Turquoise, a UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has invested in bio-bean through its Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2).
The investment of GBP350,000 is part of an overall round of GBP1.25million. The round was led by LCIF2 with the participation of 2Enable Partners, Stellar Impact and the Gresham House Renewable Energy venture capital trusts (VCTs).
The UK consumes 95 million cups of coffee every day, generating hundreds of thousands of tonnes of spent coffee grounds each year. Much of this discarded resource ends up in landfill, emitting harmful greenhouse gases, including methane. bio-bean work with the biggest companies across the UK to transform these spent coffee grounds into value at an industrial scale, giving new life to a material previously considered waste, and contributing to a circular economy.
Kevin Murphy, director at Turquoise, says: “bio-bean is diverting thousands of tonnes of coffee grounds from landfill and is recycling them into a range of bio-products such as Coffee Logs for domestic use, biomass pellets for industrial use, natural flavour extracts for use in the food and beverage industry and Inficaf for use as a bulk raw material in a number of bio-based applications, such as bioplastics. We are delighted to make this investment as it fits very well in the investment strategy of LCIF2 into recycling technologies which help to reduce greenhouse gases.”
George May, Managing Director of bio-bean, adds: “We’re delighted to welcome LCIF2 as an investor in bio-bean. Their investment, alongside continuing support from our existing shareholders, provides us with a platform from which to continue the growth of our business in the UK through the launch of new products such as Inficaf, whilst also further developing routes to market in the EU.”
LCIF2 is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, with the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as the Managing Authority.