What are the fundraising trends in the circular economy?
In our circular economy deck, you will find everything you need to understand the market
SUMMARY
We analyzed publicly disclosed equity rounds raised by pure-play circular economy companies between January 2024 and April 2026, using a $300K minimum disclosed round-size filter and excluding grants, debt, undisclosed-size rounds, and companies where circularity was only a side feature.
The circular economy market has grown materially since 2024. Full-year funding rose from about $573M across 21 deals in 2024 to about $1.11B across 35 deals in 2025, while year-to-date 2026 already reached about $644M across 21 deals.
The freshest 2026 signal is powerful but highly concentrated. Redwood Materials alone raised $425M, representing about 66% of all circular economy capital raised so far in 2026.
Without the largest rounds, the circular economy market looks much less explosive. Excluding rounds above $50M, year-to-date 2026 funding was about $144M, slightly below the comparable 2025 period, which means the headline surge is mostly driven by a few scale winners.
Recycling Platforms are the clear capital center of gravity. They captured about 86% of year-to-date 2026 capital and have consistently over-earned relative to deal count across 2024, 2025, and early 2026.
Circular Design Platforms are gaining momentum by activity rather than dollars. They produced one-third of year-to-date 2026 deals, but less than 8% of capital, which suggests investors are exploring the category while keeping check sizes moderate.
The circular economy market is moving later-stage by dollars. Seed and Series A represented two-thirds of year-to-date 2026 deals, but Series C and Series D+ captured about 78% of capital.
Europe is the formation engine, while North America is the scale-financing engine. Europe produced about 67% of year-to-date 2026 deals, but North America captured nearly 79% of capital from only three deals.
New circular economy startups are still entering the market. First financings represented nearly 29% of year-to-date 2026 deals, although they captured only about 6% of capital.
The main interpretation is that the circular economy market is no longer being funded as a broad sustainability theme. The largest checks are going to companies that can recover strategic materials, secure industrial feedstock, serve procurement demand, and prove they can scale beyond pilots.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, shows the revenue mix across customer segments in the circular economy
Is more or less capital going into the circular economy market?
More capital is going into the circular economy market, but the strongest recent increase is heavily shaped by one exceptionally large round. So far in 2026, circular economy companies raised about $644M across 21 deals, compared with about $150M across 12 deals over the comparable January through April 2025 period.
That means capital is up more than 4x and deal count is up 75%. On the surface, the answer looks simple: the circular economy market has accelerated sharply.
The honest interpretation is more nuanced. Redwood Materials raised $425M in January 2026, and that one financing represented about 66% of all circular economy capital raised so far in 2026. When one company drives two-thirds of the market, the headline number is real, but it is not a clean read on the typical startup.
Excluding rounds above $50M, year-to-date 2026 capital was about $144M, slightly below the roughly $150M raised over the comparable period in 2025. That means the broader funding layer is roughly flat to slightly down, while the top end is much stronger.
The fuller annual comparison still points upward. Full-year 2025 circular economy funding reached about $1.11B across 35 deals, nearly double the 2024 total of about $573M across 21 deals. Even excluding $50M-plus rounds, funding rose from about $204M in 2024 to about $453M in 2025, which confirms that the market grew beyond just a few large deals.
The practical takeaway is that more capital is going into the circular economy market, but it is flowing selectively. The biggest checks are moving toward strategic recycling, critical materials, battery recovery, and industrial platforms rather than spreading evenly across every circular model.
Is circular economy funding driven by more deals or larger rounds?
Circular economy funding is being driven by both more deals and larger headline rounds, but larger rounds explain most of the recent dollar acceleration. So far in 2026, deal count rose to 21 from 12 over the comparable 2025 period, while capital rose to about $644M from about $150M.
Deal count increased by 75%, but capital increased by more than 4x. That gap matters because it means the funding surge cannot be explained by more startups raising alone.
The average round size rose from about $12M in the comparable 2025 period to about $31M so far in 2026. At the same time, the median round size fell from about $15M to about $8M. A rising average and falling median is the classic sign of outlier-led funding.
The concentration metrics say the same thing. The largest round captured about 66% of year-to-date 2026 capital, and the top three rounds captured 80%. In the comparable 2025 period, the largest round captured only about 17%, and the top three captured about 43%.
Full-year 2025 was more balanced. The circular economy market had 35 deals in 2025 versus 21 in 2024, and the median round rose from $13M to $16M. That suggests 2025 was driven by both a broader deal base and somewhat larger typical rounds. Year-to-date 2026 is different: deal activity is healthy, but the dollar story is overwhelmingly driven by the largest rounds.
For deeper benchmarks on circular economy deal sizes, concentration, and round distribution, see the full circular economy market report.
Is circular economy capital moving toward later-stage or earlier-stage companies?
Circular economy capital is moving decisively toward later-stage companies by dollars, even though early-stage companies still dominate deal count. So far in 2026, Seed and Series A rounds accounted for about two-thirds of deals, but only about 17% of capital.
The money is concentrated higher up the maturity curve. Series C and Series D+ represented only two year-to-date 2026 deals, but captured about 78% of capital. That is a very clear scale-financing signal.
The comparable 2025 period was less tilted. From January through April 2025, Seed and Series A captured about 39% of capital, while Series B and later captured about 56%. In 2026 so far, early-stage capital share fell to about 17%, while late-stage capital share rose to nearly 78%.
