Australian biomaterials company Uluu has raised SGD13.5 million (USD 9.8 million) in a Series A funding round to build a demonstration plant and scale up its proprietary technology that transforms seaweed into natural, sustainable alternatives to plastic.
The round was led by Burda Principal Investments, the growth capital arm of German media and tech group Hubert Burda Media, with participation from Main Sequence, Novel Investments (the family office of one of the world’s largest textile groups), Startmate, and a consortium of impact and family investors including Fairground and Trinity Ventures.
Founded by Dr. Julia Reisser and Michael Kingsbury, Uluu produces next-generation materials that perform like conventional plastics but are reusable, recyclable, home compostable and marine biodegradable. The materials can be processed using existing plastic manufacturing equipment, making them viable substitutes for traditional plastics in large-scale industrial production.
Unlike fossil-fuel-based plastics, Uluu’s materials break down naturally without releasing microplastics and are climate-positive at scale. At commercial capacity, Uluu’s process could sequester and avoid up to 5kg of CO₂ equivalent for every 1kg of material produced, in stark contrast to the 3kg of CO₂ emitted by plastic today. The company estimates its technology could cut global CO₂ emissions by more than 2 gigatonnes annually.
The Series A funding will enable Uluu to scale operations from its 100kg-per-year pilot facility to a 10-tonne-per-year demonstration plant in Western Australia, which will allow it to supply commercial volumes to global partners.
“After four years developing this technology, including two years operating our pilot plant, we’re excited to take this next step and deliver meaningful volumes to customers,” said Michael Kingsbury, Uluu’s Co-founder and Co-CEO. “The demonstration plant is a critical step in showing Uluu can scale to truly compete with and replace fossil plastics.”
Co-founder and Co-CEO Dr. Julia Reisser highlighted seaweed’s unique sustainability advantages.
“Seaweed grows quickly and gets everything it needs from the sun and the sea,” she said. “It locks away CO₂ and helps clean up pollutants from the ocean. By harnessing seaweed, Uluu is producing materials that have a positive, rather than negative, impact on the environment, while ending plastic pollution.”
Uluu is already collaborating with major global brands in cosmetics, fashion, and automotive, including Quiksilver, Papinelle, and Audi, to test and commercialise its materials.
The Series A round also sets the foundation for Uluu’s next growth phase, with plans underway to build a commercial-scale facility capable of producing thousands of tonnes annually to serve major global markets.
As global industries race to decarbonise supply chains and phase out single-use plastics, Uluu’s seaweed-based innovation could mark a major step forward in the transition toward circular, climate-positive materials.