Ponda

Ponda is a Bristol-based biomaterials company developing regenerative, plant-based insulation from wetland crops grown on rewetted peatlands. Founded in 2020 by a team from the Innovation Design Engineering double Master's programme at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, the company has built an end-to-end supply chain that links the restoration of degraded wetlands with the production of BioPuff — its flagship insulation material made from Typha (bulrush), a fast-growing wetland crop cultivated through paludiculture.

The textiles industry faces a deep sustainability problem with its dominant insulation materials. Synthetic polyester insulation generates microplastic pollution throughout its lifecycle; goose and duck down raises animal welfare concerns and has an opaque supply chain. Neither material contributes positively to the landscapes that supply it. Meanwhile, degraded peatlands around the world emit approximately two gigatonnes of CO₂ annually, making them a significant and largely unaddressed carbon source. Ponda's insight was that these two problems share a solution: by rewetting degraded peatlands and cultivating Typha on them, it is possible to convert a carbon source into a carbon sink while producing a commercially viable insulation fibre as the output.

BioPuff achieves comparable thermal performance to goose down, is naturally hydrophobic, costs less, and is fully biodegradable. It is manufactured at Ponda's Bristol facility and integrates into standard textile production processes. The company estimates that cultivating Typha on rewetted peatlands avoids up to 30 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per hectare per year. Ponda has established brand partnerships with Berghaus, Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans, and Sheep Inc, and harvested 12 tonnes of material in 2025 — up from 3.5 tonnes in 2022.

The company raised $2.4 million in seed funding in November 2025, in an oversubscribed round co-led by Faber and Counteract, with participation from PDS Ventures, Evenlode Impact, and the Royal College of Art. Total financing stands at approximately $6.5 million, combining venture capital with non-dilutive support from Innovate UK and recognition via the H&M Foundation's Global Change Award and King Charles III's Terra Carta Design Lab. The funding is being used to scale production, expand the European wetland farming network, and support commercial BioPuff launches for Autumn/Winter 2026 collections.