Fully Compostable Food Packaging Startup TIPA Raises $11m Series B

TIPA Sustainable Packaging, an Israeli startup manufacturing bio-based, fully compostable packaging for the food and fashion industries, has raised $11 million in Series B funding.

The round was led by Austin Hearst, an owner and director of the media conglomerate Hearst Corporation, and his wife Gabriela, the founder of a fashion brand with her name. Gabriela Hearst will be the first company to have all of its plastic packaging using TIPA’s innovative products, according to a press release. British designer Stella McCartney also uses TIPA products.

The Hearsts join existing investors GreenSoil Investments, the Israeli agrifood tech VC and Horizons Ventures, the VC fund belonging to Hong Kong billionaire Li-Ka Shing.

TIPA, which has won awards for its packaging, compares its product to orange peel: in comparison to regular plastic that will last for hundreds of years, it will decompose within just 180 days in compost conditions.

What happens if the packaging is not thrown in the compost, but with regular trash? “Just like other diverse organic materials (i.e fruits, vegetables, etc), our films degrade in a landfill much slower than in a composter, but unlike regular plastic that will stay there for hundreds of years, TIPA’s films will decompose within a few years at the most,” Merav Koren, VP of marketing, told AgFunderNews.

The company also claims that its bio-plastic emulates the properties of standard plastic in terms of its strength, shelf life and durability, transparency, sealing strength, printability, flexibility, and applicability. It can create different plastic products for different uses using resin, multi-layer structures, and laminates, according to its website.

TIPA products include compostable packaging for a range of foods including snack food, confectionary, grains, dried foods, vitamins, and coffee. TIPA’s food sector clients include Ekoplaza, Peese Snact, Van de Halm, Jumbo supermarket chain, and Shanvalley. Outside of food, it produces apparel packaging, zipper bags, and stand-up pouches.

The company will use the proceeds of the round to expand sales into new territories — its products are currently available in the US, France, England and the Netherlands — and develop new generations of packaging for a variety of goods.

Asked why the product is not available in Israel, the company’s home country, VP of marketing Merav Koren said, “We focus on larger markets so we can accelerate fast. We do work with a few brands here mostly as a pilot mode.”

This latest round of funding takes TIPA’s total to $25 million.

Photo: TIPA