Octarine bio
Octarine bio
Bio-based dye palette that replaces conventional synthetic dyes
Investment vertical
- Biosolutionsabout /verticals/biosolutionsBiosolutions
Stage
- Seed
Website
www.octarinebio.com about https://www.octarinebio.com/The challenge
The textile industry, particularly conventional dyeing, is one of the most polluting industries globally. Its reliance on fossil-based synthetic dyes burdens the planet with high water and energy use, toxic chemical pollutants, and substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Finding vibrant, broad-spectrum colours that are environmentally friendly has long been a barrier, as natural dyes often lack the range, consistency, and scalability that fashion and textile supply chains demand.
The solution
Octarine Bio uses synthetic biology and precision fermentation to produce a bio-based dye palette that replaces conventional synthetic dyes. Their dyes are vibrant, scalable, and compatible with natural and synthetic fabrics, while reducing water use, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and toxicity. With Octarine’s nature-derived dyes, the textile industry can adopt sustainable colour solutions without compromising quality or scale.
Footprint team
Will has international consulting experience from Bain & Company and The Footprint Firm. He has worked extensively with sustainability strategy, decarbonisation & target setting, and sustainability due diligence, ranging from SMEs to multinationals across a variety of industries. Will leads The Footprint Firm’s Biotechnology investment vertical and supports the go-to-market of portfolio companies within it.
Before joining The Footprint Firm, Will worked for 4.5 years at Bain & Company in Copenhagen, where he advised clients on a variety of strategic and operational challenges, primarily in Consumer Goods, Tech, Energy and Industry. At Bain, Will developed a passion helping large corporates navigate their decarbonisation journeys, which he sees as having a huge role to play in climate change mitigation. During this period, he also spent 6 months in Colombia helping to scale local start-ups.
Outside work, Will plays a lot of sport, mainly tennis, hockey and running, as well as being a keen musician. He holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences from UCL, where he majored in Physics and Physical Chemistry and during these studies, he also spent a year at McGill University in Canada.