The full-year comparison confirms that this is not just a 2026 artifact. In 2024, Seed and Series A captured about 62% of circular economy capital. In 2025, Seed and Series A fell to about 16%, while Series B and later rose to about 81%.
The real signal is that the circular economy market is moving from early validation toward scale financing. Investors are still funding new ideas, but they are reserving the largest checks for companies that can plausibly become infrastructure-scale platforms, strategic material suppliers, or industrial operating networks.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, compares the main business model options for refurbished tech sellers
Is the circular economy market maturing or still experimental?
The circular economy market is maturing in where the capital goes, but it remains experimental in how broad the company base is. So far in 2026, follow-on financings represented about 71% of deals and about 94% of capital.
That is a maturity signal because investors are putting serious dollars into companies that have already passed prior validation gates. First financings still represented nearly 29% of deals, but only about 6% of capital, which means new-company formation is alive but modestly funded.
The stage mix reinforces the same reading. In 2024, Series A was the largest capital category, with about 56% of dollars. In 2025, Series D+ and Growth Equity together captured nearly 63% of capital. So far in 2026, Series D+ alone captured about 66% of capital because of Redwood Materials, with Series C adding another 12%.
Still, the circular economy market is not fully mature. A fully mature market would show a deeper bridge of Series B and growth-stage rounds across many companies. Instead, the current market shows a barbell: many rounds below $20M and a few rounds above $50M.
The practical takeaway is that circular economy investors have moved beyond funding circularity as an abstract theme. They are funding companies that can prove feedstock access, industrial demand, buyer quality requirements, facility economics, or strategic supply-chain relevance.
Are new startups still entering the circular economy market?
Yes, new startups are still entering the circular economy market, and the year-to-date 2026 signal is healthier than 2025 on company formation. So far in 2026, first financings represented nearly 29% of deals, compared with about 8% over the comparable 2025 period.
That means the circular economy startup pipeline is not closed. New companies are still appearing across circular design, recycling, repair and refurbishment, and circular enablement.
The caveat is that new startups are not capturing much capital. First financings accounted for only about 6% of year-to-date 2026 capital. That is higher than the comparable 2025 period, but still small compared with follow-on rounds.
Full-year history explains why the 2026 signal should be treated as an improvement rather than a confirmed regime shift. In 2025, only 2 of 35 deals were first financings. In 2024, 4 of 21 deals were first financings. The 2026 rebound is meaningful, but it still covers only the first four active months of the year.
The better interpretation is that new startups are entering the circular economy market at the low-capital end. Investors are willing to fund new wedges, but they are writing modest checks until companies prove technical feasibility, repeatable operations, feedstock access, or buyer demand.
For more context on new circular economy startups and first-financing activity, see the circular economy market deck.
Are more investors entering the circular economy market?
More named investors appear to be participating in the circular economy market, but investor entry is still shallow and not yet specialist-led. So far in 2026, at least 58 disclosed investors participated across 21 deals, compared with about 25 named investors across 12 deals over the comparable 2025 period.
The quality of investor participation has also improved at the top end. Year-to-date 2026 includes Google, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia's NVentures, Capricorn, T. Rowe Price, Canada Growth Fund, HTGF, Acumen, Cambridge Enterprise, Inter IKEA Group, the European Innovation Council Fund, CEFC, European Metal Recycling, and KOMPAS VC.
That list matters because it shows that the circular economy market is not only attracting climate investors. Strategic, institutional, industrial, and public-capital investors are showing up where circularity overlaps with supply security, industrial transformation, and critical materials.
The limitation is repeatability. Most investors appear once, not repeatedly. Full-year 2025 had about 55 disclosed investors, while 2024 had about 75, but disclosure quality varies across rows, so the precise count is less reliable than the direction of tier-1 participation.
The strongest reading is that more high-quality investors are entering selected parts of the circular economy market. The market still lacks a dense specialist-investor core, which means investor interest is expanding but remains episodic and thesis-specific.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, shows annual funding in circular economy startups
Are top investors getting more or less active in circular economy?
Top investors are getting more active in the circular economy market by capital quality, but not yet by repeated deal frequency. So far in 2026, tier-1 investors appeared in several strategically important rounds, including Redwood Materials, Cyclic Materials, Seprify, R3 Robotics, Renewable Metals, Epoch Biodesign, and Renasens.
That is meaningful because the strongest investors are clustering around industrially relevant circularity. They are not spreading evenly across every circular category.
Repeat activity remains thin. So far in 2026, only Extantia and the Cambridge Enterprise institutional family appear in more than one qualifying deal. In 2025, no investor was confidently verified in more than one deal across the disclosed set. In 2024, Bosch Ventures and Closed Loop Partners were the cleanest repeat investors.
This distinction matters. A mature venture category usually has both top investors entering large deals and specialist investors repeatedly building the pipeline. The circular economy market has the first signal more clearly than the second.
The answer is therefore nuanced. Top investors are more active where circular economy companies connect to critical materials, batteries, supply-chain resilience, industrial inputs, and national strategic priorities. They are not yet broadly active across circular design, repair, enablement, or product-service models.
Which circular economy subcategories are gaining momentum?
Recycling Platforms are the strongest momentum subcategory in the circular economy market, especially when recycling is tied to batteries, rare earths, critical minerals, textiles, metals, or advanced sorting. So far in 2026, Recycling Platforms captured about $556M, or 86% of all capital, across 8 deals.
The category was already leading before 2026. Over the comparable 2025 period, Recycling Platforms captured about $106M, or 71% of capital, across 7 deals. In 2026, the category became even more capital-dominant.
