Circ, a textile-to-textile recycler, has raised US $ 25 million in a funding round headed by Taranis, an asset management and investment group. According to a statement from the US-based business, the funding and the new partner’s experience would support its ‘transition from demonstration-scale to industrial-scale production.’
Avery Dennison, a company that specialises in materials science and digital identification solutions, and Inditex, the parent company of Zara, were among the current strategic investors who supported this most recent round in addition to Taranis, which acted through its Carbon Ventures fund. The two have previously collaborated on commercial projects; in 2023, the latter and Circ debuted a Zara collection that featured Circ’s recycled polycotton blended textiles.
In order to expand on the ‘major technical and commercial progress’ it has made over the last 18 months, the company intends to further scale its product. In order to achieve this, Circ stated that it is planning its first large-scale mixed textile recycling facility and intends to rely on its partners, notably Taranis, to provide the necessary skills to run the project.
In March 2023, Circ had already raised US $ 25 million and welcomed additional investors Youngone, a Korean manufacturing company, and Zalando, a German online retailer. This was on top of a previous Series B investment of US $ 30 million that was disclosed in 2022, during which Inditex was one of the investors.
Thus, this most recent investment ‘validates the company’s progress and momentum’ in spite of the difficult environment facing textile recycling companies, who are having difficulty due to a lack of financial options and little commercial support.
