Estonian startup Woola, which makes packaging from wool, has raised €2.5 million to work on creating protective packaging to replace plastic.
According to the company, 141 million tonnes of plastic packaging is produced every year, of which only about 14% is collected for recycling, and an even smaller fraction is actually recycled.
“At the same time, up to 90% of sheep’s wool is burned or buried in countries across Europe – that’s 200,000 tonnes of wool that goes unused in Europe every year because it’s too coarse for the textile industry. Estonian company Woola is tackling both problems at once by creating protective wool packaging to replace plastic,” the company said.
The startup announced a €2.5m funding round on 13 December, led by Metaplanet and followed by Future Ventures and Lemonade Stand, both investors in Woola since 2021, as well as new angel investors.
Expanding into the luxury goods market
“We founded Woola to help end the use of fossil fuels. We replace protective plastic packaging with sustainable alternatives made from wool that work just as well, but look much better,” Anna-Liisa Palatu, the CEO and co-founder of Woola, said in a statement.
Since its launch in 2020, the company has focused on replacing bubble wrap in e-commerce. It is now expanding its offering to the luxury goods market. In June, the company won a LVMH’s innovation award.
Woola will use the new funds to grow its sales and marketing team, and expand its product offering for the luxury and ecommerce markets.
Metaplanet is the investment fund of Jaan Tallinn, one of the four founding engineers of Skype. The fund invests in innovations with the potential to generate outsized returns for the benefit of humanity.
