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ETF Digest

ETF Partners invests in Hubcycle, a groundbreaking company revolutionising the upcycling of food by-products!

Posted

28 October 2024

Categories

Avignon, France, 28th October 2024: As the French leader and pioneer in the upcycling market, Hubcycle confirms its exponential growth with a third fundraising round of 15 million euros.

This is a significant step in a food sector facing the need for sustainable transition and rising raw material costs. The startup turns waste into new, competitive, and sustainable food ingredients, already preventing more CO2 emissions than the largest active carbon capture plant today.

Strengthening its leadership in food by-product upcycling

Following its first two fundraising rounds, totaling 5 million euros, Hubcycle consolidates its leadership in food by-product upcycling by raising 15 million euros. This new round is backed by three renowned new investors — ETF Partners (Environmental Technologies Fund), Raise, and Techmind—alongside four of the startup’s historical investors, Daphni, Citizen, Swen, and Bleu Capital, who reaffirm their confidence in the project. With this fresh funding, Hubcycle confirms its ambition to scale its concept globally, while accelerating its technological innovations.

Boosting innovation to transform the food industry

Thanks to this fundraising, Hubcycle embarks on a new development phase with the goal of identifying 4,000 new waste sources and launching 400 new ingredients. The company will also develop a brand-new technological approach to better leverage the 800 data points generated by each waste source.

Additionally, Hubcycle will invest heavily in quality assurance to achieve the highest certification standards, while optimizing its logistics to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Cutting-edge tools will be added to the lab, enhancing the characterization of by-products for various industrial applications. To support this growth, 80 new employees will be hired over the next two years. In full expansion, the company tripled its growth in 2023 and aims to repeat this performance in 2024. With this fundraising, Hubcycle continues to pave the way for an ambitious circular industry, aiming to transform supply chains sustainability and reduce their environmental footprint.

Expanding internationally

Hubcycle has promising international ambitions. The company intends to establish itself as the global leader in agro-industrial upcycling while maintaining its pioneering position in this rapidly growing sector. Hubcycle aims to surpass 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions avoided in the coming years, further cementing its crucial role in the fight against industrial waste. After proving profitability in the first months of 2023, Hubcycle hopes to replicate this success on an even larger scale. Its goal is to become the largest CO2 reduction lever for its clients, helping them transition to more sustainable, circular industrial practices.

This new fundraising will enable us to accelerate Hubcycle’s R&D capabilities, positioning us as an international reference in food upcycling.
— Julien Lesage, President and Founder of Hubcycle

We are very enthusiastic about leading this investment round for Hubcycle“, said Remy de Tonnac at ETF Partners.

Hubcycle’s innovative approach to upcycling food by-products is not just a significant business opportunity, but a crucial step towards addressing the global challenges of food waste and climate change. Their technology has the potential to transform the food industry, creating a more sustainable and efficient supply chain. We’re impressed by Julien’s vision, the company’s measurable impact on CO2 emissions, and their ability to turn waste into valuable, competitive products. This investment underscores our commitment to supporting companies that drive positive environmental change while delivering strong business results. We look forward to supporting Hubcycyle as they scale their operations and continue to innovate in this critical sector.
— Remy de Tonnac, Senior Partner, ETF Partners

About Hubcycle
Hubcycle is an innovative platform that transforms what one factory doesn’t use into a strategic raw material for another industry. Founded by Julien Lesage in 2016, the startup bridges industrial gaps by connecting companies that use different parts of a raw material—be it vegetable, fruit, spice, or other plants. Every industrial transformation stage of a raw material generates secondary flows, known as by-products. These are potential waste before they officially become waste: fruit peels, ugly vegetables, oil pressing residues, powders that are too fine or too coarse. Seemingly unusable, they are actually sources of molecules and functionalities particularly strategic for certain industries.

Hubcycle’s primary goal is to prevent waste by ensuring that everything that can end up on a plate is effectively used. Its technological model allows for the creation of spices, flours, juices, aromas, and other ingredients, which are on average 30% cheaper than standard ingredients. Hubcycle targets the 290 million tons of waste generated by factories each year.

Through this approach, Hubcycle enables their valorization, creating a green, circular, and profitable model for all value chain stakeholders. In 2023, Hubcycle has already valorized 600 tons of by-products into high-value ingredients, generating a savings of approximately 4,000 tons of CO2. Today, 1,250 by-products have been identified and characterized. With historical clients such as L’Oréal, Givaudan, and Doehler, Hubcycle is establishing itself as a company with exponential growth.

About ETF Partners
Founded in 2005, ETF Partners (The Environmental Technologies Fund) is the leading European venture capital firm dedicated to sustainability and impact investing. For nearly twenty years, we have been at the forefront of promoting sustainability through innovation.

ETF Partners is built on the belief that entrepreneurship and innovation are essential to addressing the global challenges posed by the climate crisis. We are committed to encouraging and supporting Europe’s pioneering ecosystem of entrepreneurs creating innovative solutions with the potential for profound environmental impact.

We believe in the transformative power of aligning profit with purpose to build a more sustainable future. For more information on our investment thesis and approach, please visit our website.

Press contacts
Edgar Borrits, [email protected], +33 6 79 46 15 29
Aurore Pageaud, [email protected], +33 6 70 93 15 60

Some facts and figures about food waste and the need for a sustainable transition:

🌍 On average, 50% of what enters a food processing plant is not turned into food. While we need to produce 70% more to feed 9 billion people, we must first address this waste, which is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

🌍 In France, food waste amounts to 10 million tons of waste per year, with a commercial value of 16 billion euros (source: Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity, Food Waste, January 2020).

🌍 Globally, food waste is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. The global cost of food waste is estimated at $2.6 trillion per year. In France, this represents a value of 16 billion euros (Source: FAO, 2016).

🌍 30% of cultivated land is used to produce food that ends up being wasted (Source: UN).

🌍 Food waste occurs at various stages of the supply chain, from production to consumption, with the following distribution: 20% of food waste is produced by the food industry (1,720,000 tons), 7% during distribution, 12% by out-of-home consumption, 14% at the primary production stage, and 47% by households (2021 data for France, 2023 Eurostat).

🌍 A study by Future Market Insights, using data published by Rethink Food Waste Through Economics, revealed that the use of by-products is a booming activity, generating $46.7 billion in revenue worldwide in 2019.

🌍 Currently, 39% of consumers want to buy foods and beverages containing upcycled ingredients, and 57% plan to purchase more in the future (Fooddive, “Upcycling: A Big Food problem with a startup solution?”, June 2019).