Biobased & Circular economy
Funding for circular businesses starts with a different ecosystem
10 april 2025
February 6, 2023
4 minutes
Invest-NL invests € 5 million in BYBORRE
Invest-NL co-leads the € 16.9 million investment in BYBORRE, the Dutch textile innovation company that has a strong focus to increase sustainability and circularity in the textile industry. The series B round was co-led by VP Capital and included existing investors SHIFT Invest and Amsterdams Klimaat en Energiefonds (AKEF). A group of angel investors also contributed and Rabobank’s scale-up banking team provided a long term loan and a machine lease facility.
The investment is used to further establish the position of BYBORRE as the leading platform for sustainable textiles and will strengthen the Dutch ecosystem for circular textile innovations.
Borre Akkersdijk: “We challenge the old, while delivering solutions for the new. The demand for textiles keeps growing, and so 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.”
Revolutionizing the textile industry
BYBORRE is a B2B supplier of innovative and sustainable knitted textiles that substitutes conventional textile manufacturers. BYBORRE has heavily invested in automation, material research and data analytics to increase efficiency, productivity and transparency throughout the textile supply chain. Their advanced software digitalized the entire design- and production process, in a “What You See is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) experience. BYBORRE gives detailed insights on the reduction of the environmental impact and emissions saved in all the life cycle stages in a user-friendly and interactive way.
The platform provides users the tools needed to make positive change and increase sustainability in the textile industry. Since the introduction of BYBORRE Create™ and BYBORRE Textiles™, a rapidly growing clientbase of game-changing and upcoming brands and creators in fashion, interior, automotive, product design and architecture have used their services and tools.
“Invest-NL is thrilled about its first investment in the textiles industry, one of the most polluting industries of today’s global economy. BYBORRE’s groundbreaking platform technology and services enable a transparent ecosystem and hold tremendous potential to rethink both design and production of textiles. By enabling this frontrunner to scale up quickly, we believe it can play an important role in speeding up the transition towards a carbon-neutral and circular economy,” said Rinke Zonneveld, CEO Invest-NL.
The shift towards circular textiles
BYBORRE advocatesdoing less and betterand requires recyclability of materials for both its inputs and outputs. This is realized by screening the material’s origins and holding the suppliers accountable. Circular principles are also held up throughout the supply chain to reduce waste and pollution, starting at highly reduced sampling and production minimums, and localized production to save time and reduce the impact of transportation.
The company’s way of doing business aligns perfectly with new European legislative standards which intend to ensure that textiles will be long-lived, free of chemicals and respecting the environment and human rights. Incentives such as the Extended Producer Responsibility will shift the responsibility to producers and brands. Therefore, BYBORRE delivers a textile passport with detailed information on material origin, composition and recyclability.
Guus van Puijenbroek, director VP Capital: “As a family business with our roots in workwear, we are convinced that with our capital and network we can contribute to solutions for social and planetary challenges in today’s world. Especially through actively engaging with our investments, by making our investments more sustainable and by seeking cooperation to join forces with other impact investors such as Invest-NL. We are pleased to contribute, together with BYBORRE, to sustainable innovations that are necessary in this industry.”
Fotocredits
Header photo: BYBORRE-2023-CREATE™
Inline photo: BYBORRE Knit Lab | Credits: Tomek Dersu Aaron Whitfield
