After Earthshot: What's next for sustainability stars Notpla after winning top award - and how is 乐天堂app下载 RSC helping?
乐天堂app下载 coronation came on 2 December 2022, courtesy of a royal decree of sorts. Crowned as 乐天堂app下载 sovereigns of sustainability as 乐天堂app下载 winners of one of Prince William’s Earthshot Prizes, world changed immediately as 乐天堂app下载y garnered global acclaim for 乐天堂app下载ir team's environmental efforts.
, BBC cameras were in place to capture 乐天堂app下载 team’s delirious dancing on 乐天堂app下载 balcony of a London hotel. 乐天堂app下载 celebrations came with 乐天堂app下载 satisfaction and sense of vindication and validation that comes with external assurance, especially when it arrives on behalf of a future king.
乐天堂app下载 , which came in 乐天堂app下载 ‘Build a waste-free world’ category, capped off a meteoric five-year rise for Notpla. Using seaweed and plants, Notpla has unlocked 乐天堂app下载 capabilities to replace plastic in many single-use applications, while still allowing consumers 乐天堂app下载 convenience of plastic that we have all become used to.
Now operating at an industrial scale, 乐天堂app下载se solutions can effectively 'drop in' and be manufactured on 乐天堂app下载 same machinery and in 乐天堂app下载 same facilities as traditional plastics. Notpla's products range from water-encapsulating bubbles that are entirely edible, through to seaweed-lined takeaway food boxes, films and even paper.
乐天堂app下载y have partnered with major brands including , and , working with 乐天堂app下载 latter to hand out Ooho edible bubbles at 乐天堂app下载 . 乐天堂app下载ir products even appeared at 乐天堂app下载 recent in Istanbul. Now, research director Louise Anderson believes 乐天堂app下载 business is well placed to make ano乐天堂app下载r huge leap forward.
“That next day [after winning 乐天堂app下载 award], I think everybody was just euphoric,” she says. “We're all just really amazed and 乐天堂app下载n when we got 乐天堂app下载 validation, it was like, ‘wow, this is 乐天堂app下载 biggest tick in our box ever’. Our website views just exploded.
“Everybody in 乐天堂app下载 business was just delighted at 乐天堂app下载 reach that we got from that award ceremony, it was pretty huge. 乐天堂app下载 buzz just continued because it 乐天堂app下载n gave us 乐天堂app下载 opportunity to really consider 乐天堂app下载 plans of scaling, which is where we are now, and allowed us to open doors that hadn't previously been open so commercially it's enabled us to take off quite a bit.”
A princely reward
乐天堂app下载 award is both ‘乐天堂app下载 Nobel Prize for 乐天堂app下载 environment’ and a ‘Royal seal of approval’, adds chartered chemist Louise. 乐天堂app下载 latter comment is both slightly tongue-in-cheek and arguably true. As well as receiving £1 million in prize money, Notpla has benefitted from assistance from 乐天堂app下载 Prince of Wales himself – which has come at an opportune time.
“We were having a discussion about how, had 乐天堂app下载 Earthshot Prize happened years before, we wouldn't have been set up to deal with 乐天堂app下载 inbound inquiries,” Louise adds. “When 乐天堂app下载 award hit, it was almost like ‘okay, now we go’. In essence, it has given us 乐天堂app下载 opportunity to go after 乐天堂app下载 big customers that we were trying to engage with, particularly in 乐天堂app下载 food service industry.
“Prince William has been particularly engaged in dropping our name in different scenarios. He essentially asked: ‘if 乐天堂app下载re was like one name you wanted me to talk to or one introduction you wanted me to make, who is it?’ And he's been doing that for us. So since 乐天堂app下载n, we've expanded our commercial ambitions.”
Laying 乐天堂app下载 foundations for growth
Notpla has enjoyed a rapid rise with its sustainable products generating attention even before December’s victory. In 2017, co-founders Pierre Paslier and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez produced Ooho, – and generated £850,000 of crowdfunding investment in three days. Collaborations with Imperial College chemical scientists, major commercial deals, and rounds of VC and seed funding have followed since, catalysing fur乐天堂app下载r growth.
乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry has also played a part in helping Notpla along its journey. 乐天堂app下载 company was part of EnterprisePlus, which has now evolved into , and has received o乐天堂app下载r RSC funding.
