Lugano’s GR3N closes €15.5 million Series B to build the world’s first microwave-assisted PET recycling plant in Spain

GR3N, a Lugano-based CleanTech company specialising in PET/ polyester plastics and fibres recycling, has closed a €15.5 million Series B round to accelerate the construction of MODUS, the world’s first industrial plant based on microwave-assisted depolymerisation technology. 

The round was led by 360 Capital, a Franco-Italian VC firm investing in DeepTech and ClimateTech, with the participation of VP Textile as a new investor. Growth Capital acted as financial advisor to GR3N. The company has also appointed Martin Stephan as its new Chief Executive Officer.

“I am very excited to join this talented team with the goal to bring the Microwave Assisted Depolymerisation technology to the market and make it the Best Available Technology for PET chemical recycling. With this round, and the support of our financial and industrial partners, we accelerate the construction of the First-Of-A-Kind plant operating our technology,” said Martin Stephan, CEO, GR3N.

Founded in 2013, GR3N has developed MADE (Microwave Assisted DEpolymerisation), which it claims is the most efficient microwave depolymerisation technology available for chemical PET recycling.

The company states that PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is one of the most widely used plastics in the world, with a market of 100 million tonnes. It further notes that currently, 98% of recycling relies on mechanical technologies, which can only process transparent and light-blue bottles, just 15% of the total PET available. The remaining 85%, including textile fibres, films and coloured resins, ends up in landfill or is incinerated.

It also highlighted the rise in regulation-led demand for recycled PET, as the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation requires producers to meet a minimum recycled PET content of up to 30% by 2030 and up to 65% by 2040. In tandem, beverage industry brands have announced their own ambitious recycled content targets. GR3N asserts that chemical recycling is the only technology capable of meeting this demand at scale.

GR3N has developed MADE to address this. MADE is its patented technology, capable of processing 100% of PET waste – from both packaging and textile sources – with high yield and reducing CO₂ emissions by up to 80% compared with virgin PET. 

Unlike competing technologies (glycolysis, methanolysis, dissolution), GR3N points out that MADE has no feedstock limitations and produces food-grade monomers that can be recycled infinitely without any loss in performance. The company holds 2 patent families covering the depolymerisation process and 1 patent family on its proprietary equipment (PEQ).

The Swiss startup plans to use this funding to develop MODUS, a first-of-a-kind plant with a capacity of 40,000 tons per year, located in Spain and developed in a strategic partnership with Intecsa Industrial, a company part of the Cobra IS industrial group, which leads the engineering and EPC execution. 

The project has secured a signed €35 million Grant Agreement under the EU Innovation Fund (Large Scale Industrial Projects category), with financial closure expected in Q4-2027 and commercial operation planned for Q2-2030.

Alessandro Zaccaria, Partner, 360 Capital, said, “Textile waste is one of the most urgent, and most unsolved, problems in the sustainability transition. The fashion industry generates over 90 million tons of waste annually, polyester dominates global fibre production, and yet less than 1% of clothing is ever recycled back into clothing. The loop has never been closed because the technology to close it didn’t exist. Until now. 

“What convinced us at 360 Capital is that GR3N has done the hard work. Not just proving the chemistry, but engineering a technology that handles the full complexity of real-world PET waste: blended fabrics, colored textiles, contaminated streams. No feedstock limitations. A clear path to industrial scale. MODUS will be the first proof point that microwave depolymerisation can operate at the tonnages the market actually demands. The regulatory pressure is real. The demand from brands is real. What was missing was a technology capable of meeting both. We believe GR3N is it.” 

GR3N’s team includes six PhDs with expertise in material science, chemistry, aerospace engineering, and economics, backed by industrial shareholders such as Intecsa Industrial, Standex International, and Chevron. 

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