Japan’s Spiber raises €60 million for its protein fibre

Having moved on to the stage of industrialising its offering via a factory in Thailand, Japanese company Spiber has announced that it has raised 10 billion yen (around €60 million) to support the roll-out of its protein fibre offering.

The result of fifteen years’ research, Spiber’s ‘Brewed Protein’ brings selected plant polymers into contact with bacteria. The process, which the project managers describe as “very similar to brewing beer”, has already won over fifteen Japanese and international brands, including The North Face, Pangaia, Sacai, Goldwin and Yuima Nakazato.

The 10 billion yen financing round was carried out with existing investors. The stated aim is to accelerate the mass production of the protein, initially imagined as an alternative to spider silk, but whose latest developments have produced results close to the properties of wool or even cashmere.

“Despite the difficult fundraising environment for start-ups in the global economic climate, we have been able to maintain our growth thanks to their recognition and expectations,” says director Kazuhide Sekiyama. “We remain committed to establishing and improving the biotechnology foundations essential to achieving a circular society, as well as fulfilling our social implementation responsibility as a forerunner in this sector.”

Spiber’s industrial site in Thailand currently uses biomass mainly made up of sugar cane, from which the company intends to gradually move towards non-food materials. With a production capacity of 500 tonnes a year, the site’s polymers are then spun by a unit in Japan. Since 2020, the company has been working on the deployment of a future industrial site in Iowa, via a partnership with the ADM agricultural group.