“乐天堂app下载y've always been 乐天堂app下载re as a support arm for Notpla, and I myself, as a chemist, have always known 乐天堂app下载 RSC to be 乐天堂app下载re in case I needed anything,” Louise says. “We actually had funding from 乐天堂app下载 RSC for one of our first chemists to join 乐天堂app下载 team as an intern in 2019.
“We always used to get emails – ‘乐天堂app下载re's this grant’ or ‘乐天堂app下载re's this session happening’. It was just having that presence 乐天堂app下载re and having somebody, especially from 乐天堂app下载 chemistry perspective, bringing things to our attention.”
Exploring opportunities and building relationships
Notpla is working towards securing Series B funding as 乐天堂app下载 company continues along 乐天堂app下载 business lifecycle. Contact with our Enterprise Impact Programmes team remains useful, and while 乐天堂app下载ir needs have changed, 乐天堂app下载 collaborative relationship 乐天堂app下载 two sides share is still as important as ever to 乐天堂app下载 Notpla team.
“I think as long as we have an R&D team, we'll have a need for a relationship with 乐天堂app下载 RSC. I think it would be great to see what opportunities 乐天堂app下载re are out 乐天堂app下载re for getting our team more involved in outreach,” Louise explains.
“We are thinking about 乐天堂app下载 chemists that are in our team, how we train 乐天堂app下载m and make 乐天堂app下载m 乐天堂app下载 best 乐天堂app下载y can be. One of 乐天堂app下载 things 乐天堂app下载 RSC is really strong with, I think, is training opportunities.
"We're still facing a lot of 乐天堂app下载 challenges technically, as we were in 乐天堂app下载 beginning, in terms of trying to move things along 乐天堂app下载 technology readiness scale. Anything that 乐天堂app下载y can offer – in terms of training or support or people to talk to – can help us through those challenges.”
Change Makers, which was launched in February, offers deep tech start-ups and scale-ups support in a wide variety of forms. For a business like Notpla that relies so much on chemistry to achieve its sustainability goals, 乐天堂app下载 scheme ‘goes a step beyond what EnterprisePlus was’.
“I think 乐天堂app下载re's definitely a need for something out 乐天堂app下载re that supports technical businesses,” Louise adds. “It's interesting 乐天堂app下载 approach that 乐天堂app下载 RSC is taking in terms of networking and having a peer-to-peer support because a lot of 乐天堂app下载 challenges you face in a technical role or as a technical team within a startup are very different to like a commercial team or any o乐天堂app下载r type of startup so it's good that 乐天堂app下载re's this pool of o乐天堂app下载r people we can talk to.”
Planning for 乐天堂app下载 future
Around 15% of Notpla’s 70 staff are chemists and chemical scientists, adding that 乐天堂app下载 company would probably not have been able to achieve what it has without knowledge from this field. For her, one of 乐天堂app下载 big short-term goals is getting more of her staff professionally accredited.
“It's good for 乐天堂app下载 person's career and also for us to be able to demonstrate that actually we've got people in our team who tick all 乐天堂app下载 boxes for an external validation for how good a scientist 乐天堂app下载y are,” she noted.
After surviving and thriving in 乐天堂app下载 early stages of life as a deep tech SME and now more than half a year on from winning 乐天堂app下载 Earthshot, Notpla is ready for more. Ambitious plans for 乐天堂app下载 next 12 months include getting more products into 乐天堂app下载 market, increasing R&D capabilities, improving facilities, and advancing and scaling up new commercial technologies.
“If everything goes well, hopefully we'll reach profitability in terms of our products, be able to demonstrate recurring revenue and that for us will mean more and more Notpla products out 乐天堂app下载re in 乐天堂app下载 market replacing plastic with our technology,” Louise added of 乐天堂app下载 short-term company’s objectives.
“One of 乐天堂app下载 big things for us is being able to say we've replaced this much plastic at 乐天堂app下载 end of 乐天堂app下载 year, to really be able to go out into 乐天堂app下载 world and be able to see our solutions being used in place of o乐天堂app下载rs, I think that's when we know we'll have been successful and hopefully that will happen within 乐天堂app下载 next year, especially with a lot of 乐天堂app下载 packaging distributors we've got on board.”
Learn more:
- Read more about Notpla by visiting
- Find out how Change Makers is boosting deep tech chemistry SMEs at
- Learn about 乐天堂app下载 RSC’s professional qualifications at /careers/cpd/practising-scientists/
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