Circular Design Platforms are also gaining momentum by deal count, though not yet by capital intensity. So far in 2026, Circular Design Platforms produced 7 deals, or one-third of all deals, compared with no Circular Design Platform deals over the comparable 2025 period.
Remanufacturing Systems improved from a tiny base. Full-year 2025 had only one Remanufacturing Systems deal, raising about $3M. So far in 2026, R3 Robotics raised about $15M of equity for robotic dismantling and circular component recovery.
The fuller comparison shows that Repair Refurbishment Services and Product Service Models gained momentum in 2025, but that momentum softened in early 2026. The freshest signal has shifted back toward recycling, circular design, and industrial material recovery.
For the full category-level view across Recycling Platforms, Circular Design Platforms, Product Service Models, Repair Refurbishment Services, Remanufacturing Systems, and Circular Enablement Services, see the market report covering circular economy subcategories.
Which circular economy subcategories are losing momentum?
Repair Refurbishment Services and Product Service Models are losing momentum in the freshest 2026 period, even though both looked healthier in full-year 2025. So far in 2026, Repair Refurbishment Services had only one deal and less than 1% of total capital.
Product Service Models had two deals and about 2% of year-to-date 2026 capital. That is a sharp retreat from full-year 2025, when Product Service Models captured about 13% of capital, helped by Halter's $100M round.
The decline in Product Service Models should be interpreted carefully because the 2025 category total was inflated by a single large company. Without Halter, the category would have looked much less dominant.
Repair Refurbishment Services also looked stronger in 2025 because refurbed and Upway raised nearly $119M combined. So far in 2026, the only repair/refurbishment deal is Sitegeist Robotics at about $4M. That suggests investors are not abandoning repair, but they are highly selective.
Circular Enablement Services are also losing capital momentum. The category rose from about $5M in 2024 to about $83M in 2025, but so far in 2026 it raised only about $4M across two deals. The market still needs enablement layers, but investors are not treating them as the main value-capture zone right now.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, shows why Back Market is winning in the circular economy
Which regions are gaining momentum in circular economy funding?
North America is gaining the most capital momentum in the circular economy market, but the freshest signal is highly concentrated in two companies. So far in 2026, North America captured about $512M, or nearly 79% of all circular economy capital, across just 3 deals.
The explanation is Redwood Materials and Cyclic Materials. Those two companies alone raised $500M so far in 2026. This is not a broad North American surge across many companies; it is a scale-financing surge for strategic materials platforms.
Europe is gaining momentum in deal formation. So far in 2026, Europe produced 14 of 21 deals, or about 67% of activity, compared with 5 of 12 deals over the comparable 2025 period.
Europe's capital also rose from about $60M in the comparable 2025 period to about $115M so far in 2026. But Europe's capital share fell from 40% to 18% because North America's Redwood-led capital surge was so large.
Latin America also gained visibility from a zero base. BackChannel's $4.75M seed round gave Latin America one year-to-date 2026 deal after no disclosed qualifying deals in 2024 or 2025. That is not enough to call a regional wave, but it does broaden the map.
For ongoing regional tracking across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, see the full market view on circular economy regions.
Which regions are losing momentum in circular economy funding?
Asia-Pacific is losing relative momentum in the circular economy market in the freshest period. Over the comparable January through April 2025 period, Asia-Pacific captured about $22M, or 15% of capital, across 2 deals.
So far in 2026, Asia-Pacific captured about $13M, or only 2% of capital, across 3 deals. Deal count increased slightly, but capital share collapsed because the region's 2026 rounds were small.
The full-year comparison is less negative but still cautious. In 2025, Asia-Pacific captured about $158M, or 14% of full-year capital, across 9 deals. In 2024, Asia-Pacific captured about $78M, also around 14% of capital, across 2 deals.
That means Asia-Pacific broadened in 2025 but did not deepen at the same pace. Its average check size fell from about $39M in 2024 to about $18M in 2025.
The Middle East and Africa have also lost visibility in the disclosed funding record. In 2024, the Middle East had Revibe's $7M round and Africa had Kubik's $1.9M round. In 2025 and year-to-date 2026, neither region appears in the disclosed qualifying equity metrics.
Is circular economy becoming more global or regionally concentrated?
The circular economy market is becoming more global by company formation, but more regionally concentrated by capital. So far in 2026, deals appeared in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
On deal count alone, that looks like a broader market. The circular economy market is no longer visible only in North America and Europe; it now has public qualifying activity across more geographies.
Capital tells the opposite story. So far in 2026, North America captured about 79% of funding from only 14% of deals. Europe captured about 67% of deals but only 18% of capital. Asia-Pacific had about 14% of deals but only 2% of capital.
The full-year comparison also shows concentration around three regions. In 2024, capital was split mainly between North America at 44% and Europe at 41%, with Asia-Pacific at 14%. In 2025, North America rose to 54%, Europe fell to 31%, and Asia-Pacific stayed around 14%.
The practical takeaway is that global circular economy formation is real, but global circular economy scale financing is not yet real. The dots on the map are spreading, while the largest checks remain concentrated in North America and, to a lesser extent, Europe.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, shows how EPR regulations have driven growth in the circular economy over time
Is circular economy capital moving toward proven winners or new opportunities?
Circular economy capital is moving strongly toward proven winners, even though new opportunities are still appearing by deal count. So far in 2026, follow-on rounds captured about 94% of capital, while first financings captured only about 6%.
