Plastic recycling startup Novoloop has inked a deal with a major manufacturer to produce its upcycled thermoplastic polyurethane at commercial scale, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
The agreement helps nudge the Menlo Park-based Novoloop through the “valley of death” that many climate tech startups must slog through.
Startups that depend on hardware are particularly susceptible to stumbling in the valley, the dreaded moment when they’ve proven their initial technology and have not generated sufficient revenues from selling their product.
Under the terms of the deal, Novoloop will supply Huide Science & Technology with a chemical building block used to make thermoplastic polyurethane. Novoloop makes the material, known as a polyol, from post-consumer polyethylene waste like plastic bags, one of the hardest materials to recycle.
Thermoplastic polyurethanes, or TPU, are a type of plastic that’s used in everything from running shoes to medical devices.
