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18 Circularity Trends VCs Want You to Pitch Them

6 VCs Weigh in on the Circularity Solutions that are Top of Mind

Circularity is transforming traditional models by keeping materials in use, reducing dependency on finite resources, and driving innovation, delivering measurable business growth and environmental returns. 

And the circular economy market, valued at $4.5 trillion by 2030, is expanding by 15% annually.

“Companies adopting circular practices align financial growth with emissions reduction, creating scalable solutions for long-term commercial success,” notes Nic Gorini of Spin Ventures.

As markets and consumers increasingly prioritize sustainability, adopting circular practices is no longer optional but essential for companies aiming to thrive in a resource-constrained future. 

We caught up with 6 investors actively looking for scalable approaches to circularity, as they reveal which technologies are on their radar and are ripe for investment, including:

👕 Textile Sorting
🥤 Plastic Recycling
🪫Circular (e-)REEs
⭕ Data for Circularity
🌾 Regenerative Materials and (re)Design
👗 Revolutionized Second-Hand Exchanges
🪨 Advanced Material Separation and Recovery

If you’re fundraising and your startup is working on one or more of these solutions, then reach out to the investors to start discussions today or join us at the HackSummit to meet many of them IRL.

Before we jump in…

  • Join us: The HackSummit returns to Lausanne, Switzerland on 15-16th May

  • Keep ahead: ClimateHack Weekly brings you news and milestones each week

  • Stay local: Meetups to connect with the local Climate community in your city

6 Investors Share the Circularity Solutions that are Top of Mind.

Clara Camesasca at Volta Circle

  • Plastic Recycling: Plastic recycling is an increasingly hot topic, also driven by tightening legislation worldwide. New chemical recycling technologies have the opportunity to provide better quality output at lower costs, especially when it comes to textile (e.g. polyester and nylon).

  • Textile Sorting: Sorting for textile is a critical step in solving one of the biggest bottlenecks for textile recycling, currently, i.e. feedstock. Emerging automated sorting technologies, such as AI, NIR (near infrared) and advanced sensors, can analyze the composition of mixed materials and provide insights for their separation. Improved feedstock leads to significant lower costs during the recycling process. AI-driven sorting can also be used for more high value feedstock designated to resale rather than recycling.

  • Recommerce: Second hand will keep growing, driven by changing consumer preferences that value sustainability and affordability over newness. Beside consumer platforms, there is still a lot of room for infrastructure and enabling technology like AI-driven discovery tools, dynamic pricing, authentication, etc.

Jamie Rowles at Regeneration.VC

  • Unlocking Value a Circular Bioeconomy in Agriculture: Food waste and replacing animal proteins are two huge climate levers. So the extraction of waste proteins from the vast quantities of agricultural residues presents a dual threat to reducing food waste and further increasing the sustainability of the protein transition. 

  • Materials (re)Design for the Planet: Material discovery is at the start of a major shift from trial-and-error experimentation to AI-enabled automation and enrichment of each stage of the discovery cycle. We are most excited about high-throughput discovery of materials with desirable environmental properties, such as recyclability and low energy consumption during production. 

  • Circular (e-)REEs: With the energy transition increasingly reliant on key critical rare earths and minerals - start-ups aggregating, disassembling and refining everything from mining tailings, batteries, magnets and compute infrastructure and the growing piles of consumer e-waste will bring more much needed circularity-driven resilience to these supply chains.

Yoobin Jung at Plug and Play Tech Center

  • Launch Resale Business and Make a New Revenue Stream: Starting resale businesses can unlock great opportunities for brands to make revenue without making new products and decouple revenue from raw material production. Resale is a proven profitable business for automotives and electronics. Now the opportunity is bigger than ever for the fashion industry with the strong appetite by Gen-Zers for second-hand fashion. To start the resale business, it seems like you have a long list of to-do’s — reverse logistics, procurement, authentication, marketplace… This is scary but the good news is there are technologies that help brands to launch resale without this big burden. The DPP (Digital Product Passport) regulation will also help the authentication process. Brands need to thoroughly compare the ROI and minimum resources required of all emerging technologies. 

  • Recycled Plastics of Virgin Quality, from Mixed Wastes: Many scientists and engineers relentlessly develop technologies to recover desired polymers at molecular level from mixed waste streams to be of virgin quality. Many PET chemical recycling startups are scaling up their production to industrial scale and soon we will start wearing clothes made of ‘textile-to-textile recycled polyester’ not polyester from bottles (and break the loop for more recycling). The EU Commission proposed cars to be made with at least 25% of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics. Automobile manufacturers seek to source recycled plastics coming from old cars. Closing the loop gets real and each industry will try to find a way to get their waste back, of virgin quality.

  • Eco-Design for Circularity: The circularity and sustainability should be at the heart of the product design and the EU Commission is introducing Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. Products that improve the recyclability, limit the generation of waste and enhance the reusability will be prioritized in the market. We see exciting technologies such as a mono-material with advanced performance or a sewing thread that helps an easy disassembly of textile waste will be helping brands to gain circularity without compromising their quality.

🇨🇭 The HackSummit Returns to Lausanne

The HackSummit is making its grand return to Lausanne, Switzerland on 15-16th May.

Where Climate Deep Tech Founders, Funders and Industry come together to inspire radical new ways of thinking, celebrate bold entrepreneurship and showcase mind-bending science.

