Sapro-Tech, a creator of next generation materials made from mycelium (fungi), has achieved a commercial milestone through its partnerships with four of New Zealand’s leading fashion companies – SABEN, taylor, Velvet Heartbeat, and YY NATION.
Earlier this year, Sapro-Tech launched an innovative customer initiative. Their ‘pioneering partners programme’ aims to form strategic partnerships with leading fashion, interior, and automotive organisations. Through these collaborations, Sapro-Tech and their partners are committed to finding new ways to create products while addressing the impact of the industry on climate change.
"We are delighted to achieve this significant milestone for Sapro-Tech, and also for the planet," said Dr Keith Hudson, founder of Sapro-Tech.
"We started Sapro-Tech as we wanted to show others that you can make a difference, and a key part of us proving this is having customers who want to utilise our materials in their own products. We are inspired by the potential that mycelia has, but to see others such as our founding pioneers showing their interest and commitment is so rewarding. We are looking forward to releasing our second generation of materials to the pioneers this year, and already a key milestone date of late 2025 is fast approaching when our partners will be looking to release products made with Sapro-Tech materials."
Fashion brands taylor, SABEN, Velvet Heartbeat, and YY NATION have joined as the first cohort of partners in the programme. Each organisation is committed to exploring new and more sustainable practices for sourcing and making materials for their products, and ultimately for their customers. They will be working with the Sapro-Tech team to test, validate, trial, and release new products to the market as a result of the partnership.
Vicki Taylor, creative director of taylor, explained that she loves to work with emerging innovators and idea makers. "This project has led me into a world of new learning and understanding, which I can see such a benefit to the future of our planet. To be partnered with something of this calibre is incredibly exciting."
Roanne Jacobson, founder of SABEN, said becoming a pioneer partner is part of their shared and ongoing commitment to innovation and sustainability.
"By collaborating with Sapro-Tech, we are leading the way in exploring alternative materials, such as mycelium textiles, that offer groundbreaking potential to reduce environmental impact," Jacobson said. "Our partnership signifies our dedication to our customers and community to develop and embrace cutting-edge solutions that align with the core SABEN value of care for both people and planet."
"YY Nation and Sapro-Tech values and purpose are strongly aligned," said Jeremy Bank, founder of YY Nation. "We both desire to make a positive difference to our planet by the invention of incredible natural materials for use in the fashion industry at scale, avoiding the use of harmful plastics. We are both at the forefront of innovation and design powered by the wonder of nature."
Founder of Velvet Heartbeat, Suzie Eggleton said it is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside the creation of an incredible new textile, specifically one being developed in New Zealand. "I wanted to be able to lend my experience of working with textiles, leather and plant-based leather alternatives, to help bolster the work to build a premium new textile, and bring more sustainable products to my customers," said Eggleton.
Sapro-Tech is based in New Zealand’s home of deep-tech, Outset Ventures in Parnell, Auckland. Sapro-Tech is an alumni company of the Sprout Accelerator programme and received investment from Sprout and global tech investor Our Crowd in 2023.
Sapro-Tech’s founders and shareholders believe that micro-organisms represent a significant efficiency opportunity for the planet, both now and into the future. The next-gen materials market has received over US$3b of investment over the last 10 years including just under US$0.5b in 2023, when most venture funding markets declined. The industry is projected to grow by a CAGR of 37.4 percent over the next 10 years and is expected to achieve US$2.6b in 2026. Currently, mycelium based materials represent only eight percent of this market. Sapro-Tech has developed a unique growing method which has been established to support scale production of its materials over time for its customers.
Sapro-Tech is currently raising a pre-seed investment round, and will also raise a seed round of investment in 2025 to support the establishment of its pilot plant that will produce mycelium based materials for its customers world-wide.
