Stockholm-based Renasens has secured a €10 million seed round led by Extantia, with backing from Course Corrected VC and continued support from Norrsken Launcher. The raise is touted to be the largest hardware seed round in Europe this year.
The funding will power the company’s first industrial pilot plant in Borås, Sweden. It also reflects the growing urgency around one of fashion’s most stubborn problems, such as what to do with the mountains of textile waste that current recycling methods cannot handle.
Solving the problem others couldn’t crack
Europe produces over 12 million tonnes of textile waste annually, yet less than 1% is recycled back into new fibres. The core issue lies in blended fabrics, such as polycotton, treated synthetics, and dyed materials, which dominate real-world waste but resist both chemical and mechanical recycling.
Renasens has built its entire platform to tackle this exact challenge. Its patented system uses supercritical CO₂, a state where carbon dioxide behaves like both a liquid and a gas, to separate and recover fibres without breaking them down. The process works without water, avoids toxic chemicals, and preserves fibre quality. Cotton and polyester emerge intact, ready to be reused directly in manufacturing. No additional processing. No new machinery required for buyers.
This is what sets Renasens apart. It doesn’t just recycle textiles, but also makes them usable again immediately.
Built for scale beyond the lab
Unlike many recycling technologies that remain confined to controlled environments, Renasens has designed its system for industrial deployment from the outset. Its modular setup allows integration into existing factories, avoiding the need for massive, centralised plants.
This flexibility matters in Europe, where textile manufacturing is fragmented across regions. By fitting into current infrastructure, the platform can scale faster and closer to where waste is generated.
The company is already supplying recovered cotton and polyester fibres to manufacturers in Portugal and Italy, proving early commercial viability. The upcoming Borås pilot will take this further, establishing a working model for large-scale operations across the continent.
At its core, Renasens is not just a recycling company. It is building the missing link in Europe’s textile supply chain, one that reconnects waste directly back into production.
A discovery that turned into reality
Renasens was founded in September 2022 by Dr. Jade Abir Bouledjouidja, a chemical engineer whose breakthrough came from an unexpected place. During her PhD research into drug delivery using supercritical fluids, she realised the same principles could solve textile recycling’s toughest barrier.
She moved from France to Sweden to develop the idea and validate the technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. What began as a solo research effort quickly turned into a company. In November 2024, she secured €1 million from Norrsken Launcher. Within 12 months, she built a team of ten engineers and chemists from across Europe and Asia, closed the €10 million seed round, and began executing the Borås pilot plant.
Renasens has also been recognised with the H&M Foundation Global Change Award 2025, further validating its approach.
A timely solution for a regulated future
The company’s rise comes as Europe tightens its stance on textile waste. Since January 2025, all EU countries must offer separate textile collection systems. By June 2027, Extended Producer Responsibility schemes will require brands to pay based on how recyclable their products are.
This regulatory pressure is creating demand for scalable recycling solutions, but until now, the technology has lagged behind. Renasens is stepping into that gap. By enabling fibre recovery at an industrial scale within Europe, it reduces reliance on imported raw materials and supports a closed-loop system for textiles.
If successful, the company will reshape how materials move through Europe’s fashion industry, turning waste into a reliable, local resource.
“Post-consumer textile waste has been written off as unsolvable for many years; not just technically, but structurally. We have cracked the material science behind this, our pilot plant is now scaling, and we are building the infrastructure and partnerships to make recycled fiber economically viable at an industrial scale in Europe, for the first time,” says Dr. Jade Bouledjouidja, Founder & CEO, Renasens.
“Renasens is a piece of strategic European infrastructure. As the EU tightens its grip on textile waste regulation, the brands and manufacturers that need compliant, high-quality and locally-sourced fiber have no viable options. Renasens changes that and what’s more, they do this at a green discount,” says Carlota Ochoa Neven Du Mont, Principal at Extantia. She adds, “Jade is also exceptional; she has delivered in 12 months what others take five years for.”
