New H&M-Backed Textile Recycling Startup Syre Raises $100 Million
Textile recycling startup Syre announced today that it has raised $100 million in a Series A financing round, aimed at supporting the company’s buildout.
Founded earlier this year, Syre was launched by fashion and design brands company H&M Group and impact-focused venture investor Vargas, aimed at mass producing textile-to-textile recycled materials, and enabling a closed loop solution for the clothing industry.
Syre aims to support the decarbonization and waste reduction efforts of the textile industry through textile-to-textile recycling, starting with Polyester, which accounts for up to 40% of the sector’s emissions. The company is currently building its first blueprint production plant in North Carolina, anticipated to be operational later this year, and aims to expand to twelve plants globally within ten years, targeting production of more than 3 million metric tons of recycled polyester, and abating over 15 million metric tons of CO2e.
According to the company, the new capital will finance the construction of the new U.S. blueprint plant, as well as preparations to establish the company’s first two gigascale textile-to-textile recycling plants. Syre added that it has shortlisted Vietnam and Iberia as the locations for its first two plants, with both regions strategically positioned within the textile supply chain, and that the specific site selection process is ongoing, with the start of construction targeted for 2025.
Syre added that the financing will also allow the company to fully acquire the technology at the center of its textile-to-textile recycling solution. The technology was developed by North Carolina-based company Premirr.
Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre said:
“We completed a rigorous search and evaluation of 20+ polyester recycling technologies worldwide. That’s how we found Chris Luft and Matthew Parrott, founders of Premirr. Although the partnership agreement was entered into last year, it is now that Premirr is fully integrated into Syre, and I’m really proud to have the founders onboard as we continue to scaling the team and company.”
The funding round was led by TPG Rise Climate with additional investment from H&M Group as well as Giant Ventures, IMAS Foundation, Norrsken VC, and Volvo.
Joerg Metzner, Business Unit Partner at TPG Rise Climate, said:
“We look forward to accelerating the decarbonization of the textile industry through Syre’s unique textile-to-textile recycling process. Pairing TPG Rise Climate’s capital and global business building capabilities with Syre’s world class team and proprietary technology creates a strong foundation for scaling the company across major manufacturing plants around the world in the coming years.”