Seaweed-to-plastic startup Uluu attracts EUR 9 million investment

Uluu (Perth, Australia) has raised EUR 9 (AUD 16) million in Series A funding to build a demonstration plant and scale its technology transforming seaweed into PHA, a biobased alternative to conventional fossil-based plastic.

The round was led by German growth investor Burda Principal Investments with support from Main Sequence, Novel Investments (the family office of one of the world’s largest textile groups), Startmate, and a consortium of leading impact and family investors including Fairground and Trinity Ventures.

Uluu’s next-generation materials (poly3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate – PHBV) perform like conventional plastics and can be processed using existing plastic manufacturing equipment.

Unlike plastic made from fossil fuels, PHAs are reusable, recyclable, home compostable and marine biodegradable – breaking down naturally without releasing microplastics. They’re strong, lightweight, waterproof and non-toxic, while being climate positive at scale.

At commercial scale, Uluu’s production process has scope to sequester and avoid up to ~5kg CO₂ equivalent for every 1kg of material produced, compared with ~3kg emitted by conventional plastic today. The technology has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions by more than 2 billion tonnes per year.

With the Series A raise, Uluu will scale from its 100kg/year pilot facility to a 10-tonne/year demonstration plant in Western Australia, enabling the company to deliver commercial volumes to customers.

Uluu is already collaborating with a range of global partners in cosmetics, fashion and the automotive industry, including public campaigns with Quiksilver, Papinelle, and Audi.

“After four years’ work developing this technology, including two years’ running our pilot plant, we’re excited to take this next step and start delivering meaningful volumes of our materials to customers”, said Uluu co-founder and co-CEO Michael Kingsbury. “The demonstration plant is a critical step in showing Uluu can scale to truly compete with and replace fossil plastics.”

Uluu co-founder and co-CEO  Dr Julia Reisser said seaweed was one of the most sustainable resources on Earth. “Seaweed grows quickly and gets everything it need from the sun and the sea,” she said. “It locks away CO2 and helps clean up pollutants from the ocean. By harnessing seaweed, Uluu is producing materials that have a positive, rather than negative, impact on the environment, while ending plastic pollution.”

Uluu’s US investors include model, entrepreneur and STEM education advocate Karlie Kloss. “Uluu is tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time – plastic pollution – with a natural, scalable solution”, Kloss said. “Their mission resonates deeply with me, and I wanted to be part of a positive change showing sustainability can be beautiful.”

The Series A round also primes Uluu for future growth, with plans underway for a commercial-scale facility capable of producing thousands of tonnes annually to serve major global markets.

“At BPI, we invest in companies driving transformative innovation with the potential to become a global category leader”, said Christian Teichmann, CEO of Burda Principal Investments. “Having first invested in Uluu in 2023, we’re excited to further deepen our partnership as the company scales its pioneering technology. Uluu is redefining how materials can be produced more sustainably at industrial scale, and we look forward to supporting Julia, Michael, and their team on this next stage of their journey.”

Source

Bioplastics MAGAZINE, 2025-10-31.

Supplier

Audi AG
Burda Principal Investments
Karlie Kloss
Papinelle
Quiksilver
Uluu (AU)

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