A French startup has raised $30 million to tackle one of fashion’s hardest waste problems. Syntetica recycles nylon, and it can process two grades at once that the industry has long struggled to pull apart, its founder told TechCrunch.
The Ecotechnologies 2 fund, managed by France’s public bank Bpifrance, led the round, worth €26.1 million. Lululemon joined it. So did apparel manufacturer MAS Holdings, EQT Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners, and the family offices behind Peugeot, Etam and Indorama Ventures. The European Innovation Council added equity and grants.
What Syntetica does
Brands prize nylon for its strength. That strength also makes the material hard to reuse. Syntetica targets two grades, Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6. Recyclers cannot easily separate them once they mix in textile waste.
Its low-temperature chemistry recycles both at once. Bertone described the process to TechCrunch as “like a sniper; it attacks the nylon and leaves everything else behind.” In blended leggings, the stretchy elastane survives, and Syntetica can reuse it.
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The output is not fabric. Syntetica makes pellets, which others turn into yarn. The company says the result matches virgin nylon in quality.
Why it matters
Recycled nylon is still about 2% of the global market, the company said, citing Textile Exchange figures. Most discarded textiles end up in incinerators or landfill. Recent swings in oil prices have also pushed up the cost of new, petrol-based nylon.
Bertone said that volatility was “a wake-up call to many brands.” He argues there is no green premium to pay. “If you want to scale real solutions for a sustainable world, it needs to be cost competitive, highly scalable, and you need to build partnerships from the very start,” he told TechCrunch.
A factory with Michelin
The money will fund a first commercial demonstration plant. Syntetica is building it with Michelin, at the tyremaker’s Centre for Sustainable Materials in Clermont-Ferrand. Bertone expects it running within 18 months, producing hundreds of tonnes a year.
Lululemon worked with Syntetica for about two years before investing, Tech Funding News reported. The brand has backed other recyclers before, including Samsara Eco and Epoch Biodesign.
The raise fits a wider European push. Backers such as Bpifrance and the EIC see startups like Syntetica as a way to build local industry and cut reliance on fossil fuels. It joins a run of European deep-tech funding in materials science, from London energy AI to new deep-tech funds.
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