Plastic recycling startup Novoloop has inked a cope with a significant producer to provide its upcycled thermoplastic polyurethane at business scale, TechCrunch has solely discovered.
The settlement helps nudge the Menlo Park-based Novoloop by way of the so-called “valley of dying” that many local weather tech startups should slog by way of.
Startups that rely on {hardware} are significantly inclined to stumbling within the valley, the dreaded second once they’ve confirmed their preliminary know-how and haven’t generated enough revenues from promoting their product.
Underneath the phrases of the deal, Novoloop will provide Huide Science and Expertise with a chemical constructing block used to make thermoplastic polyurethane. Novoloop makes the fabric, often called a polyol, from post-consumer polyethylene waste like plastic luggage, one of many hardest supplies to recycle.
Thermoplastic polyurethanes, or TPU, are a sort of plastic that’s utilized in every little thing from trainers to medical gadgets.
“For this product line, we’ve basically achieved what could be the business relationship,” Novoloop co-founder and CEO Miranda Wang advised TechCrunch.
At this level, Novoloop is constrained in its capacity to provide polyols, Wang mentioned. Earlier this 12 months in India, the startup commissioned its demonstration plant, which is able to producing tens of tons of the fabric per 12 months.
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The demonstration plant’s capability is enough to provide sufficient TPU for “main pilot initiatives,” Wang mentioned, together with one for a footwear buyer that will likely be introduced within the coming months. Beforehand, Novoloop equipped Swiss shoe producer On with its Lifecycled materials for the tread of its Cloudprime sneaker.
Offers just like the one with Huide will likely be key for the Novoloop’s progress, Wang mentioned. “The most important hurdle to profitability is economies of scale,” she mentioned. “A number of the main focus subsequent 12 months will likely be driving lots of these buyer offers to shut in order that we are able to finance the [commercial-scale] services.”
As soon as the offers and financing fall into place, Novoloop expects to have its business plant up and operating in early 2028, Wang mentioned. The primary model ought to be capable to provide sufficient polyols to provide about 16,000 tons of TPU yearly.
“Once we can run the supplies at these forms of volumes, we count on to have the ability to be at value parity with virgin TPUs,” she mentioned.