Canadian startup Alt Tex secures $1.5M pre-seed financing

Alt Tex, a sustainable design and biotechnology start-up that aims to transform food waste into a non-plastic alternative to polyester, has earned CAN$1.5 million (US$1.24 million) in a pre-seed funding round.

The company intends to use a novel compound handling method to age a polyester-like bio fibre from current modern food waste to create woven and non-woven textile fabrics.

Panache Ventures, Globalive Capital, Spacecadet Ventures, Ramen Ventures, and Presstar all expressed interest in the funding round, which was led by Garage Capital and Amplify Capital.

CEO of Alt Tex, Myra Arshad, said they acknowledge that they have developed a technology that can replace polyester. They’re not going to build a niche Canadian company; they believe this will be a $4 or $5 billion company in the next ten years, and they have a way to effectively replace polyester.

Alt Tex was established with the aim of creating distinctive textures from every source of plant or food waste. Its initial investigations involved yarns made from banana strips and pineapple leaves. The company did further scientific surveying and saw the capability of a polyester elective as the workshop eased back down in late 2019 and mid-2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arshad said they realised what is truly important to people right now, and the mildest texture, right now or in the future, is polyester. They also realised that people prefer polyester because of the presentation benefits.

The funds raised in the pre-seed financing round will be used to expand Alt Tex’s bioplastic fibre production, with the aim of being able to sell texture to apparel brands by mid-2022.