Münster, 29.04.2025 – German tech startup eeden, which has developed a groundbreaking textile recycling technology, announces the completion of its €18 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Forbion, a leading venture capital firm based in The Netherlands, through its BioEconomy Fund. Also joining as new investors are Henkel Ventures, the strategic venture capital fund of Henkel, with deep expertise in surface and coating technologies through its consumer and industrial business, and NRW.Venture, the Venture Fund of NRW.BANK, North Rhine-Westphalia´s development bank. All existing investors reinvested in the round, including the venture capital investors TechVision Fund (TVF), High- Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and D11Z. Ventures – the early-stage investment arm of the family office of Dieter Schwarz. The funding will enable eeden to build its demonstration plant in Münster, optimize large-scale processing, and establish commercial projects with key players in the textile industry.
A major step toward circularity
Ongoing challenges including rising costs, scarcity of resources, material volatility, and growing regulatory hurdles continue to strain the textile industry. To remain competitive, brands and manufacturers are increasingly looking for textile materials that combine high performance, scalability, and circularity at price parity. eeden addresses this need with its breakthrough in chemical recycling technology that recovers pure cellulose and PET building blocks (monomers) from cotton-polyester blends. Their products can be used to produce virgin-quality lyocell, viscose, and polyester fibers thereby offering a resource-efficient alternative to conventional fibers and unlocking new circular value chains.
Steffen Gerlach, CEO & Co-Founder of eeden: “Over the past few years, we have developed a proven solution that has the potential to meet the industry’s long-term need for cost -efficient and high – performing circular materials. We are proud that our new and existing investors believe in our approach and share our vision. With their support, we are ready to scale our technology and turn textile waste into materials the industry truly needs.”
With increasing textile waste comes increased regulation. As of January 2025, EU member states are required to implement separate collection systems for used textiles. eeden’s technology provides a pragmatic solution that is capable of processing complex blended materials.
Alex Hoffmann, General Partner at Forbion noted, “eeden has developed a pioneering solution that can make large-scale textile recycling not only technologically feasible, but also commercially viable in the near future. We see tremendous potential in their approach and are excited to support the team as they bring this breakthrough technology to industrial scale. “Björn Lang, Partner TVF, “As an early investor, it’s great to see how the team has turned a vision into a validated process and strong strategic partnerships. The progress they’ve made shows what’s possible when the right people and strong science meet real customer needs. We’re e xcited to keep backing the team as they scale their impact. ”engaging, bitesized training content in workers’ native languages – all without requiring app downloads, passwords, or email addresses.
The new eeden demonstration facility in Münster, Germany follows the successful technology validation of its pilot plant with industrial partners. This €18 million Series A financing will enable the company to optimize large-scale processing and establish commercial projects with key players in the textile industry.
About eeden
eeden is a tech company based in Münster, Germany, pioneering the chemical recycling of cotton-polyester textiles. Founded in 2019, eeden has developed a breakthrough technology that efficiently separates and recovers cellulose and PET monomers, which fiber producers transform into virgin-quality lyocell, viscose, and polyester fibers – enabling the transition toward a fully circular textile industry.
Find out more at eeden.world
About Forbion
Forbion is a leading global venture capital firm with deep expertise in Europe and offices in Naarden, The Netherlands, Munich, Germany and Boston, USA. Forbion invests in innovative biotech companies, managing approximately €5 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-) pharmaceutical drug development. In addition, Forbion leverages its biotech expertise beyond human health to address ‘planetary health’ challenges through its BioEconomy fund strategy, which invests in companies developing sustainable solutions in food, agriculture, materials, and environmental technologies. Forbion’s team consists of over 30 investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with 128 investments across 11 funds. Forbion’s record of sourcing, building and guiding life sciences companies has resulted in many approved breakthrough therapies and valuable exits. Forbion typically selects impactful investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of people and the planet, as well as meet its financial return objectives. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.
About Henkel Ventures
Henkel Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Henkel, following a balanced approach with strategic fit and solid financial return. The venture unit partners with start-ups for co-innovation and invests in early-stage, late seed until B rounds in the areas of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Adhesive Technologies, Sustainability and Digital Commerce. Find out more at Henkel Ventures
About NRW.Venture
NRW.Venture is the venture capital fund of NRW.BANK. In this way, the promotional bank for North Rhine-Westphalia responds to the scarce supply of financing for young, innovative and often technology-oriented companies, which often do not have sufficient access to loans. Their main asset is a new market idea – which is why their chances of success are often difficult to assess. Together with private-sector investors, NRW.Venture invests up to 15 million euros of equity in such start-ups over several financing rounds – typically from the second round onwards – with NRW.BANK taking a minority stake with a term of three to seven years. But the Bank not only provides capital – an experienced team is the key to joint success. NRW.Venture’s investment professionals have many years of venture capital experience, often complemented by technology and start-up experience, and use their expertise and network to ensure that start-ups have the best chances of success.
About TVF
TechVision Fund (TVF) is a leading early-stage VC fund from Aachen, Germany – with a focus on technology start-ups in the pre-seed to Series A phases. TVF focuses on outstanding teams from the Rhineland region, including the neighbouring Netherlands and Belgium. The TVF management has experience from four fund generations and currently has over € 100 million in assets under management. The funds are backed by strong investors such as NRW.BANK, eight savings banks (Sparkassen) from western NRW and more than 15 successful entrepreneurs. The TVF supports start-up teams with proximity, network and expertise and paves the way for them to become the next international industry leader. Through the S-UBG Group network, the TVF offers unique access to over 150 successful companies in various industries and establishes contacts between start-ups and their first customers, partners and consultants.
TVF – Brain | Cash | Proximity
Find out more at www.tvf.vc
About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startupsin the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 770 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.
For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.
About D11Z. Ventures
D11Z. Ventures is a dynamic early-stage investor specializing in digital and AI startups across Germany and Europe. As a single-family-office VC, D11Z. Ventures pursues the vision of shaping the digital future as a leading European investor in AI, IoT, and SaaS. With deep experience, expertise, and agility, D11Z. Ventures drives digital transformation and maintains strong ties to tech-focused SMEs and global market leaders. At its core, the D11Z. Ventures seeks out founders with visionary ideas to sustainably shape the digital future. True to its motto “Shaping Tomorrow, Today,” D11Z. Ventures brings visionary ideas to life today.
Press Contact
Julian Hertrampf
hertrampf@eeden.world
+49 251 2979 3366
