Venture capital is fuelling the next wave of textile innovation. Stay up to date with our monthly roundup of notable early-, growth- and late-stage investments shaping the industry’s future.

Textile technology and biotech maintains momentum as we meet the year’s halfway mark. In May’s funding round up, we grapple with quantum dots, structural colour and algorithmic sizing – all innovations which have the potential to revolutionise how we colour, make and design soft products, should they make it to market.

Meet the innovators

• Solena Materials – A UK-based innovator pairing AI-enriched computational protein design with biotech manufacturing processes to create emergent classes of protein fibres.
• Quantum Light – An Oxford University-affiliated startup based in California, US, bringing the principles of quantum confinement to pigment technology.
• Sparxell – A Cambridge University spin-off from the UK who is leveraging the principles of structural colour to offer vibrant, iridescent pigments.
• CLR Wear – A Pennsylvanian (US) startup offering a proprietary, licensable pattern cutting technology and domestic production to create custom-fit clothing for all.

Solena Materials
5 May | Seed | London, UK | Protein fibres
Early May saw a fiscal boost for UK-based startup, Solena Materials, who closed a seed funding round of US$6.7m. The round was led