Tallinn-based Woola, a startup that uses waste wool to replace plastic packaging, has raised €2.5M in a fresh round of funding.
The investment was led by Metaplanet, supported by Future Ventures and Lemonade Stand, along with new angel investors.
Metaplanet’s Managing partner Rauno Miljand says, “Beauty often lies in simplicity. Woola is rescuing a natural resource – sheep wool – from ending up in landfills and using it to help retailers, from ecommerce to the top companies in the world of aesthetics, reach their sustainability targets.”
“All of this is done via a product innovation cycle and a quick feedback loop with the customers.”
Capital utilisation
Woola addresses the plastic packaging crisis and the underutilisation of sheep wool by creating protective wool packaging.
According to the startup, annually, 141 million tonnes of plastic packaging are produced, with only 14 per cent recycled. Simultaneously, 200,000 tonnes of coarse sheep wool go unused.
The funding will propel Woola’s mission to provide sustainable packaging alternatives and expand its reach in the market. The company also plans to bolster its sales and marketing teams and is currently hiring.
Replacing plastic packaging
Founded in 2020 by Anna-Liisa Palatu, Jevgeni Širai and Katrin Kabun, Woola addresses packaging challenges with sustainable solutions using sheep wool.
“We founded Woola to help stop the use of fossil fuels. We are replacing protective plastic packaging with sustainable alternatives made of wool that work just as well, but look much better,” says CEO, Anna-Liisa Palatu.
Woola initially aimed to replace bubble wrap in e-commerce. Now, the company has expanded its offering, venturing into the luxury goods market. From Wool Envelopes, a sustainable alternative to bubble wrap mailers, with padding made of waste wool, to Bottle Sleeves.
“Two Houses of the LVMH Group are already using Woola packaging to replace plastic, and we are implementing a circular pilot programme with one of them,” adds Anna-Liisa.
”We are proud to be working with a Group that, with its Maisons, is reinventing the codes of packaging to ultimately ban fossil-based plastics.”