Transforming mushrooms into leather is demonstrating to be a humongous business for MycoWorks, the Bay Area start-up that has fashioned vegan leather for several brands including the luxury French fashion entity – Hermès. At present, MycoWorks has accumulated USD 125 million in its Series C financing round to scale.
MycoWorks’ Reishi
The new-fangled financing for MycoWorks will strive to measure its manufacturing, specifically for its flagship vegan leather commodity titled Reishi.
The firm stated that it aimed to address the demand for sustainable materials and goods. The financing will go to progress R&D exertions and technology. As per MycoWorks, it is swamped with requests from brands concerned with utilizing its constituents.
Scaling production
The Series C financing sizes on its Series B USD 45 million increase and USD 17 million in its Series A since its debut in 2013.
According to MycoWorks, it produces a fabric unique from its competitors. It states that its biotechnology portal allows it to fabricate the mycelium to mature into a made-to-specification luxury material.
MycoWorks CEO Matt Scullin told TechCrunch that a lot was happening in this space. Scullin stated that Mycelium is a tuneable material and that several folks were entering the space as they witnessed great prospects for it. However, their preliminary approach was taking fibres and implanting them in plastic, which resulted in a low-quality material similar to ‘pleather’ or plastic leather.
This made picking the right investors crucial, as per Scullin. Prime Movers Lab, an investor, shared proficiencies in biotechnology and scaling manufacturing – two of MycoWorks’ largest necessities at present.
General Partner at Prime Movers Lab, David Siminoff, stated in a statement that what MycoWorks accomplished with its Fine Mycelium portal is not merely a milestone, but a revolution for industries that are suitable for change. The prospects were colossal and the firm believed that an unequalled product quality amalgamated with a proprietary scalable production procedure has MycoWorks self-assured to deliver as the spine of the new-fangled materials revolution.
Whilst collaborations like the Hermès contract had sited MycoWorks as a luxury leather manufacturer, the firm’s goal was mass production, nonetheless, allowing for an array of goods and price points. The firm stated that the new financing was essential to measure up.
A faction of that will materialize via a new-fangled production plant in South Carolina, estimated to be operational within a year. It should be proficient in manufacturing numerous million square feet of mycelium every year, the firm stated. It already functions like a west coast plant outside of San Francisco in Emeryville, California, where it freshly produced 10,000 trays of the product it calls Fine Mycelium.
Disrupting leather is a great business. By the firm’s account, over USD 150 billion worth of traditional leather is wholesaled annually. An animal-based material, leather facilitates both ethical and sustainability apprehensions.
The substitute leather market, specifically mushroom leather, is a fast-maturing industry. MycoWorks’ main competitor, Bolt Threads, recently witnessed its vegan mushroom leather in the new-fangled Mercedes-Benz concept electric vehicle. It has also been utilized in designs created by British fashion designer Stella McCartney. During Fashion Week in September 2021, McCartney introduced a limited-edition handbag made with vegan mushroom leather.
About MycoWorks
MycoWorks is a biotechnology firm instituted by artists with the mission to fabricate a portal for the highest quality materials by utilizing Fine Mycelium. Drawing on more than 30 years of pioneering research and innovation by their creative team, MycoWorks’ patented Fine Mycelium portal has allowed a new-fangled class of premium, non-animal materials that are the next evolution in the mycelium products. The firm utilizes tools of biotechnology, manufacturing exceptionalism & creativity, and master craftsmanship to develop futuristic materials.
