Grounded Packaging secures $5 million impact investment to scale up war on virgin plastics

Grounded, an end-to-end packaging specialist working with the world’s most innovative and sustainable materials, has secured $5 million in Series A funding led by carbon-focused investment manager,Kilara, via its Growth Equity Fund. Existing investor, Impact Enterprise Fund also participated in the round, which will enable Grounded to grow its technology and data team, build its supply chain and further automate services designed for smaller businesses. 

Grounded is scaling up its war on virgin plastics at a time when eight million tonnes of plastic are ending up in the sea every year. Its mission is to help businesses, large and small, move towards a ‘circular’ model where packaging is reusable, recyclable, made from recycled materials, or compostable. Since it was founded in 2019, Grounded has captured thousands of data points across materials and supply chains that make it possible to calculate the true impact of any packaging solution. This data-led model enables Grounded to identify the best packaging solutions based on business need and environmental impact, from raw materials through to end-of-life treatment.

Ben Grant, co-founder at Grounded Packaging, said: “Plastic has cultivated a ‘take, make, dispose’ model that is now sadly used in almost every corner of every industry. So many businesses want to make good packaging choices but misinformation and cloudy supply chains leave them in the dark. The reality is that there is no silver bullet to sustainable packaging but we can create shades of better. Through our partnership with Kilara Capital we will further enhance our data and technology capabilities, which will make doing the right thing even easier for more businesses.”  

Nick Anstey, Investment Manager at Kilara, added: “We’re commited to funding and supporting companies developing sustainable ways of producing and consuming products or services. Enabling a systemic transition away from using virgin plastics has never been more important and recent technological advances are creating a once in a lifetime opportunity to effect change. As soon as we met the team at Grounded we understood the breadth of opportunity for the business to scale at speed in an underserved area of the market. Impact is not secondary or tertiary to Grounded, it’s baked into everything they do. The team’s data-led approach to measuring and reporting on sustainability aligns with Kilara’s and we believe will see them become one of the world’s leading sustainable specialists.”

Category: Environment News