Plant-based pigment developer Sparxell secures 3.2 million dollar funding

UK manufacturer of plant-based pigments Sparxell has announced the closing of a 3.2 million dollar funding round which it said it would use to help accelerate the development and commercialisation of its products.

The funding, made up of seed investments, grants and awards, saw support from anchor investor Circular Innovation Fund, a venture capital fund managed by Demeter and L’Oréal’s Cycle Capital.

Sparxell utilises fully plant-based cellulose, a “renewable, biodegradable resource” that can be extracted from waste streams, with the goal to eliminate the need for synthetic chemicals in colourants.

The firm itself, which operates in the 38 billion dollar colourants sector, is looking to target the fashion industry through textile colouring, embellishments and sequins; and beauty, with colour cosmetics and personal care products, among other things.

In a release, the founder and CEO of Sparxell, Benjamin Droguet, noted that traditional chemical colourants were “causing major environmental harm” and that “over 10,000 fossil-based chemicals are used in current colouration processes”.

Droguet continued: “The textile industry is a well-known emitter of dyes and microplastics, with over 1.5 million tonnes entering the environment every year, while paint has recently been recognised as the largest source of microplastics in the ocean.”

To further address these issues, Sparxell is already planning to launch an additional Series A funding round in the coming months to upscale its production capacity and build on commercialising.