Circular.co raises $10.5M to facilitate recycling at large scale – SiliconANGLE

Sustainable sourcing platform Circular Exchange Inc., which does business as Circular.co, said today it has raised $10.5 million to expand its database of post-consumer recycled materials and its platform for streamlining the purchase and sale of PCR materials.

The company said it will use the funding to expand its platform beyond plastics to include paper and metals, add more customers and suppliers and enhance its platform.

Circular is addressing what is says is a frantic effort by businesses to meet plastic reduction and net zero emissions targets. Only 18% of companies are on track to reach net zero emissions goal by 2050, according to Accenture. The fragmented nature of the PCR market has created inconsistencies in price, quality, availability and access.

The company has built what it calls a “single-pane-of-glass solution that can streamline vendor identification, supplier qualification, specification standardization, quality assurance and logistics to create consistency of supply, price and quality to make PCR possible,” according to a statement by investor Aidan Madigan-Curtis, a partner at investor Eclipse Ventures LLC.

Circular has built a database of more than 9,000 global suppliers and more than 50,000 PCR technical records, including details such as price, specifications, materials volume and supplier certifications. It says it can reduce the time required to search, source, vet and onboard vendors from months to days.

Its newly enhanced platform includes a self-serve tool for finding PCR materials available at specific specifications and prices anywhere in the world and digital custom quo procurement services.

Circular said it sourced 35,000 tons of post-consumer recycled material worth $43 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, worked with nine global brands on four continents, and saved customers an average of more than 10% compared to market prices.

The financing includes a new $5.3 million round backed by Maniv Mobility Management Ltd. and Eclipse in addition to an earlier $5.2 million seed round led by Eclipse.

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