Epic Angels, a 750-member network of female angel investors, closed its first deal in Mexico: a pre-seed investment in BioPlaster Research, a Yucatán-based startup that turns sargassum, the brown seaweed piling up on Caribbean coastlines, into biodegradable packaging materials.
Bioplaster has secured letters of intent from IKEA suppliers, Great Packaging, Refurbi and other buyers eager for biodegradable packaging, such as bio-based alternatives to styrofoam “peanuts” and plastic film. “We intend to revolutionize the plastics industry,” BioPlaster’s Andrea Bonilla told ImpactAlpha last year.
The company sources 100,000 pounds of the brown algae each year through through The Seas We Love, a Mexican nonprofit that removes Sargassum from beaches around Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.
Bonilla, the founder of BioPlaster who got her PhD in physics at the University of Oxford, traces the idea for the company to a moment on the beach.
“I went to the beach once and there was this horrible algae on the beach. It was like, okay, maybe we can extract alginates and make bioplastics out of it,” she told ImpactAlpha. “I love science. I love the lab.”
Untapped market
Epic Angels launched four years ago in Singapore after founder Maaike Doyer noticed the absence of women in the region’s angel investor landscape. Many wealthy women kept their savings in low-yield bank accounts while their male peers participated in venture deals..
“There’s this untapped capital that is currently just sitting in a bank account, doing absolutely nothing,” she told ImpactAlpha. That idle cash, she says, “is what I’m really excited about to bring into the markets.”
The group looks for strong early-stage businesses tackling global challenges, from fintech solutions to circular-economy solutions.It has grown to nearly 1,000 members globally and has begun expanding across Latin America, following Doyer’s move to the region. Notable portfolio companies include Singapore-based She Loves Data, a women-focused upskilling and data literacy platform, and Komunal, a fintech that digitizes rural banks in Indonesia.
The BioPlaster financing also included Zenani Capital, GridX, Amplifica Capital and Zero by Fifty. BioPlaster will use its first outside capital to fund a new facility, expand commercial production efforts and conduct further research and development.
BioPlaster is also the first investment in Latin America for Zenani Capital, a first-time impact fund based in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Hans-Christian Lauer, who manages the firm, left a career in options trading to build a data-driven model identifying the strongest markets for early-stage venture investing. Latin America ranked highest.
“The level of adaptability and tenacity that founders have in the region is bar none,” Lauer said.
