US startup, Werewool, claiming to be a pioneer of sustainable performance fibres, has announced a $3.7 million seed funding to develop the company’s first product—biodegradable protein fibres—that can be spun into yarns.
The technology: Werewool embeds performance attributes directly into fibre, eliminating the need for petroleum-based raw materials, synthetic dyes, and toxic finishing processes that make the textile industry one of the largest contributors to accelerating climate change.
- Instead of reliance on these conventional methods and materials, Werewool uses protein structure to create these qualities.
- The company harnesses nature’s blueprints for function and colour to create regenerative fibres that plug and play in today’s fashion industry. Its engineered microbes brew “designer proteins” that give performance and colour to textiles fibres sans plastic and water pollution.
- The technology is co-patented between the Fashion Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
Funding: The funding, led by Material Impact and Sofinnova Partners, will also be used to expand Werewool’s manufacturing capabilities, and grow the team.
The goal: The Werewool mission is to reduce the industry’s reliance on socially and environmentally impactful fibres whose production degrades the environment.
- The Werewool platform will have far reaching impacts on communities and environments around the world, increasing the availability of arable land for agriculture and potable water for human consumption.
- The fibres developed by the company cannot yet be used to make garments. It will take another 3–5 years to make a prototype garment out of Werewool.
- The Werewool fibres can be returned as nutrients for a healthy ecosystem at the end of their useful life.
The protagonists: Werewool is a women-led biotech company using the principles of biomimicry to engineer high performance, protein-based textile fibres for the fashion industry.
- It started as a Biodesign project back in 2018 at the Fashion Institute of Technology—where the team discovered nature’s genius blueprints for all of the colour and functionality that currently makes the textile and fashion industry one of the largest polluters of this planet.
- It was launched as a company with a grant from the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award and has received recognition and support from the Ray C. Andersons Ray of Hope Prize, The Biomimicry Institute, Conservation X Labs Microfiber Innovation Challenge, and most recently by the Elle x Polestar Design Towards Zero Award.
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specialising in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, and founded in 1972, it is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.
Material Impact builds deep tech companies powered by material science that solve enduring, large-scale, real-world problems.
WHAT THEY SAID:
Our mission as a company is to make the fashion industry compatible with nature. Our team looks at the textile industry holistically considering the end of life at the beginning of life – our goal is for our fibers to decompose into nutrients for a healthier ecosystem. We are excited to be growing and are looking to fill key leadership roles in the company with people who can contribute to our team’s vision for a truly circular textile economy.
— Chui-Lian Lee
Co-Founder & CEO
Werewool
We celebrate Werewool for their innovative work with developing protein-based fibers. Their solution helps break the textile industry's dependence on, among other things, extractive raw materials, harmful dyes, and plastics. It then has the potential to de facto reduce negative impact on a number of environmental areas if it can be scaled and used in the right way.
— Fredrika Klarén
Head of Sustainability and jury member for the Design Towards Zero Award
Polestar
We believe that biology will play an increasingly important role in the future of clothing and are excited to partner with Werewool in their mission to bring sustainable and biodegradable fibers to market.
— Michael Krel
Partner
Sofinnova Partners
At Material Impact, we seek out deep tech innovation that has the capacity to solve enduring, large-scale, real-world problems, Werewool’s revolutionary fiber development platform offers the textile industry a breakthrough approach to sustainable and functional textiles.
— Corinna Chen
Partner
Material Impact
