Kubik, a plastic upcycling startup, has raised a $1.9 million seed extension, months after announcing initial equity investment. The startup’s newest funding is from African Renaissance Companions, an East African enterprise capital agency; Endgame Capital, an investor with a bias for applied sciences round local weather change; and King Philanthropies, a local weather and excessive poverty investor.
The recent capital comes because the startup scales its operations in Ethiopia following the launch of its manufacturing facility in Addis Ababa, the place it’s turning plastic waste into interlocking constructing supplies like bricks, columns, beams and jambs. Kubik co-founder and CEO Kidus Asfaw, instructed TechCrunch that the startup intends to double down on its operations in Addis Ababa, because it lays floor for pan-African development from 2025.
Kubik’s method entails upcycling plastic waste into “low-carbon, durable, and affordable” constructing supplies utilizing proprietary expertise, which Asfaw says they’ll out-license for sooner pan-African, and the eventual international development.
“What we want to do is solve problems for cities and so, we’re thinking about our business model being truly circular. The way we’ve set up our business strategy, is that now we’re in the focus phase of proving this model here in Ethiopia. We’ll expand it to a few more markets to prove the diversity of the context in which this business model can work. But over time, what we actually want to do is transition to becoming a company that’s licensing out this technology,” stated Asfaw, who co-founded Kubik with Penda Marre in 2021.
“That’s how we feel that we can truly scale. It’s not by having factories all over the world, but having this industry adopt a new way of making materials globally,” he stated.
He stated their product permits builders to erect partitions with out the necessity for cement, aggregates or metal, making the development sooner and bringing the associated fee down by “at least 40% less per square meter”. Value is a key barrier in building and the supply of reasonably priced or cheaper constructing supplies presents a greater choice for builders of affordable-housing tasks.
Asfaw stated Kubik’s supplies have handed security checks by the European requirements company, Intertek, which checked, amongst different issues, energy, toxicity and flammability.
“We don’t want to be selling something that’s harmful for human beings. We did not start sales until these reports were available,” he stated.
The startup at the moment recycles 5,000 kilograms (and might do 45,000 at capability) of plastic waste a day. It has signed partnerships with corporates and Addis Ababa municipality for an everyday provide of plastic waste. Within the near-term, it’s product diversification to cowl pavers and flooring materials.
It’s estimated that the world produces 430 million tonnes of plastic a 12 months, two thirds are for short-term use. Evidently, the world is choking on plastic waste, and whereas the scenario is exacerbated by consumerism tendencies in developed nations, in areas dealing with fast urbanization and financial development like African cities, plastic waste is getting uncontrolled too, requiring pressing responses. Within the coming days, startups like Kubik will play a number one position in offering sustainable options for the menace.
