IKEA joins the fold as Seprify raises $15.8 million for cellulose biomaterials
In Switzerland, cellulose biomaterials company Seprify has raised €13.4 million (US$15.8 million) in a Series A funding that included participation from Inter IKEA Group.
Una Terra Early Growth Fund, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Kickfund, and other circular-economy-aligned investors also participated.
With the new capital, Seprify will scale commercial production to hundreds of metric tons per year through established manufacturing partners, support commercial rollout across its priority markets and advance engineering work for future industrial-scale capacity.
With support from Inter IKEA Group, Seprify’s cellulose platform has been validated at Technology Readiness Level 7–9 and is now progressing through supplier qualification processes, early commercial contracts and procurement discussions across cosmetics and personal care, food and pet food, and coatings. The company is currently engaged with more than 100 customer organizations, spanning active evaluations through to early commercial supply.
“At IKEA, we look for solutions that can realistically replace high-impact incumbent materials while fitting into existing manufacturing and recycling systems,” Robert Carleke, Innovation Ventures Manager at Inter IKEA Group, said in a press statement. “Seprify’s cellulose platform has reached a level of maturity that makes this a credible path to explore, not only for specific applications such as coatings and surface finishes, but as a scalable materials platform with the consistency and operational readiness required for industrial use. We’re looking forward to this exploratory project.”
Category: Chemicals & Materials
