Circular economy

Circular economy

Our current linear ‘take-make-waste’ system use 60% more resources than the earth can generate every year. We invest in solutions that enable reuse, upcycling and recycling of waste streams to enable a circular economy.

We invest in solutions that enable reuse, upcycling and recycling of waste streams

Our linear “take-make-waste” economy is exhausting the planet’s resources. Circularity is essential to decoupling growth from extraction.

Our investment thesis

We invest in technologies that close material loops in the most resource-intensive value chains, focusing on advanced recycling, recovery of high-value materials, and circular resource inputs.

What we are looking for
  • Advanced recycling of hard-to-handle waste streams
  • Circular materials that replace virgin resources
  • Scalable technologies with strong unit economics and feedstock security

Our investment within circular economy

We have backed founders building solutions within reusable products, upcycling and converting non-recyclable plastic fractions to a liquid chemical.

“Circularity only works if it scales – we invest where circular solutions can truly replace linear ones.”

Explore all our investment verticals

  • Our current linear ‘take-make-waste’ system use 60% more resources than the earth can generate every year. We invest in solutions that enable reuse, upcycling and recycling of waste streams to enable a circular economy.

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Frederik Søgaard Sørensen

Come venture with us

Pitch usabout mailto:pitch@thefootprintfirm.com

Pitch us

Have a venture where impact and growth scale together? We invest early and work side-by-side powered by the whole Footprint Firm team.

Pitch us about mailto:pitch@thefootprintfirm.com
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SemperCycle

Enabling a circular, low-carbon economy for unrecyclable plastics

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The challenge

As of 2018, globally over 260 million tons of plastic waste are generated each year, yet only around 12% is recycled into new products. The majority of plastic that cannot be recycled economically or technically often ends up incinerated, contributing to additional carbon dioxide emissions. Current recycling solutions fail to capture these hard-to-recycle plastics, leaving a significant gap in the circular economy.

The solution

SemperCycle transforms non-recyclable plastic waste fractions into a liquid chemical feedstock that can be used to produce new plastics. By converting plastic that would otherwise be incinerated, their technology diverts waste, closes the loop, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, enabling a truly low-carbon, circular economy for plastics.