Ambercycle

The global fashion industry has historically faced an issue with synthetic textile waste. Polyester fiber is among one of the most commonly used materials, and is particularly difficult to recycle, contributing heavily to environmental harm. Shay Sethi and Moby Ahmed realized the potential for circularity with polyester, and are challenging the industry to realize the value of their waste, by developing a molecular regeneration technology that takes used polyester and creates a regenerated material called “Cycora”. With this technology, polyester is recycled at a molecular level into what they refer to as virgin-grade material but without the environmental harm of petroleum-based production.

Cycora is Ambercycle’s flagship product, developed to meet the quality expectations of many brands, while minimizing carbon intensity. It can be used in virtually any garment category including activewear, casualwear and outerwear therefore, allowing brands to easily transition into recycled material while retaining performance and aesthetics. The firm’s mission is to move the entire industry closer to complete levels of circularity, where at the end of use, garments aren't simply sent to a landfill...they're broken down and reincorporated into the fashion supply chain over and over, keeping textile waste from entering landfills and oceans.

Ambercycle has achieved several key milestones and ongoing partnerships. In 2023, it signed a four-year offtake agreement with Danish fashion label GANNI for the brand to substitute 20% of its polyester usage with Cycora and indicated interest in using itin a number of other products. Inditex, the parent company of Zara, also signed a multi-year supply agreement for the product valued at approximately €70-74 million. The agreements constitute strong market confidence in the product’s potential and the overall corporate vision laid out by Ambercycle. In addition to Europe, the firm also entered into Asia through partnerships with leading manufacturing partners Shinkong Synthetic Fibers in [Taiwan], Shenghong and Benma in [China], Hyosung in [South Korea], and MAS Holdings in [Sri Lanka]. These relationships are enabling the company to scale Cycora production within the existing global textile supply chains.

Ambercycle’s arrangement of pricing and revenue model is fundamentally based on long-term offtake agreements with fashion brands and, to manufacturers, licensing its proprietary recycling technology. The firm’s Cycora will be sold at competitive prices to virgin polyester to incentivize brands who want to have an environmental impact. Furthermore, as production ramps, the products’ costs will decline on their firsthand cost and margin value. This will add to the profitability and bring down production costs. The company has revenue from sales of Cycora and revenue from licensing it to manufacturers, which will allow credible cash flow and sustainable earnings structure. This business model allows Ambercycle not only to achieve its own bottom line, but also allow its partner brands to meet their sustainability impact goals without increasing their production costs. As of 2024, the company has an estimated annual revenue of $3.5 to $3.8 million. The company has gross margins reported around 35%, meaningful top line revenue but also is generating operating profits of $1.2 million or so. Depending on improvements in manufacturing processes, the company has reduced its overall production cost base year-over-year by more than 20% overall reduction to production cost and margin. This has allowed for significant progress toward profitability and preparation for commercial scale-up. Ambercycle has raised approximately $38 million in funding, although some reports state it at over $101 million. In January 2022, the firm raised a $21.6 million Series A round led by H&M Co:Lab and participated by KIRKBI, Bestseller, and Zalando. Other funding includes a Drive Catalyst investment of $5 million in 2023 and a Shinkong Synthetic Fibers debt investment of $10 million in 2024. With these funds, Ambercycle built pilot-scale operations and is now working on its first commercial scale plant, with plans to open by 2026. It's approximate estimated valuation as of 2024 is about $10 million.  

Starting as a research-based startup out of the University of California, Davis, Ambercycle has grown into a global organization of approximately 45 employees distributed across the most important areas of the world: United States, United Kingdom, India, Singapore, Spain, and Australia. The company’s headquarters and pilot operations are in Los Angeles, where Cycora was first produced at industrial scale in early 2022. With this milestone achievement, and the growing demand from international fashion brands, Ambercycle is well-positioned to be a major player in sustainable textile innovation.

The firm works in a competitive but fast growing sector. Its main competition are Circ (formerly Tyton Bio) who recycles cellulose fibers, as well as companies like Renewcell, Evrnu, Infinited Fiber Company, and Worn Again. Of these companies, Circ and Syre have gained recent appeal, with Syre planning a large polyester recycling plant in North Carolina backed by H&M and Vargas Holding. However, most of its competitors focus on cellulose or cotton sources. The company has differentiated itself with the specialization of synthetic materials, primarily polyester, and this position gave it a competitive advantage. Ambercycle is currently the fifth most profitable company out of the ten overall competitors within the industry. The size of its team and readiness of its technology provides sufficient characteristics to dominate this emerging market. What also differentiates the firm is its combination of advanced chemical recycling and commercializing with a reasonable path to market style. A strong pricing strategy allows Cycora to stay competitive to virgin polyester pricing, as long as it scales up production. Ambercycle has maintained reasonable costs and is working with long term supply agreements, which guarantees predictable revenue to support profitability and growth.

With a global footprint, a proprietary recycling process, partnerships with major fashion brands, and investor enthusiasm, Ambercycle is raising the bar in textile sustainability. No longer merely an ambitious startup, the firm is a revenue-generating, profit-making innovator on the brink of changing the production and reuse of synthetic textiles. As Cycora continues to replace virgin polyester in closets in every corner of the world, Ambercycle is active in building a future in which circularity is not an emerging trend—but the standard.

Click here to access Ambercycle's website.