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Rethinking Materials is dedicated to spotlighting pioneers of sustainable materials and circular solutions. Over the years the event has connected early-stage innovators with brands, investors and producers searching for next generation materials.
From featured start-up in 2022, to summit partner in 2023 and 2024, to recently closing an oversubscribed $6.5 million Series A funding round (increasing its total financing to $11.2 million!) it’s clear that Erthos is a leading player in the new materials space. We were delighted that Erthos chose Rethinking Materials to host their first ever international industry booth in 2023, where they first connected with stakeholders from the Francis Family Fund, a company which participated in their funding round later that year.
Nuha Siddiqui, CEO & Co-Founder, discusses recent successes, driving strategies, and advice for start-ups fundraising in today’s challenging landscape.
Tell us about your key milestones since you spoke at Rethinking Materials in 2023?
Since we attended Rethinking Materials 2023, we celebrated five years of building a more sustainable future and closed an oversubscribed $6.5 million Series A round of funding led by Horizon Ventures, increasing our total financing to $11.2 million. Our Series A saw participation from the Europe
an-based Francis Family Fund, whom we met at the summit.
We participated and presented in several global platforms, including: APEC, Speciality Papers US, COP28 as members of the Canadian Delegation, as well as hosting our first international industry booth at Rethinking Materials.
We accelerated innovation with 10 cutting-edge new inventions within our AI powered product portfolio, including terrariza, our certified premier bio-based material. Our raw materials database now tripled in size, with 100+ ingredients. These materials are used in 25 applications across 5 industries, highlighting their versatility. To meet demand, we’ve further expanded our production capacity by 4x through partnerships in North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
We launched a transformative partnership with Atlas Copco and Vidon Plastics to launch high-volume, sustainable auto-packaging materials for net-zero production facilities.
What advice would you offer start-ups who are fundraising in today’s challenging economic and regulatory landscape?
Embrace the fundraising challenge as an opportunity to intensify your scrutiny and realign your priorities. Constraints have the power to spark innovation and creativity, leading to positive outcomes. Use this period to critically evaluate and refine your strategies, recognising that valuable lessons and opportunities often emerge from navigating constraints.
Looking back at the activity the past few years, both regarding market dynamics and your company’s internal development, what is driving your strategy?
Acknowledging the need to urgently divert waste to drastically address the climate crisis, we are strategically focusing on accelerating the development and design process of next-generation material solutions.
We continue to strive to be a trusted go-to partner for brands and manufacturers who desire custom, sustainable alternatives proven to serve as drop-in replacements for their existing materials. By taking a holistic approach to designing sustainable materials that are both compatible and earth-positive, erthos is committed to revolutionising the building blocks of plastics in a powerful way.
What are the main obstacles and challenges you anticipate as you move forward with your start-up? How do you plan to address and overcome them?
One of our greatest challenges as a clean technology company from an environmental POV is time. While we are making strides to take accountability for the waste created by plastics everyday and other harmful materials by designing sustainable alternatives, climate change is rapidly changing our planet. Therefore, we’re entering 2024 with a profound sense of urgency to accelerate the design and widespread adoption of sustainable materials in a way our industry has never seen before.
How do you view the current fundraising landscape?
Generally, we are optimistic about the funding-raising landscape. Last year was a dynamic year for fundraising, and we are excited to see more significant investments in sustainable solutions and clean technology.
Start-ups, apply to pitch in 2024!