PACT Closes £15m Series A to Industrialise Oval, Its Collagen-Based Alternative to Plastic Textiles

PACT, the Cambridge-based biomaterials company founded by Dr Yudí Ding, has closed a £15 million Series A financing round co-led by Forbion, through its BioEconomy Fund I, and HV Capital, with participation from existing investors. The capital will fund the commissioning of a state-of-the-art pilot production line at PACT's 13,000 square foot Cambridge headquarters, enabling the company to move from laboratory-scale development to roll-to-roll commercial volumes of Oval — its flagship collagen-based biomaterial — while also opening new material solutions across fashion, interiors, footwear and automotive markets.

The fashion and interiors industries face a deepening tension between aesthetic demands and sustainability obligations. Plastic-coated textiles and synthetic leathers remain dominant not because they are preferred, but because natural alternatives have historically struggled to achieve the suppleness, consistency and industrial scalability that luxury brands require. EU regulations are now mandating stricter sustainability standards and greater supply chain traceability, putting pressure on maisons and lifestyle brands to source credible alternatives without compromising the tactile qualities their customers expect.

Oval is PACT's answer to that challenge. The material is produced through a patented process that transforms surplus cosmetic-grade collagen — a natural protein — enriched with herbal extracts and natural oils into a supple, printable, embossable material that can be coloured in any way a brand requires. Because it is designed for roll-to-roll manufacturing, Oval integrates directly into existing textile supply chains as a drop-in replacement rather than a niche capsule material. HV Capital's Maxi Pethö-Schramm noted that this is what distinguishes PACT from most materials innovators — its formulations can slot into the high-volume, revenue-driving SKUs that brands actually depend on, not just limited experimental runs.

Dr Ding trained as a scientist at Cambridge and brings both technical rigour and an acute understanding of what fashion customers demand. Her view is that the hard part of materials innovation is not making something beautiful in a lab — it is scaling it to meet the exacting repeatability standards of global manufacturing. PACT's new pilot line directly addresses that bottleneck, giving the company the capacity to move from validated prototypes to commercial deliveries for the luxury maisons already in its pipeline. Forbion partner Joy Faucher described Oval as having the potential to redefine how global brands source and use materials at scale, not merely at the margins.

With its Series A now closed, PACT is positioned at the intersection of scientific innovation and commercial readiness in a market that is actively looking for credible alternatives to plastic-based materials. The pilot line expansion, combined with backing from two investors with deep European industrial and life-sciences networks, gives the company significant runway to prove out commercial volumes, build supply chain partnerships with established manufacturers, and demonstrate that sustainable materials can meet the uncompromising standards of the world's most demanding brands.

Sources

• Soapbox VC – PACT secures £15m Series A led by Forbion and HV Capital
• Forbion – Forbion Co-Leads $20M Series A in PACT
• Silicon Canals – Cambridge's PACT raises €17.2M
• Startupmag – Cambridge scale-up PACT raises £16m