The stage data says the same thing. Series C and Series D+ represented only 2 of 21 year-to-date 2026 deals, but they captured about 78% of capital. Seed and Series A represented 14 deals, but captured only about 17% of capital.
This does not mean the market is closed to new entrants. It means the financing hierarchy is strict. New circular economy opportunities get funded when they show a credible wedge; proven companies get funded when they can show scale, strategic material relevance, industrial demand, or infrastructure value.
The full-year comparison confirms the shift. In 2024, first financings captured about 21% of capital, helped by Syre's unusually large $100M launch round. In 2025, first financings captured less than 1% of capital. So far in 2026, first financings recovered to about 6%, but the figure remains small.
The honest interpretation is that investors are no longer rewarding circularity as a general narrative. They are rewarding circularity that has already become a scalable business or a strategic input supplier.
The deeper analysis of the circular economy market tracks how first financings, follow-on rounds, and repeat raisers are shifting over time.
Is the circular economy market becoming winner-takes-most?
Yes, the circular economy market is becoming more winner-takes-most in capital allocation, especially in the freshest 2026 period. So far in 2026, the largest deal captured about 66% of total funding, the top three deals captured 80%, and the top ten captured 93%.
The bottom half of deals captured less than 6% of total capital. That is an extremely concentrated funding landscape.
The comparison with the comparable 2025 period is stark. From January through April 2025, the largest deal captured about 17% of capital, the top three captured about 43%, and the bottom half captured about 24%. In 2026, the top end became much more dominant.
The full-year comparison shows that concentration was already a feature of the market, although less extreme. In 2024, the top five deals captured about 64% of capital. In 2025, the top five captured about 59% of capital. Both years had a narrow capital core.
The best interpretation is that the circular economy market has a winner-takes-most capital structure, not necessarily a winner-takes-all company structure. Many companies can raise small and medium rounds, but only a few can absorb hundreds of millions of dollars and define the market narrative.
Is the next wave of circular economy winners becoming visible?
Yes, the next wave of circular economy winners is becoming visible, but the evidence is much stronger for strategic material recovery than for consumer circularity, software enablement, or broad sustainability services. Redwood Materials and Cyclic Materials are already visible as scale winners because they raised $425M and $75M so far in 2026.
Both companies sit at the intersection of circularity, critical materials, industrial supply chains, and geopolitical resilience. That positioning gives them more financing pathways than softer circular models.
Below the obvious winners, the next credible layer includes companies such as R3 Robotics, WeSort.AI, Renewable Metals, Epoch Biodesign, Renasens, Seprify, and Sparxell. These companies cluster around battery recycling, rare earth recovery, AI sorting, textile recycling, circular chemistry, and material substitution.
The year-to-date 2026 deal-count mix supports this view. Recycling Platforms produced 8 deals, and Circular Design Platforms produced 7 deals. Together, they represented about 71% of deals.
The answer should still be cautious. The 2026 market has a missing middle: no deals between $20M and $50M. The next wave is visible, but many companies still need to prove they can graduate from sub-$20M rounds into true scale-up finance.
For more context on potential winners, strategic material recovery, and circular design formation, see the circular economy market deck.
As this chart shows, and as featured in our circular economy deck, search interest in eco-friendly brands has been growing steadily
Is the circular economy funding landscape fragmenting or consolidating?
The circular economy funding landscape is fragmenting by company formation and consolidating by capital. So far in 2026, 21 deals across 6 categories show that founders and investors are exploring many versions of circularity.
That is fragmentation at the activity layer. Recycling platforms, circular design, product-service models, repair and refurbishment, remanufacturing, and circular enablement are all represented in the dataset.
Capital is doing the opposite. Recycling Platforms captured about 86% of year-to-date 2026 capital, and the top three deals captured 80% of all dollars. Circular Design Platforms produced one-third of deals but less than 8% of capital.
The full-year 2025 comparison also shows consolidation around Recycling Platforms, though less extreme. Recycling Platforms captured about 64% of capital in 2025, compared with about 85% in 2024 and 86% so far in 2026.
The right way to describe the circular economy market is asymmetric. Many models are investable enough for small rounds. Far fewer models are convincing enough for large institutional checks.
Where is investor attention shifting in circular economy?
Investor attention in the circular economy market is shifting toward strategic material recovery, critical supply chains, and industrial-scale recycling. The strongest evidence is that Recycling Platforms captured 86% of year-to-date 2026 capital, while Redwood Materials and Cyclic Materials alone captured about $500M.
Investors are not just funding less waste. They are funding companies that turn waste into scarce, valuable, regulation-relevant inputs.
Attention is also shifting toward circular design and bio-based material substitution, but at smaller check sizes. Circular Design Platforms produced 7 deals so far in 2026, up from zero over the comparable 2025 period, including Twogee Biotech, Octarine Bio, CLIMATEX, Sparxell, Seprify, Level Nine, and Shellworks.
Investor attention is moving away from broad enablement and consumer-facing circularity as the main capital story. Circular Enablement Services, Product Service Models, and Repair Refurbishment Services together represented about 24% of deals so far in 2026, but only about 3% of capital.
The strongest interpretation is that investors are prioritizing circular economy companies that can answer three questions: what scarce input is recovered or replaced, who buys it at scale, and what proof exists that the system can operate beyond pilots. Companies with strong answers are gaining attention. Companies that only offer circularity as a sustainability narrative are being pushed into smaller rounds.
