OnePlanetCapital Fund Update
As we move into the new financial year here is an update on recent developments at OnePlanetCapital……
We finished the 2021/2022 tax year with 4 investments into EIS qualifying early-stage businesses that really demonstrate the range and the growth potential in the climate change sector we are investing in. Namely GoThrift, Adaptavate, Swytch and &Sisters. This brings the portfolio to 8 companies with these 4 joining Zedify, GoodClub, Earthly & RadPropulsion.
GoThrift is a rapidly growing company that sells used and second-hand clothing as the industry moves away from fast fashion and its environmental impact. With the resale industry growing 11 times faster than traditional retail there is a real opportunity to create a shift in the market towards more sustainable retail practices. A new item of clothing takes 77 gallons of water to produce with 4kg of CO2 emitted. Today we produce 100 billion items of clothing per year, a 100% increase over 15 years. If you buy 2nd hand you reduce this impact by 82%.
At OnePlanet we loved the growth potential of this business, the strong trading momentum, and the management team. It also gave us a chance to be the lead investor for this raise and we anticipate being heavily involved in the development of GoThrift going forward.
Adaptavate produces a range of carbon negative products for the construction industry. In particular, its Breathaboard product is a wallboard made of a bio-composite instead of gypsum, which means the boards soak up carbon during the curing process and ultimately will be carbon negative at scale. The construction products market is set to be worth $109 Billion by 2028 and the industry is rapidly seeking carbon neutral alternatives. In the U.K., plasterboard is responsible for 3.5% of the country’s annual emissions, according to a University of Bath study.
Adaptavate will use funds from this raise to build a pilot production facility in Bristol in 2022 prior to rolling out in 2023-204. The market potential for Adaptavate’s product line is enormous as is the carbon impact as the business scales. The government has just announced a 0% VAT rate on performance building products that can combat emissions which again underlines one of the investment theses behind OnePlanetCapital. Ie the amount of new government regulation which is supporting these businesses.
In March OnePlanetCapital announced a new investment in eco-friendly e-Bike conversion kit company Swytch. Swytch has raised a total of £3.1m.
Operating in a $23.89bn total addressable market, which is expected to grow to $47.68bn by 2026, the e-bike industry continues to transition customers away from motor vehicle and standard bike use and towards a more sustainable and efficient mode of transport. Transport accounts for 30% of global carbon emissions, with 72% coming entirely from road transport.
This is where Swytch comes in - creating a product that is easy to set up and can be used on 99% of bikes world-wide, making the transition from standard bike use to an eBike simple and cost effective. They have been able to save more than 17,000 tonnes of CO2 over the past two years with 500+ car miles avoided annually per customer. Swytch has reached over 700,000 existing waitlist subscribers and 35,000 existing customers, selling 15,700 sales in 2021. It is a good example of a more mature business the fund has invested in to balance risk profile across the portfolio.
Finally, the fund placed an investment into &Sisters in March, an eco-friendly period care company, to support the elimination of single-use plastic in the menstrual health market. Mainstream period products contain up to 90% plastic, while period products remain the 5th most common waste items found on beaches. The average product also takes up to 500 years to biodegrade. & SISTERS raised a total of £900,000 with a £4.5m business valuation. Additional investors include Raising Partners Angel Syndicate alongside a heavily oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign. Operating in a $20 billion market growing at a rate of 5% per annum, &SISTERS has so far saved over 30 million period products from entering landfill. The management team are exceptional and are delivering very strong trading momentum.
Apart from the core business of making investments the OnePlanetCapital team have been very busy in the press of late. Read the latest opinion piece from Matt Jellicoe on sustainable investing and ESG here.
To hear the latest OnePlanetCapital Team podcast with Aaron Knightley here.
The senior management team has also expanded with Anthony Chant joining the fund as investment director
Finally we gear up to the new financial year you may notice that we’ve launched a refresh of our brand. Our new website is live at www.oneplanet.capital and all our marketing materials have been updated. If you would like a copy of our pitch deck, information memorandum or fund teaser then please drop the sales team a line on info@oneplanet.capital