Textile recycling startup Renasens has raised €10 million ($11.5 million) in seed funding to scale a novel technology aimed at solving one of the fashion industry’s most persistent challenges: recycling blended and post-consumer textile waste at industrial scale.
The funding round, backed by climate-focused investors including Norrsken Launcher, Extantia and Course Corrected, will support the development of a pilot plant in Borås, Sweden, and accelerate the company’s transition from laboratory validation to commercial deployment.
The move comes as Europe faces mounting pressure to address its growing textile waste problem. The region generates more than 12 million tonnes of textile waste annually, yet less than 1% is recycled into new fibers, according to industry estimates. The bulk of discarded clothing — often made from blended materials such as cotton-polyester — remains difficult to process using existing technologies.
Renasens is positioning itself as a solution to this bottleneck.
Its proprietary process uses supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) to remove dyes, coatings and chemical treatments from textiles, enabling the separation of mixed fibers without breaking them down at the molecular level. Unlike traditional chemical recycling, which depolymerizes materials, or mechanical recycling, which degrades fiber quality, Renasens preserves the structural integrity of fibers, allowing them to be reused directly in spinning and manufacturing.
“The scale of the textile waste crisis is impossible to ignore,” said Anna Fredrixon, partner at Norrsken Launcher, in a statement. “What stands out about Renasens is its ability to produce recycled fibers at a cost the market can actually adopt.”
The technology is also waterless and avoids the use of toxic solvents, addressing environmental concerns associated with conventional textile processing. By maintaining fiber quality, the company claims its recycled output can compete with virgin materials on both performance and price — a critical factor for industry adoption.
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The startup was founded by chemical engineer Dr. Jade Bouledjouidja, whose research into material coatings led to the development of the process. Her approach focuses on reversing the chemical bonds that bind dyes and finishes to fabrics, effectively returning textiles to a “clean slate” before separating fibers.
Industry analysts say this capability could mark a turning point for circular fashion.
Most existing recycling systems are designed for clean, single-fiber industrial waste, limiting their scalability in real-world conditions where garments are often blended, dyed and chemically treated. This mismatch between technology and waste streams has long hindered efforts to create closed-loop textile systems.
Renasens’ ability to process complex, post-consumer waste could help unlock large-scale fiber-to-fiber recycling, reducing reliance on virgin cotton and polyester while supporting regulatory compliance.
The timing is significant. The European Union is set to introduce stricter textile waste collection requirements from 2025, alongside extended producer responsibility rules expected later in the decade. These policies are increasing demand for viable recycling infrastructure across the region.
By designing its system to integrate with existing manufacturing processes, Renasens aims to lower adoption barriers for textile producers. Its modular setup allows deployment within current industrial facilities, avoiding the need for costly retooling.
However, challenges remain. Scaling deep-tech hardware solutions is capital-intensive, and the logistics of collecting, sorting and processing textile waste at scale remain complex. Previous recycling ventures have struggled to achieve consistent output quality and economic viability beyond pilot stages.
Still, investors are betting that Renasens’ approach — combining material science innovation with industrial applicability — could overcome these hurdles.
If successful, the company could play a pivotal role in reshaping global textile supply chains, turning waste into a viable raw material stream and advancing the long-promised vision of circular fashion.
For now, the €10 million raise marks a critical step forward, signaling growing confidence that the industry’s toughest recycling challenge may finally be within reach.
