round. The round was led by Industrifonden and Fairpoint Capital together with previous investors BackingMinds and support from Fashion for Good. TrusTrace’s CEO and Co-Founder Shameek says: “TrusTrace enables product-level traceability and supply chain transparency to drive better, more sustainably-conscious and socially-responsible sourcing decisions. With this latest funding round, we will continue leveraging cutting-edge technology and the best minds in the industry to achieve positive, restorative change for people and the planet.” On LinkedIn they shared that they are also going to accelerate the international expansion with the money and help more fashion brands in the transformation towards more sustainable supply chains.

Read the corresponding news here

According to a survey conducted by EY-Parthenon, Refurbed is the most sustainable retailer in Austria across all commerce categories followed by Denn’s Biomarkt and dm Drogerie Markt Österreich. More than 5.000 people were asked to participate and rank a total of 80 retailers from 11 distinct categories. The result of the survey clearly emphasizes the consumers’ demand for more sustainability and for more transparency, especially with regard to online commerce. Martin Unger, leader of EY-Parthenon’s strategy advisory believes that sustainability is no longer just a trend, but a fundamental value shift across society.

Find the whole EY-Parthenon ranking here

After a total of 48 tries to reach the final product, Chanel and Sulapac officially announced a new milestone this month: Sustainable bottle caps for Chanel perfumes, made from 91% biobased materials obtained from renewable resources. The new biobased caps will be attached to fragrance bottles of Chanel’s LES EAUX DE CHANEL – the brand’s relatively new collection with a focus on sustainability. “This first product launch of our collaboration with CHANEL, the biobased LES EAUX DE CHANEL cap made with Sulapac material, is a remarkable milestone for us. It proves that Sulapac meets the highest quality standards.”, says Sulapac cofounder Suvi Haimi. Chanel is one of Sulapac’s early investors from 2018 and the two companies have been working closely together for two years now.

Read the news on Sulapac’s website here

Newcy's CEO and founder Caroline Bettan was invited by the French broadcaster BFM Business, which is the leading economic and financial news channel in France. She was interviewed as part of the format "Good Morning Business", which usually features guests, the latest innovations, editorials, and information on the latest trends. Within the scope of the interview, she talked about the development and the goals of her startup. Moreover, Newcy announced this month that their products have now been launched in Rhône-Alpes – a further French area. Their Grenoble-based new partner ULISSE – Groupe Economique Solidaire will be responsible for the collection, cleaning, and delivery of Newcy cups in this area. The show is available live on the channel’s website and via an application.

Watch the whole interview with Caroline Bettan in French

Mimica announced via their LinkedIn page that they reached a new milestone: They achieved a minimal viable product (MVP) for Mimica Touch Caps. Mimica is now able to start testing these products in the market. The Touch Caps will be used for indicating the freshness of juices and smoothies. But this is only one in three current projects of the startup. The other two focus on red meat & diary as well as COVID-19 vaccine storage. The juices & smoothies project is a collaboration between Mimica and AMC Natural Drinks and UNITED CAPS and is funded by Innovate UK.

Check out the production process of the Mimica Touch Caps

Entocycle, the biggest startup in the insect farming sector in the UK, has shipped its first products, as founder Keiran Olivares Whitaker proudly announced via LinkedIn this month. The startup just sent the third shipment of half a ton of its product Entofresh to their first customers. The startup is delighted to now be able to supply UK animals with sustainable and locally grown proteins. The EU recently gave the regulatory go-ahead for insects to be used as food for pigs and poultry, which unlocked a huge potential market in animal feed. It is very likely that many UK regulators will follow this European example. Entocycle has already planned a big project for next year: They want to build a large-scale insect farm in Scotland to sell insects to industrial animal feed producers in large quantities.

Find out more in this article