The funding, announced on 16 July 2026, will support the construction of the company’s first commercial demonstration facility, aiming to process hundreds of tonnes of textile waste annually.
Led by the French government-backed Ecotechnologies 2 fund, the investment round was joined by SWEN Capital Partners, apparel brand lululemon, MAS Holdings, current investor EQT Ventures, and the family offices of Peugeot and Etam, as well as the largest shareholder of Indorama Ventures.
In addition, the Series A round was supported by public institutions including Bpifrance and the European Innovation Council, the company noted.
Syntetica plans to develop its demonstration plant at Michelin’s Centre for Sustainable Materials in Clermont-Ferrand, France, bringing its laboratory technology into industrial-scale production.
The company’s proprietary recycling process targets mixed post-consumer nylon waste. According to EU environment data, this category makes up approximately 80% of all textile waste but remains largely untapped by existing recycling methods.
Unlike typical recycling processes that focus on pre-consumer, clean production scraps, Syntetica said its technology is designed to handle complex, mixed textile waste from discarded garments.
The system can process both Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6 in one step, overcoming a significant technical barrier that previously required the separation of different nylon types before recycling.
Global nylon production reached around seven million tonnes in 2024, according to Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report.
However, with the technical challenges involved in recycling post-consumer textiles, recycled nylon makes up only about 2% of the total market.
Furthermore, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reports that more than 80% of discarded textiles from households are incinerated, landfilled, or left in the environment.
Syntetica stated its technology addresses a key challenge in recycling by enabling the processing of a greater portion of nylon waste generated by the apparel sector.
The company is currently collaborating with brands such as Victoria’s Secret and Etam, in addition to other international apparel companies, as interest in large-scale circular material solutions increases.
While initial efforts focus on nylon, Syntetica plans to expand into other materials and applications, including those relevant to automotive and speciality chemical sectors.
Syntetica co-founder and CEO Marco Bertone said: “For decades, mixed nylon waste has been considered too complex and too expensive to recycle at scale. We have shown that it is possible to recover high-value materials from the waste streams the industry has historically written off. This funding allows us to move from breakthrough chemistry to industrial reality and accelerate the transition to more circular materials.”