All the funding deals in the circular economy market from 2024 to April 2026
The table below lists every disclosed equity round in the supplied circular economy funding dataset from January 2024 to April 2026, covering companies across recycling platforms, circular design, repair and refurbishment, remanufacturing, product-service models, and circular enablement services.
Each row shows the company, the fundraising date, what the company does, its category, the funding stage, the round size, the region, whether it was a first financing or a follow-on, the tier-1 investor if any, and the announcement source. For the broader investability view, see our market deck.
| Company | Date | What they do | Category | Stage | Deal size | Region | First/Follow-on | Tier 1 investor(s) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renewable Metals | Apr 2026 | Lithium-ion battery recycling technology recovering lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $7.8M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | CEFC; European Metal Recycling | CEFC |
| MAECONOMY | Apr 2026 | Financial and data infrastructure for traceable, tradable circular building materials. | Circular Enablement Services | Unknown | $1.6M | Europe | First financing | None disclosed | EU-Startups |
| ECOIL | Apr 2026 | Technology-enabled collection and traceability network for used cooking oil, turning waste oil into biofuel and SAF feedstock. | Circular Enablement Services | Series A | $2.5M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None disclosed | StartupTalky |
| Level Nine | Mar 2026 | Develops catalysts that turn biomass and waste feedstocks into renewable chemicals. | Circular Design Platforms | Seed | $4.4M | Europe | First financing | None disclosed | IBB Ventures |
| Shellworks | Mar 2026 | Makes compostable packaging materials replacing plastic. | Circular Design Platforms | Series A | $15M | Europe | Follow-on | None disclosed | Tech.eu |
| Renasens | Mar 2026 | Uses supercritical CO2 to separate and recover fibres from blended and treated textiles. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $10.9M | Europe | First financing | Extantia; Norrsken Launcher | ArcticStartup |
| Epoch Biodesign | Mar 2026 | Uses AI-designed enzymes to recycle nylon, plastics, and textile waste into reusable monomers. | Recycling Platforms | Unknown | $12M | Europe | Follow-on | Lululemon; KOMPAS VC; Extantia | EU-Startups |
| R3 Robotics | Mar 2026 | Automates dismantling of EV batteries, electric motors, power electronics, and other high-value components to capture critical materials. | Remanufacturing Systems | Series A | $15.3M | Europe | Follow-on | European Innovation Council Fund | Batteries News |
| BackChannel | Mar 2026 | B2B marketplace that redirects surplus apparel and footwear inventory from major brands to small retailers. | Product Service Models | Seed | $4.8M | Latin America | Follow-on | Accion Ventures | Accion |
| WeSort.AI | Mar 2026 | AI-based analysis and sorting systems to recover batteries, e-waste, and critical raw materials from waste streams. | Recycling Platforms | Unknown | $10.9M | Europe | Follow-on | Infinity Recycling | EU-Startups |
| Seprify | Mar 2026 | Develops cellulose-based industrial ingredients as alternatives to titanium dioxide and petrochemical inputs. | Circular Design Platforms | Series A | $14.6M | Europe | Follow-on | Inter IKEA Group; Cambridge Enterprise Ventures | The Next Web |
| Sparxell | Feb 2026 | Makes plant-based, bioinspired colourants for fashion and textiles, replacing synthetic dyes and pigment chemicals. | Circular Design Platforms | Unknown | $5M | Europe | Follow-on | Cambridge Enterprise | EU-Startups |
| CLIMATEX | Feb 2026 | Designs recyclable textile systems and circular fabrics. | Circular Design Platforms | Unknown | $4.1M | Europe | Follow-on | None disclosed | New Market Pitch |
| Sitegeist Robotics | Feb 2026 | Builds robots that repair and refurbish concrete infrastructure instead of replacing it. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Seed | $4.4M | Europe | First financing | None disclosed | New Market Pitch |
| Project Omega | Feb 2026 | Recycles spent nuclear fuel into usable energy materials. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $12M | North America | First financing | None disclosed | Axios |
| UBEES | Feb 2026 | Managed pollination and biodiversity services supporting regenerative agriculture. | Product Service Models | Series A | $8.7M | Europe | Follow-on | None disclosed | Capagro |
| Octarine Bio | Jan 2026 | Develops bio-based natural pigments for applications including textiles and cosmetics. | Circular Design Platforms | Series A | $5.5M | Europe | Follow-on | None disclosed | EU-Startups |
| Twogee Biotech | Jan 2026 | Converts residual biomass streams into sustainable chemical building blocks using enzyme and strain technology. | Circular Design Platforms | Seed | $2.4M | Europe | First financing | HTGF | Tech Funding News |
| Redwood Materials | Jan 2026 | Recycles lithium-ion batteries, recovers critical metals, and repurposes second-life EV batteries into grid-scale energy storage. | Recycling Platforms | Series D+ | $425M | North America | Follow-on | Google; Goldman Sachs; NVentures / Nvidia; Capricorn | Business Insider |
| ScrapUncle | Jan 2026 | On-demand C2B recycling platform for e-waste and recyclables in India. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $2.4M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | Acumen | Economic Times |
| Cyclic Materials | Jan 2026 | Recycles rare earth elements and critical metals from end-of-life products and magnet production waste. | Recycling Platforms | Series C | $75M | North America | Follow-on | T. Rowe Price; Canada Growth Fund | Business Wire |
| SuperCircle | Dec 2025 | Textile take-back, sorting, and waste-management operating system for retailers. | Circular Enablement Services | Series A | $24M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | PR Newswire |
| Kula Bio | Nov 2025 | Microbial nitrogen biofertilizers for regenerative agriculture. | Product Service Models | Series A | $15.5M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | EIN Presswire |
| Sortera Technologies | Nov 2025 | AI sorting of aluminum scrap into higher-value recycled alloys. | Recycling Platforms | Growth Equity | $45M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | Sortera Technologies |
