The future is now for sustainable packaging
Nfinite Nanotech has raised $6.5 million USD in seed funding to scale its nanomaterial product: a coating for sustainable and biodegradable food packaging that will help divert plastic waste from landfills. The University of Waterloo startup is developing an ultrathin and high-performance material for consumer-packaged goods, like granola bar wraps and potato chip bags, that keeps them fresh longer without the use of excessive non-biodegradable plastic packaging.
With Nfinite’s nanocoating, which is applied during the packaging production process, companies can now use more sustainable packaging materials without freshness and product shelf life being compromised. This helps reduce the dependency on plastic food packaging which is adding to the more than nearly 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced every year, according to the World Economic Forum.
Backing by global clean tech investors and sustainable packaging materials producers signals the massive impact the startup can have on the pervasive plastic problem of the modern world.
“Plastic is everywhere. It touches almost everything we use nowadays and that has created a big problem. There are millions of tons of plastic waste produced a year. To make it worse, less than 10 per cent of that is being recycled and the remaining either goes into landfills or the ocean.” - Chee Hau Teoh, Nfinite Nanotech co-founder and CEO.
Teoh along with his co-founders Dr. Kevin Musselman, scientific advisor and professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering and, Jhi Yong Loke (MASc ’21), chief technology officer, developed the research into a market-ready product at Waterloo with support from Velocity — Waterloo’s flagship incubator. Since 2008, Velocity has fostered more than 400 companies, cumulatively creating $26 billion USD in enterprise value.
