Shellworks Raises £11M Series A to Scale Vivomer, the Microbial Plastic Alternative That’s Already Cost-Competitive With Glass

March 4, 2026

Shellworks, the London-based biomaterials company, raised $15 million (£11 million) in a Series A funding round in March 2026, led by Paris-based impact investment fund Alter Equity, with participation from Nat Friedman (through NFDG), JamJar Investments (run by the founders of Innocent Drinks), Kibo Invest, Press Reset Ventures, and existing investors Founder Collective, LocalGlobe, and Third Sphere. The funding will expand Shellworks’ global production network, establish regional manufacturing capabilities in the US and EU, and accelerate expansion into the American and European wellness markets. Shellworks was founded in 2019 by CEO Insiya Jafferjee and Chief Product Officer Amir Afshar.

Plastic has a structural problem that is becoming impossible for large consumer brands to ignore. Global plastic production is projected to triple by 2060. Petrochemical plastic takes between 20 and 500 years to break down, is responsible for approximately 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and leaves behind persistent microplastics that contaminate soil, water, and food chains at every stage of its lifecycle — from production to disposal. Recycling rates remain low: most consumer packaging formats are either technically difficult to recycle, economically unviable to collect, or simply too small for recycling infrastructure to process. For brands committed to eliminating plastic from their packaging, the alternatives available until recently have been unappealing: paper and cardboard perform poorly in wet or premium applications, glass and aluminium are heavier and more carbon-intensive to transport, and most “bioplastics” either require industrial composting conditions that consumers cannot access, or take decades to degrade in the same conditions as conventional plastic.

Vivomer is Shellworks’ answer. The material is produced by microbes that ferment second-generation feedstocks — in particular, used cooking oil — through a process analogous to the fermentation used to make beer or cheese. The resulting biopolymer can be processed into rigid or flexible packaging formats, in both matte and glossy finishes, using standard manufacturing equipment including blow moulding. In use, Vivomer behaves like conventional plastic: stable, durable, and suitable for the performance requirements of personal care, cosmetics, and consumer goods packaging. After disposal, it biodegrades completely — certified OK HOME compostable by TÜV Austria, with visible decomposition within 12 weeks and complete breakdown within 52 — leaving no persistent microplastics or toxic residues. The critical commercial milestone Shellworks reached before the Series A was cost parity: despite producing at only around five million units, Vivomer is already priced competitively with aluminium and glass — the conventional alternatives that brands typically move to when eliminating plastic from premium packaging.

The brand partnerships Shellworks has assembled demonstrate that cost parity unlocks real adoption. Wild, the sustainable personal care brand acquired by Unilever, uses Vivomer in products sold at Tesco and is expanding distribution to Target in the US. Sonsie Skin, the beauty brand founded by Pamela Anderson, uses Vivomer packaging. Phil’s personal care products, stocked at Whole Foods Market, recently launched in Vivomer packaging. Hair by Sam McKnight, Wildsmith, and several other premium personal care and beauty brands are also active partners. These are not experimental trials — they are products on major retail shelves in Vivomer packaging today, at competitive price points. Alter Equity’s Félix Mounier described Shellworks as building not just a better material but the infrastructure to make it accessible at scale — the structural change the materials economy needs rather than a niche premium alternative.

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