| Upway | Nov 2025 | Professionally refurbished e-bike marketplace and industrial refurbishment network. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Series C | $60M | Europe | Follow-on | A.P. Moller; Galvanize; Sequoia Capital | PR Newswire |
| Redwood Materials | Oct 2025 | Battery recycling and critical battery-materials production from end-of-life batteries. | Recycling Platforms | Series D+ | $350M | North America | Follow-on | Eclipse; NVentures | Redwood Materials |
| refurbed | Oct 2025 | Marketplace for professionally refurbished electronics, household, and sports products. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Growth Equity | $58.5M | Europe | Follow-on | Speedinvest; C4 Ventures | refurbed |
| Uluu | Oct 2025 | Seaweed-based plastic alternatives that are compostable and marine biodegradable. | Circular Design Platforms | Series A | $10.5M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Uluu |
| Lohum | Oct 2025 | Recycles, repurposes, and reuses lithium-ion batteries and battery materials. | Recycling Platforms | Series C | $15M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Entrackr |
| EarthOptics | Oct 2025 | Measures soil and carbon conditions to enable regenerative agriculture programs. | Circular Enablement Services | Series C | $38.1M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | CB Insights |
| Recove | Sep 2025 | B2B marketplace for plastic recyclables in India. | Circular Enablement Services | Seed | $0.6M | Asia-Pacific | First financing | None identified | Economic Times |
| AMSilk | Sep 2025 | Silk-based protein materials designed to be biodegradable alternatives to petrochemical materials. | Circular Design Platforms | Growth Equity | $32.4M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | AMSilk |
| Floreon Technology | Sep 2025 | PLA-based bioplastic compounds with lower carbon footprint. | Circular Design Platforms | Unknown | $2.5M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Sustainability Middle East & Africa |
| Eneris Group | Sep 2025 | Recycling and waste-management infrastructure for cities and industry. | Recycling Platforms | Growth Equity | $88M | Europe | Follow-on | IFC | IFC |
| BioConsortia | Aug 2025 | Microbial inputs that reduce synthetic fertilizer use in regenerative agriculture. | Product Service Models | Unknown | $15M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | BioConsortia |
| Loopworm | Jul 2025 | Upcycles organic waste into insect protein and bio-based ingredients. | Remanufacturing Systems | Seed | $3.3M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Pet Food Processing |
| Novoloop | Jun 2025 | Upcycles polyethylene waste into high-performance thermoplastic polyurethane inputs. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $21M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | Novoloop |
| Impact Recycling | Jun 2025 | Recycles mixed flexible plastics using water-based density separation. | Recycling Platforms | Growth Equity | $4.5M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | UKTN |
| Halter | Jun 2025 | Virtual fencing and digital animal-management platform for regenerative livestock operations. | Product Service Models | Series D+ | $100M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Wedbush |
| Cyclic Materials | Jun 2025 | Recycles rare earth elements and critical metals from end-of-life products. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $27M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | Cyclic Materials |
| DePoly | Jun 2025 | Recycles PET and polyester into virgin-like raw materials. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $23M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Tech.eu |
| eeden | Jun 2025 | Recycles blended textiles, recovering cellulose and PET components. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $19.4M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Tech.eu |
| Hasiru Dala Innovations | May 2025 | Recycling and biogas systems integrating informal waste pickers. | Circular Enablement Services | Unknown | $0.7M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | YourStory |
| Blue Planet Environmental | May 2025 | Waste-to-resource, recycling, and circular waste-management projects across Asia. | Recycling Platforms | Unknown | $6.2M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | DealStreetAsia |
| Glacier | Apr 2025 | AI robotics for sorting recyclables at material recovery facilities. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $16M | North America | Follow-on | Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; NEA | TechCrunch |
| Reusables.com | Apr 2025 | Hardware-enabled SaaS and smart return-bin system for reusable food packaging. | Product Service Models | Seed | $2.6M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | PR Newswire |
| Circ | Mar 2025 | Recycles blended textiles, recovering cotton and polyester for reuse. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $25M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | Business of Fashion |
| Epoch Biodesign | Mar 2025 | Uses enzymes to break down plastics and textiles into reusable molecular building blocks. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $18.3M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | EU-Startups |
| NOWOS | Mar 2025 | Lithium-ion battery repair services, especially for micromobility batteries. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Unknown | $6.5M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Tech Funding News |
| Resynergi | Feb 2025 | Converts mixed plastic waste into pyrolysis oil using microwave-assisted pyrolysis. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $18M | North America | Follow-on | None identified | Waste Dive |
| METYCLE | Feb 2025 | Digital marketplace and quality-certification platform for secondary metals. | Circular Enablement Services | Series A | $15.2M | Europe | Follow-on | 2150; Partech; Project A | EU-Startups |
| ScrapBees | Feb 2025 | Digital recycling logistics for construction, tradespeople, and scrap-metal flows. | Circular Enablement Services | Growth Equity | $4.3M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Faraday Venture Partners |
