The rise of European legislative standards ensuring that textiles comply with long-lived, chemical-free, environmentally-friendly and ethical standards has accelerated the number of investment schemes searching for material innovation start-ups.

More recently, global textile innovator BYBORRE has raised €16.9 million (approximately $18 million USD) in a series B round led by impact investors Invest-NL, VP Capital, SHIFT Invest and Amsterdams Klimaat en Energiefonds (AKEF).

Entrepreneurs Charlie MacGregor (The Social Hub), Henk Jan Beltman (Tony’s Chocolonely), Patrick Munster (Scotch & Soda, Marie-Stella-Maris, Salle Privée), Bram de Zwart & Brian Garret (Hubs), Joris Pol (MediaMonks) and Geert-Jan Smits (Flinders) along with a group of angel investors also contributed. And, in addition to all of the above, Rabobank’s scale-up banking team facilitated a long-term debt and a machine lease facility.

The Dutch company – known for building an integrated ecosystem that offers transparency, reliability and creative freedom in textile design – will use the investment to strengthen its position as a leader in sustainable textiles, expand its network of industry partners and accelerate its international growth in key markets such as the United States, the Nordic countries and Italy.

Known for its serious commitment to democratizing the supply chain, BYBORRE will also persist in investing in its platform development, its design tool “BYBORRE Create,” which provides the ability to design a complex (3D) knitted fabric without the technical and material expertise, its “Ready-To-Order Library” and “BYBORRE Textiles,” which use responsible materials, with about 50% of recyclable, mono-material packages.

Upon the news becoming public, Founder Borre Akkersdijk shared: “We challenge the old while delivering solutions for the new. The demand for textiles keeps growing, and so does the need for a textile design and development solution that matches commercial feasibility, positive impact and creativity is ever more pressing. That’s why we’re here to stay.”

To find out more about BYBORRE’s mission and innovative services, visit the material innovator’s website. And, in other material-adjacent news, don’t forget to check out the new and improved cactus leather sneakers from CLAE and Desserto.

Source: Knitting Industry.