Seoul, South Korea - Terracle, a South Korean startup focused on recycling plastic waste and producing regenerated raw materials, has raised KRW 10.5 billion (US$7.9 million) in a Series A funding round.
The post-money valuation was not disclosed.
Envisioning Partners led the investment, which was joined by DSC Investment, Hyundai Motor Group's ZER01NE Fund, Korea Development Bank, and Schmidt.
The company uses chemical recycling to convert plastic and textile waste into regenerated feedstocks such as terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG).
TPA is a widely used chemical feedstock in various industries, including plastic packaging, textiles, films, engineering plastics, automotive, and electronic products.
Terracle has successfully produced commercially viable, high-purity regenerated TPA (CR-TPA) for the first time in South Korea.
The company has also demonstrated its technical capabilities through a joint research project with Hyundai Motor Company's AVP Division's Basic Materials Research Center, focusing on the chemical recycling of end-of-life vehicle components.
The environmental impact of Terracle's regeneration process has attracted attention as it operates at atmospheric pressure and temperatures below 60°C, making it more energy efficient than conventional high-temperature, high-pressure recycling technologies.
In 2023, the company received Green Technology Certification from the Ministry of Environment for its monomer production technology through chemical decomposition.
It became the first and only company in South Korea to achieve this in this field.
Soohyun Bae, a director at Envisioning Partners, said, "Terracle has quickly secured the ability to produce high-quality recycled materials at significantly lower energy levels and tons, providing clear value to industries transitioning to decarbonization.
Hyundai's ZER01NE Fund expects that Terracle's depolymerization technology will play a critical role in the resource cycle of end-of-life vehicle components, in line with Hyundai Motor Group's efforts to create a sustainable vehicle value chain.
Terracle plans to use the funds to establish a domestic depolymerization facility with an annual production capacity of 4,000 tons, thereby promoting resource circularity for materials that are difficult to recycle physically, such as scrap plastics, textiles, automotive parts, and marine debris.