| VYTAL | Feb 2025 | Reusable food packaging network with RFID/software tracking for restaurants, events, and food service. | Product Service Models | Growth Equity | $15.5M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | EU-Startups |
| MacroCycle | Feb 2025 | Upcycles PET plastic and polyester textile waste into virgin-grade recycled resin. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $6.5M | North America | First financing | Clean Energy Ventures | ESG Today |
| Attero | Jan 2025 | E-waste and lithium-ion battery recycling to recover critical metals. | Recycling Platforms | Unknown | $1.3M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Tracxn |
| Green Li-ion | Jan 2025 | Modular lithium-ion battery recycling and black-mass processing systems. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $20.5M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | None identified | Recycling Today |
| Revibe | Dec 2024 | Guarantee-backed refurbished electronics marketplace for emerging markets. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Series A | $7M | Middle East | Follow-on | ISAI; Kima Ventures | Wamda |
| Excess Materials Exchange | Dec 2024 | B2B platform matching waste and excess materials with reuse and circular applications. | Circular Enablement Services | Series A | $5M | Europe | Follow-on | Wa’ed Ventures / Saudi Aramco corporate venture arm | Entrepreneur Middle East |
| AMP | Dec 2024 | AI-powered sortation and recycling infrastructure for municipal solid waste and recyclables. | Recycling Platforms | Series D+ | $91M | North America | Follow-on | Sequoia Capital; Wellington Management; Congruent Ventures; CalSTRS | Business Wire |
| DEScycle | Nov 2024 | Deep eutectic solvent technology for metal recovery from e-waste. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $13.3M | Europe | Follow-on | Cisco Investments; BGF; Vorwerk Ventures | DEScycle |
| tozero | Nov 2024 | Lithium-ion battery recycling and recycled lithium/material recovery. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $11.7M | Europe | Follow-on | Honda; In-Q-Tel; Global Brain | TechCrunch |
| Molg | Oct 2024 | Robotic circular manufacturing and electronics disassembly for reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. | Remanufacturing Systems | Seed | $5.5M | North America | First financing | Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; ABB Robotics & Automation Ventures; Closed Loop Partners | Closed Loop Partners |
| Cyclic Materials | Sep 2024 | Rare-earth magnet and critical-material recycling from end-of-life products. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $53M | North America | Follow-on | Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund; BMW i Ventures; Energy Impact Partners; Fifth Wall; BDC Capital | Business Wire |
| Notpla | Sep 2024 | Seaweed-based plastic-free packaging materials. | Circular Design Platforms | Series A | $25.5M | Europe | Follow-on | Horizons Ventures; Astanor; UB FIGG | Notpla |
| Fairown | Sep 2024 | Multi-category product subscription platform enabling product-as-a-service commerce. | Product Service Models | Seed | $6.2M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Fairown |
| Aerflo | Aug 2024 | Portable sparkling-water system with reusable carbon capsules and circular refill model. | Product Service Models | Seed | $10M | North America | First financing | Lerer Hippeau; Closed Loop Ventures Group | AlleyWatch |
| The Rounds | Aug 2024 | Household restocking service using reusable packaging and refill logistics. | Product Service Models | Series B | $24M | North America | Follow-on | FJ Labs | TechCrunch |
| Samsara Eco | Jun 2024 | Enzymatic recycling of plastics and textiles into reusable monomers. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $65M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | Temasek; Main Sequence; DCVC; Hitachi Ventures | Samsara Eco |
| Princeton NuEnergy | Jun 2024 | Direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $30M | North America | Follow-on | Samsung Venture Investment Corporation | PR Newswire |
| Syre | May 2024 | Textile-to-textile polyester recycling and gigascale recycled-material production. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $100M | Europe | First financing | TPG Rise Climate; H&M Group; Norrsken VC | Syre |
| cylib | May 2024 | End-to-end lithium-ion battery recycling technology and industrial-scale recycling infrastructure. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $59.8M | Europe | Follow-on | World Fund; Porsche Ventures; Bosch Ventures; Speedinvest | cylib |
| Li Industries | May 2024 | Next-generation direct lithium-ion battery recycling technology. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $36M | North America | Follow-on | Khosla Ventures; Bosch Ventures; LG Technology Ventures; Shell Ventures; Chevron Technology Ventures | PR Newswire |
| Kubik | Apr 2024 | Plastic-waste upcycling into construction materials. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $1.9M | Africa | Follow-on | None identified | TechCrunch |
| Sorted | Apr 2024 | AI/computer-vision and spectroscopy system helping recycling lines identify and recover valuable material. | Recycling Platforms | Seed | $2.1M | Europe | First financing | Antler; Pi Labs | Archipelago Ventures |
| Recykal | Apr 2024 | B2B sustainability and circularity platform for plastic, paper, metal, e-waste, tyres, and batteries. | Recycling Platforms | Series B | $13M | Asia-Pacific | Follow-on | 360 ONE | Outlook Business |
| Getmobil | Feb 2024 | Refurbished electronics marketplace and refurbishment infrastructure in Türkiye. | Repair Refurbishment Services | Series A | $4M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | Tech Funding News |
| Nasekomo | Jan 2024 | Insect bioconversion platform converting organic byproducts into protein and fertilizer loops. | Recycling Platforms | Series A | $8.8M | Europe | Follow-on | None identified | The Recursive |
INSIGHTS
These insights are drawn from the disclosed circular economy equity funding dataset covering full-year 2024, full-year 2025, and year-to-date 2026 through April. They focus on what the funding pattern reveals about market structure, investor conviction, category momentum, and the difference between broad activity and real capital depth.