Bringing together 850 Climate Mavericks (Founders, Funders, Corporates, Researchers, Scientists, Policy Makers, Asset Managers) the HackSummit is the pinnacle of a week of Climate conversations, innovation and action in the lakeside city of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Sound like your type of crowd? Secure your place with 20% off when you use discount code EARLYBIRD20.

Nic Gorini at Spin Ventures

  • Data for Circularity: The demand for measurable, actionable data is rising as regulatory frameworks, such as double materiality, focus on accountability for emissions. Platforms such as EcoFashion Corp and Sustainable Brand Platform enable businesses to track and quantify emissions across supply chains. The textile industry, valued at $2.5 trillion, contributes approximately 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. By integrating data-driven solutions, companies reduce emissions while aligning with growth opportunities in low-carbon markets. 

  • Regenerative Materials: Regenerative materials are replacing emissions-intensive inputs and unlocking new market value. Kuori’s bio-based materials for footwear and Sparxell’s innovative dyeing methods reduce emissions across supply chains. Nanoloom’s biodegradable nanofibers and Sequinova’s eco-friendly sequins address resource efficiency in industries emitting over 2 billion tons of CO₂ annually. These solutions align with market demand for low-carbon production while creating scalable, commercially viable alternatives. 

  • Recommerce Models: Repair, reuse and resell strategies are driving economic and environmental returns. The Seam provides repair services in the $1.7 trillion fashion market, extending product lifespans and reducing new production. Peer-to-peer rental platforms such as By Rotation enable circular consumption patterns, reducing waste and cutting emissions by up to 29% per product. These models support businesses in capturing value from existing products while meeting new market demands for resource efficiency. 

  • Return Systems: Reverse vending and logistics are transforming waste into valuable resources. ByeWaste simplifies collection and redistribution systems, while SUPERNOVAS repurposes ocean plastics, reducing emissions by 50%. With 11 million tons of plastic entering oceans annually, return systems address both waste recovery and resource reuse, generating measurable value in a growing market for waste-to-value solutions projected to reach $87 billion by 2030.

Iris ten Have at Visionaries Tomorrow

  • Recycling of Mixed Plastic Waste: Emerging methods for plastic recycling that significantly reduce energy inputs and enable the processing of mixed plastic waste show great potential. These advancements will enhance the techno-economics of plastic recycling, making it more viable for large-scale operations. Innovative chemical recycling technologies are being developed to convert contaminated and complex plastic waste into valuable resources efficiently. This shift will not only improve the economics of plastic recycling but also increase the amount of plastic waste diverted from landfills and oceans, facilitating a circular economy at broader scales. 

  • Enhanced Recovery of Critical Raw Materials: Innovative recycling methods for transition metals and critical raw materials are becoming increasingly important, particularly in Europe, where strengthening supply chains is a pressing topic. As demand for these raw materials continues to rise—driven by the growth of electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, and advanced electronics—efficient recycling techniques will be critical. New approaches, such as urban mining, hydrometallurgical processes, and selective extraction technologies, are being refined to optimize recovery rates and reduce dependence on primary resource extraction. This trend will not only support local economies and promote circularity but also contribute to building a more resilient supply chain for critical materials.

  • Advanced Material Separation and Recovery: The development of sophisticated material recovery technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-based sorting systems, is revolutionizing the recycling industry. These innovations enhance the efficiency and accuracy of separating valuable materials from waste streams, particularly in complex mixtures. AI-driven robotics and sensor technologies can identify and sort a wider variety of materials, including plastics and metals, which allows for improved purity and yield in recycled outputs. As these technologies scale and become more accessible, they will significantly reduce waste processing costs and increase the volume of materials recovered, making recycling more economically viable and less reliant on virgin resources.

Fernando Casado at Inclimo Climate Tech Fund

  • Transforming Circularity with AI-Driven SaaS in the Fashion Industry: Innovative SaaS solutions are revolutionizing the fashion industry by enabling circularity through intelligent digital marketplaces. These platforms optimize the resale and reuse of surplus textile materials, significantly reducing landfill contributions and lowering CO₂ emissions. By connecting brands with excess inventory to buyers prioritizing sustainable practices, such technologies foster a scalable business model that aligns with climate-positive goals, driving impactful environmental and economic change. 

  • AI-Powered Circular Economy Platforms to Revolutionize Second-Hand Exchanges: SaaS platforms leveraging cutting-edge AI and machine learning technologies are revolutionizing second-hand exchanges by utilizing predictive analytics for dynamic pricing, blockchain for transparent transactions, and advanced recommendation engines to personalize matches, fostering a seamless user experience while driving a scalable, circular economy and reducing carbon footprints. We are seeing interesting vertical platforms on this, from clothes to second-hand Electric Vehicles to technological devices. 

  • SaaS for Life Cycle Analysis: Advancing Circularity Through Data-Driven Decisions: Next-generation SaaS platforms are transforming Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) by integrating advanced systematization, intuitive data access, and AI-driven decision-making tools. These technologies provide businesses with real-time insights into the environmental impact of their products and operations, enabling them to identify and implement circular strategies more effectively. By streamlining LCA processes and democratizing access to critical sustainability metrics, these platforms empower organizations to reduce waste, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute meaningfully to a climate-resilient, circular economy.