Circular secures $10.5M in funding

San Francisco-based Circular.co has secured $10.5 million in funding that includes a new $5.3 million round backed by Maniv, Oxygea and Eclipse that followed a $5.2 million seed round previously led by Eclipse. Circular intends to use the funding to deepen the scale and functionality of its platform as well as to grow its team and expand to include additional sustainable materials.

Circular’s platform helps recycled plastics buyers find the right materials for their applications by leveraging its propriety artificial intelligence (AI) technology to aggregate technical data sheets from recycled plastics suppliers, Chief Operations Officer Shannon Gordon told Recycling Today during the Plastics Recycling Conference in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-27.

“The core of our product is the information about [suppliers’] product,” Gordon explained. 

The platform includes approximately 50,000 technical records that feature data on 161 different technical specifications, such as intrinsic viscosity and melt flow, as well as various certifications, from some 9,000 global suppliers, helping buyers find the postconsumer resin (PCR) that best meets their needs more quickly than the traditional options available to them.

Gordon said Circular handles the searching, sourcing, vetting and onboarding process for its customers, with results in days compared with months or even years using analog methods.

Circular’s platform can help to stabilize the market for PCR, she added, and move it closer to commoditization.

The company does not charge suppliers to include their information on the platform and will be launching a new supplier onboarding process that will enable them to manage their own business profiles on the platform.

Buyers pay a fee to access the platform, and Circular has users across a variety of market segments, including consumer packaged goods companies, automotive original equipment manufacturers and chemical companies.

In addition to recycled resins, the platform includes specifications on bales and flakes.  

Currently, signatories to plastic reduction commitments such as the Global Commitment led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are likely to miss their 2025 targets. Sustainability and procurement teams tasked with meeting these goals have been hampered by the fragmented nature of the PCR market, according to the company, which has resulted in ongoing issues and inconsistencies with price, quality, availability and access.

The fragmented and unpredictable nature of supply contributes to the lack of long-term contracts in the recycled resins space, Gordon said, and Circular’s platform can help to address that by creating stability for suppliers and buyers.

The company has enhanced its platform to offer new features:

• Explore – The first self-serve tool to see what PCR materials are available at specific specifications and prices anywhere in the world.
• Search – Where buyers can connect directly with suppliers through digital custom quotes.
• Procure – Helping buyers with everything from testing, onboarding and contracting to carbon foot printing and freight.

Circular expanded its team recently, including adding Gordon, a former vice president of customer experience at Walmart Global eCommerce, and Rob Ianelli, founder of Oceanworks, a global marketplace for recycled ocean plastic materials and products.

Gordon said joining Circular was “the most no-brainer decision” she’s ever made, noting that the virgin plastics industry is facing a “massive transition” and that Circular has the opportunity to be part of that transition and accelerate it.

In a news release about the investment, Eclipse partner Aidan Madigan-Curtis says, “In a world where procurement and product teams are expected to reimagine their supply chains almost overnight, Circular is the only single-pane-of-glass solution that can streamline the vendor identification, supplier qualification, specification standardization, quality assurance and logistics to create consistency of supply, price and quality to make PCR possible.”

“In a nascent, highly fragmented PCR market, Circular.co’s platform can help address existing supply shortages,” Oxygea CEO Artur Faria says. “As brands increasingly prioritize sustainability, Circular offers a seamless marketplace solution to purchase PCR reliably.

“Oxygea is the manager of Braskem’s $100 million corporate venture capital fund. Our investment in Circular aligns seamlessly with Braskem's circular economy objectives, and we look forward to supporting the company as it scales.”

Ian Arthurs, founder and CEO of Circular, says, “Existing relationship-driven systems fail to provide the information necessary for buyers to make fast informed decisions, and, on the flip side, suppliers have a hard time being discovered by and getting access to serious buyers. Circular unblocks these common issues using data and technology to help buyers and sellers navigate the global market efficiently. Armed with our data, buyers and suppliers make faster and smarter business decisions and simplify their process to get sustainable materials into production now.”

Marcu Alexander, manager of packaging sustainability at Danone says, “Increasing the use of postconsumer recycled plastics, in particular, is critical to meeting our ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] goals. Large manufacturers need more efficient ways to navigate new PCR markets, and Circular is taking an innovative approach there.”

"With guidance and support from the U.S. Pact, our members (called ‘Activators’) are demonstrating strong commitments not only to our collective PCR targets but also their own individual PCR goals," says Emily Tipaldo, U.S. Plastics Pact executive director. "U.S. brands, including large manufacturers like Danone, have committed to adopting PCR to hit ESG goals and in doing so need help navigating new markets and new materials. We're excited that Circular.co, as one of our committed Activators, is delivering an innovative, data-driven approach to advance these goals. Their technology complements our own PCR Toolkit to help manufacturers navigate opaque PCR markets. By offering helpful resources, we can increase the adoption of PCR throughout U.S. manufacturing.”

In the fourth quarter of last year, Circular says it sourced 35,000 tons of PCR worth $43 million, supported nine global brands across four continents and saved companies on average more than 10 percent compared with the market price. Additionally, the vast majority of PCR sourced through the platform was less expensive than virgin plastic index prices, according to the company, thus breaking the commonly-held belief that there is always a green premium in PCR.

With the additional funding, Circular plans to grow in its current industry, expand internationally, and add additional sustainable materials including paper and metals, to continue to foster sustainable global trade.

Gordon said she is excited to receive funding from Oxygea and Maniv as they represent potential customers of Circular, adding that it speaks to the relevancy of the company’s product.