- The circular economy market's headline growth is real, but the quality of that growth depends on whether Redwood Materials is included. With Redwood included, year-to-date 2026 looks like a breakout. Without $50M-plus rounds, the current period is roughly flat to slightly down versus the comparable 2025 period.
- The best single diagnostic for the circular economy market is the gap between average and median round size. So far in 2026, the average round is about $31M and the median is about $8M, which means the headline market is much stronger than the typical company's funding environment.
- The market has shifted from theme funding to proof funding. In 2024, large Series A rounds could still define the market; by 2025 and 2026, the largest capital pools moved toward later-stage companies with clearer industrial validation.
- Recycling Platforms are not merely the largest category. They are the only category consistently over-earning capital relative to deal count, with a capital-share-to-deal-share ratio of 1.37x in 2024, 1.31x in 2025, and 2.27x so far in 2026.
- Circular Design Platforms have the opposite profile. They are gaining founder and investor attention by deal count, but not yet by check size. One-third of year-to-date 2026 deals sit in circular design, yet the category captured less than 8% of capital.
- The circular economy market rewards companies that turn waste into strategic feedstock more than companies that reduce waste generally. Batteries, rare earths, critical minerals, aluminum, textiles, and industrial inputs receive much stronger capital signals than generic circular enablement.
- The market's stage mix shows a narrowing validation funnel. Seed and Series A deals remain numerous, but the capital step-up increasingly happens only when companies can credibly claim infrastructure-scale relevance.
- First financings are a pipeline-health indicator, not a capital-conviction indicator. So far in 2026, first financings were nearly 29% of deals but only about 6% of capital, which means new-company creation remains alive while serious dollars remain follow-on-biased.
- Full-year 2025 was already a maturity pivot before the 2026 Redwood effect. Late-stage capital rose from about 38% of 2024 funding to about 81% of 2025 funding, so 2026 did not create the shift; it amplified it.
- The circular economy market has a visible missing middle. So far in 2026, there were 19 deals below $20M, no deals between $20M and $50M, and 2 deals above $50M, suggesting companies struggle to bridge from pilot-scale validation to industrial-scale deployment.
- Europe is the market's company-formation engine. It produced 67% of year-to-date 2026 deals but only 18% of capital, which means Europe is generating many circular economy companies without producing proportionate scale financing.
- North America is the market's scale-financing engine. It produced only 14% of year-to-date 2026 deals but captured 79% of capital, almost entirely because of Redwood Materials and Cyclic Materials.
- Asia-Pacific's role is broadening but not deepening in the latest period. The region had more year-to-date 2026 deals than in the comparable 2025 period, but its capital share fell sharply, indicating smaller rounds and weaker scale financing.
- Repair and refurbishment are commercially intuitive but venture-capital selective. Large 2025 rounds for refurbed and Upway show the model can scale, but the weak 2026 signal suggests investors back only the most proven refurbishment networks.
- Circular Enablement Services have recurring strategic usefulness but weak capital intensity. The category generated 17% of 2025 deals but only 7.5% of capital, and so far in 2026 its capital share fell below 1%.
- Investor attention is becoming more strategic and less purely climate-themed. Google, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia, T. Rowe Price, Canada Growth Fund, CEFC, Inter IKEA, and EIC-linked capital are participating where circularity overlaps with supply security, materials resilience, and industrial transformation.
- The lack of repeat top investors is a maturity constraint. The circular economy market has prestigious investors, but few investors appear repeatedly across multiple deals in the same period, which suggests the specialist-investor ecosystem is still thin.
- The strongest circular economy companies increasingly look like industrial suppliers, not sustainability brands. They recover inputs, certify quality, secure feedstock, serve downstream buyers, and fit into procurement systems.
- Battery and critical-material circularity has the strongest evidence hierarchy. The category benefits from regulation, supply-chain security, EV growth, grid-storage demand, and strategic investor relevance, giving it more financing pathways than softer circular models.
- The circular economy market is not one market in practice. It is a collection of different capital markets: strategic recycling can raise infrastructure-scale rounds, circular design can attract exploratory early-stage capital, refurbishment can scale selectively, and enablement often remains a smaller support-layer category.
This chart, featured in our circular economy deck, shows how recommerce marketplace technology has evolved over time
OUR METHODOLOGY TO BUILD THIS TRACKER
We built this circular economy funding tracker by reviewing publicly disclosed equity rounds raised by pure-play circular economy companies between January 2024 and April 2026. A company counts as pure-play when more than 80% of its activity is dedicated to circular economy models such as circular design, product-service systems, repair and refurbishment, remanufacturing, recycling platforms, or circular enablement services.
We applied four filters to build the dataset. First, we only included equity rounds, so grants, debt, structured financings, acquisitions, SPAC transactions, and business combinations are excluded unless the source clearly disclosed a qualifying equity component. Second, we only counted disclosed rounds of $300K or more. Third, we only kept pure-play circular economy companies, excluding generic sustainability, waste-management, materials, or climate companies where circularity was not the core business. Fourth, every entry had to be confirmed by a direct company announcement, press release, tier-1 media report, specialized industry source, or relevant regional publication.
Undisclosed-amount rounds are excluded because including them would distort dollar-based metrics such as total capital raised, average round size, median round size, category share, stage share, regional share, and concentration ratios. Public-only funding datasets necessarily miss confidential rounds, unannounced extensions, and mixed financings where the equity component is not separately disclosed, so the tracker should be read as a source-backed view of disclosed circular economy equity funding rather than a private-database export.
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