Rubi Laboratories Raises USD 4.5 million Empowering its Mission to Deliver Planet-Positive Textiles to the Fashion Industry

On a brilliant mission to build the world’s most sustainable supply chains for people and planet, Rubi Laboratories, a pioneer in carbon-negative cellulosic fabrics, has raised USD 4.5 million in early investment recently. 

Fashion first & other sectors to follow

Rubi is developing a carbon-neutral, zero-water, zero-land replacement to the $15 billion viscose sector, which is now based on wood pulp. Around 35% of the SKUs of leading fashion labels are made of viscose, a figure that is expected to expand at an annual rate of 8% through 2025. Viscose is the world's third most widely used textile, having significant use outside of fashion in the automobile sector for goods such as tyres. While Rubi's first emphasis will be on the fashion industry, the company's longer-term goals include expanding into other sectors such as food, packaging, and construction materials.

About the funding

Talis Capital and Necessary Ventures led the round, which also included contributions from Climactic, Collaborative Fund, Plug and Play, Incite Ventures, Darco Capital, Cayuse Partners, Axial Ventures, Climate Capital Collective, and CapitalX. Among the angel investors are James Reinhart, CEO and creator of thredUP; Manny Mashouf, CEO and founder of Bebe Stores; Nicolaj Reffstrup, founder of GANNI; Alexander Lorestanti, CEO and co-founder of Geltor; and Rei Wang, co-founder of The Grand and previous CEO of Dorm Room Fund. Additionally, a USD 250,000 award from the National Science Foundation is included in the round. Rubi will use the funds to expand its R&D and commercialization efforts in order to address the textile demands of big fashion companies.

The startup secured capital at a crucial time for the garment industry, as big companies set lofty ambitions for carbon neutrality or reduction by 2030. The fashion sector as a whole is the third largest CO2-emitting supply chain in the world, with the textile supply chain accounting for the bulk of emissions. 

Focus on carbon-neutral materials

Rubi's technology allows its fabrics to be carbon-neutral on a per-kilogram basis. Fashion firms under enormous commercial pressure to become more sustainable: at least 60% of fashion buyers seek sustainable options, implying that the sector may lose $52 billion in profit by 2030 if no action is done. The primary challenge for these firms is getting carbon-neutral materials that can be scaled up to satisfy production requirements and remain competitive in price: 200 large fashion shops currently pay a premium for organic cotton.

The founders' vision for a zero-carbon fashion sector was shaped by their combined expertise in technology and fashion. Neeka, the CEO, submitted her first article on artificial photosynthesis at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory when she was 15 years old, obtained dual degrees in Materials Engineering and Business at UC Berkeley, and then worked in product management at Lyft and Autodesk before launching Rubi.

A Brief History of Rubi Laboratories

Rubi Laboratories, founded in 2020 by twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf, is pioneering the development of carbon negative cellulosic textiles using a patent-pending, cell-free biocatalytic method that begins with viscose. Rubi does this by capturing CO2 from manufacturing facility waste streams using a patented enzyme system capable of capturing and converting CO2 from any gas input at any concentration. The CO2 is subsequently transformed to cellulose, which may be utilised to manufacture viscose yarn. Rubi is able to convert 100 percent of CO2 input into the final product with no waste by using enzymes as the catalyst.

Neeka and Leila Mashouf grew up in the fashion business as part of the Bebe Stores worldwide family fashion brand. Neeka and Leila then pursued careers as materials and biological scientists, eventually collaborating to reimagine fashion supply chains via the use of a patented biomanufacturing technology that is intrinsically planet-friendly. Rubi embodies hard science, fashion, climate justice, and Generation Z's stewardship of our planet's future.

Rubi uses synthetic biology to create carbon-negative fabrics for the fashion sector. Founded in 2020, the firm produces the same high-quality natural textiles used in industry today solely from carbon emissions, bypassing conventional agriculture and manufacturing to generate a carbon-negative, water- and land-neutral, and naturally biodegradable product.