Kuori can accelerate the development of plastic from agricultural waste

The Kuoi GmbH is moving from Zurich to the Bio-Technopark Schlieren Zurich. According to a press release, the start-up, which was founded in 2022, intends to meet the growing demand for its environmentally friendly plastic alternatives from there. This will be made possible by the financial support that the cleantech start-up is receiving through its recently announced inclusion in the Migros Pioneer Fund.

According to a Kuori press release, the financing from this fund will also enable accelerated material development. "Kuori has great potential to transform the market for alternative plastics, close cycles and reduce emissions and microplastics," said Pablo Villars, Project Manager at the Migros Pioneer Fund, in the press release.

Founded in 2022 by Sarah Harbarth and Arthur Groh, the start-up sees itself as a pioneer in the scalable circular economy. The material developed by Kuori replaces conventional elastic plastics and rubbers, which are used to manufacture tires or shoe soles, for example. Existing waste streams from the food industry are used as resources. Kuori cites olive pits from the production of olive oil as an example of this. The Kuori material is biologically based and degradable and is supplied as granulate.

"This funding will allow us to accelerate our mission to provide sustainable material solutions for industries looking to move away from fossil resources," Kuori said in a further statement on LinkedIn. "This partnership will allow us to scale up production of our innovative granules, which is a significant step towards offering practical circular economy solutions to our customers." ce/eb