A Bay Area biotech startup that's transforming carbon emissions into textiles has raised new funding and teamed up with major fashion brands on a pilot program.
Rubi Laboratories recently announced $8.7 million in new capital from an extended seed round, bringing its total funding to $13.5 million. The fresh round was led by Talis Capital and also included Patagonia's venture arm Tin Shed Ventures as well as H&M Group, Collaborative Fund and Necessary Ventures, according to a press release.
The startup also said it was partnering with several fashion brands as it scales up production of its proprietary cellulose, which it makes from carbon emissions that are captured through manufacturing. Rubi then converts the material into a zero-waste form of rayon called lyocell that can be used in textile manufacturing.
Lyocell is typically produced from various types of wood, ground into a pulp and then chemically processed into cellulose that can be spun into fibers for yarn and fabric, according to the Guardian.
Rubi's initial brand partners are Reformation, GANNI, Nuuly, H&M and Patagonia, the company said.
Previously based in Sausalito, Rubi now operates from a facility in San Leandro.
Twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf founded the company in 2020 to bring more sustainable materials into the fashion industry. They grew up attending fashion shows and hanging out at the Bay Area headquarters of Bebe, a fashion brand founded in 1976 by their uncle, Manny Mashouf.
Neeka and Leila were selected for Bay Area Inno's Under 25 awards in 2022.
They went through UC Berkeley's SkyDeck accelerator in the fall of 2021, and that same year developed a prototype.
"That was one of the key moments where all of a sudden we were able to see, oh my gosh, we just made cellulose from CO2 using our system," Neeka told me last year. "Our technology works and is something that can impact this big problem that we’ve seen in fashion."
