News About Radical Plastics
Radical Plastics Raises $1.435 Million in Early Stage Venture Capital Funding
October 13, 2020
Good Growth Capital led the funding round with participation from Hub Angels, Vector Advisors, Safar Partners and existing individual investors
Beverly, MA, October 13, 2020 – Radical Plastics, the developer of biodegradable plastics technology raised $1.435 in an over-subscribed deal led by Good Growth Capital with the support of other VC firms and private investors. The funds will advance the company’s efforts to promote the use of its patented biodegradable plastics technology to eliminate plastic pollution. Initially targeting soil degradable applications in agriculture, Radical Plastics will begin to scale commercial applications in the next twelve months. This will allow the company to expand into other pollution-prone applications such as plastic bags, paper coatings and flexible packaging.
“We are excited to have strong support from our investors. This will enable the company to make a significant contribution in the battle against plastic pollution,” said Kristin Taylor, CEO, Radical Plastics. “Our focus is on engineering new materials that offer the economics, high-performance and advantages of traditional plastics with one key difference. These redesigned plastics won’t persist in the environment long past their useful life.”
Founded by Kristin Taylor, CEO/Co-Founder and Dr. Yelena Kann, CTO/Founder, the woman-owned business holds a patent for its core technology, which uses a naturally-occurring, fine mineral powder as a catalyst to convert non-biodegradable polyolefins into biodegradable plastics. When exposed to outdoor environmental conditions, the catalyst system creates a free-radical reaction within the polymer that degrades the material completely into a fully biodegradable wax that microbes can metabolize turning it into biomass, CO2 and water.
“Good Growth Capital looks for winning teams and winning technology, and Radical Plastics has both. An experienced team who has worked in the plastics industry – focusing on biodegradability for 30 years,” said Maureen Stancik Boyce, Ph.D., Managing Partner, Good Growth Capital. “We are thrilled to see the momentum with Radical Plastics’ commercialization, as the market is responding with commercial trials and inbound demand for the technology.”
The company is targeting the agriculture industry as a first market, which is a significant consumer of non-degradable, commodity plastics on a global scale. The Radical Plastics technology blends conventional plastics with its proprietary catalyst to produce completely biodegradable plastic compounds. This game-changing technology provides brand owners and converters with an economically viable, biodegradable, drop-in replacement for conventional plastics: A win for both the industry and the environment.
About Radical Plastics
Radical Plastics, a woman-owned privately held business, develops economical plastic compounds that have the same outstanding performance as conventional plastics, but with the added benefit of complete and efficient biodegradability. Headquartered in Beverly, MA, the company is commercializing a patented drop-in replacement solution for high-polluting, commodity plastics used in agriculture, bags and flexible packaging. For more information, visit www.radical-plastics.com.
About Good Growth Capital
Good Growth Capital (GGC) is an early-stage venture capital firm known for its exceptional expertise in finding, assessing and developing complex science and technology start-ups. Formed by a team of experienced operators, GGC’s strong capacity for understanding early-stage science and technology investments enables them to invest well at an earlier stage than most venture capital firms, giving priority access to high-performing investment opportunities. GGC invests in seed-stage and Series A deals through the General Fund family and in pre-seed and seed-stage companies through the Infinite Corridor Fund, which primarily targets MIT-affiliated and transformative science start-ups. GGC is majority woman-owned and is uniquely positioned geographically in both the Southeast and New England. For more information, visit www.goodgrowthvc.com.