Despite ambitious corporate climate targets, only 15–20% of packaging is globally sustainable. The innovation process itself has become even more wasteful, with nearly 60% of packaging R&D spending goes to products that never reach commercial success.
One.five is taking a data-focused approach to fix this. The company’s AI platform embeds product-market fit directly into packaging development by translating all key success factors into measurable design requirements.
In short, it helps packaging makers design products that are ready for real-world demand from day one.
Today, one.five, has raised €14 million in Series A funding, led by Dr Hans Riegel Holding (shareholder of HARIBO) with participation from 212 NexT, Symbia VC, Btomorrow Ventures, KIMPA Impact, Zubi Capital, and existing backers Speedinvest, Planet A, Green Generation Fund, Climentum Capital, Revent, and WEPA.
This brings total funding to €24.5 million, with the valuation not being disclosed to TFN.
Eliminating wasted R&D and bringing sustainable materials to market
one.five was founded by Martin Weber, former CFO of vertical farming company Infarm, and Claire Hae-Min Gusko, Infarm’s’ former Head of Business Strategy. Their vision aligns directly with the 1.5°C climate goal, leveraging measurable innovation to deliver real environmental impact at an industrial scale.
Hae-Min Gusko tells TFN, “We wanted to solve a big problem. Given our background in the fast-moving consumer space from our time at Infarm, when we looked at this market, no problem seemed larger or more complex than packaging.”
She continues, “We built a packaging development platform that precisely defines the needs of a product (e.g., refrigerated cream cheese), considers brand-level requirements such as sustainability targets, pricing, and supply chain, and translates these into packaging material features. These features are then used to scout and evaluate packaging solutions, selecting only those most likely to meet the product’s and the brand’s needs. Product market fit, without the guesswork.”
At the core of one. five’s’ platform is the Product Market Fit Compass, a tool that helps paper and coating manufacturers benchmark their portfolios against real brand and regulatory requirements. Hae-Min Gusko elaborates, “It does so by mapping product and brand requirements very precisely, predicting the performance of packaging solutions, and isolating the solutions or designs that show the highest likelihood of satisfying product needs.”
Combining AI modelling with live market intelligence, the system helps users cut failed developments, shorten time-to-market, and focus R&D spending on materials that are actually needed.
Unlike Havi, PackIOT, and Sealed Air, one.five achieves true market fit for next-generation materials rather than just manufacturing efficiency.
What about diversity, and what is it like to be a female in tech?
When we asked about diversity, Hae-Min Gusko notes, “50/50 female:male ratio at leadership level. 30/70 split female:male across the entire team.”
On being female in tech, Claire’s advice is to “accept help from people when they offer it. It’s often hard to do because it can feel like there’s a point to prove, a need to show that you can do it all – but this is bullshit. Nobody can do it on their own, and if your co-founder, an investor, a customer, or a colleague offers you their help, there’s absolutely no shame in accepting it. The odds are already stacked against you; it’s not on you to even the odds all on your own.”
What’s next?
The new funding will support one.five’s’ expansion of its AI technology and data foundation, making it easier for companies across the value chain to build products faster and with fewer failed experiments.
Hae-Min Gusko concludes, “Our vision is to become the packaging industry’s universal operating system for product development, so the industry can transform itself in the coming decade. This is urgently needed to ensure the industry can better meet the needs of a changing global supply chain and drastically evolving regulatory environment.”
