Bioplastic Manufacturing Company PlantSwitch Completes Early Growth Funding Round

The investment firm NexPoint announced its investment of nearly $2 million in the early growth funding round of PlantSwitch, a bioplastics manufacturing company with a carbon negative production process that recycles agricultural waste to produce biodegradable and compostable resins for single-use products. The investment is part of a total $7.7 million raise in this early fundraising round, to which other institutional investors, along with NexPoint, subscribed.

PlantSwitch has stated its mission is “to replace all petroleum-based, single-use plastic with plants” by manufacturing and distributing its compostable bioplastic resin. PlantSwitch's manufacturing process utilizes agricultural waste products such as rice husks, wheat straw and other cellulose-rich byproducts in combination with a polymer to make sustainable bioplastics while upcycling agricultural waste.

In addition to being carbon negative, PlantSwitch says its bioplastics are cheaper to produce and more compostable than other bioplastics. PlantSwitch, which was founded in 2020, has also recently closed on a 52,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sanford, North Carolina, which will increase its production capacity.

NexPoint's investment, and this round generally, will help PlantSwitch scale its production capacity, increase its marketing capabilities and deliver products to existing and future customers.

PlantSwitch recently entered framework contracts with several restaurant and grocery store chains which it will begin supplying as early as next month. As PlantSwitch scales, its founders expect to increase its full-time workforce to more than 50 employees by the end of 2024, and anticipate needing additional manufacturing space in the next few years.

“Some studies forecast bioplastic demand increasing from 4.9 billion pounds in 2022 to almost 13.9 billion pounds in 2027,” says Dillon Baxter, co-founder and CEO at PlantSwitch. "With that kind of demand increase, PlantSwitch's biggest priority is sustainable growth. We are confident that our product, our supporters like NexPoint, and our distinguished board can help PlantSwitch scale in a deliberate way that allows us to take advantage of demand conditions.”

Reports from the Nova Institute in Germany corroborate the trend, continuing to forecast growth for bioplastic production.