UBQ completed a $170 million funding round led by TPG Rise, TPG’s global impact investing platform, according to a company announcement 15 Dec.
TPG’s investment was made through TPG Rise Climate, the firm’s dedicated climate investing fund, and The Rise Fund, its multi-sector impact investing fund.
The financing round also included participation from existing investor, Battery Ventures, and other prominent investors such as M&G’s Catalyst strategy, a UK-based investor specialising in flexible, long term impact investments. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
As part of the transaction, Steve Ellis, Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Funds, will join UBQ’s Board of Directors along with Ignacio Giraldo, Business Unit Partner at TPG Rise.
The investment will fund UBQ’s global expansion to meet growing demand, beginning with a large-scale facility in the Netherlands to be operational by the end of 2022.
“We selected the Netherlands for our new plant because the ecosystem there is very suitable for companies like ours,” said Jack (Tato) Bigio, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UBQ Materials.. “We had to select a convenient location for our first international plant and northern Europe was an easy choice. We will continue to expand and set up a plant in the U.S. as well.”
Funds from the round will also go into UBQ’s continued research to advance certifications, research and development of new products.
UBQ, headquartered in Israel, has developed a patented conversion process through which it produces a sustainable, cost-effective functional derived from unsorted household waste, including all organics.
Fully recyclable, UBQ has already found application in various sectors. Its use contributes to the manufacture of durable products with reduced or even negative environmental footprints.
A sustainable replacement to plastic, wood or concrete, UBQ can be used both on its own and in conjunction with conventional oil-based resins to offset the overall carbon footprint of end-products in industries including construction, automotive, logistics, retail, and even 3D printing.
“UBQ can be utilised in a broad array of industrial and consumer applications," said Steve Ellis.
Today, over 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste produced annually around the world, more than 70% of which end up in landfills or is openly dumped. UBQ offers an alternative option. In fact, the company claims that for every ton of UBQ produced, as much as 12 tons of CO₂ equivalent is prevented from from entering the environment.
Moreover, said Ellis, UBQ’s material solution is energy efficient, uses no water and produces no effluents.
“Waste is not the end, it is only the beginning,” added Bigio, “This financing round enables us to widen the reach of our patented conversion technology and novel material, bringing us closer to a functioning circular economy worldwide.”