UNCAGED Innovations

Uncaged Innovations closes seed round for leather made from grain

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Investments & Finance

UNCAGED Innovations Raises $5.6M for “World’s First” Sustainable Leather from Grains

New York-based UNCAGED Innovations today announces it has raised an oversubscribed $5.6M Seed investment for its sustainable leather made from grains. The round was co-led by Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Fall Line Capital, with participation from Ponderosa Ventures, Golden Seeds, and existing investor InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover). This investment will be used to bring the product to market, increase production, and expand the team. The latest capital follows the company’s 2023 pre-seed round in which UNCAGED secured $2 million. Director and Head of Sustainability at JLR Rossella Cardone commented at the time, “This is in-line with our strategy on the sustainability and provenance of the materials we use. We must embrace new material possibilities, new processes, and new …

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Stephanie Downs UNCAGED Innovations

Stephanie Downs. Image supplied.

Opinion

Op Ed: Stephanie Downs, CEO and Co-Founder of UNCAGED Innovations, Combatting the Argument that Leather is “Natural”

Stephanie Downs is the CEO and Co-Founder of UNCAGED Innovations, the “world’s first” biomaterial company to create sustainable leather from grains at scale. Combining its proprietary software platform, BioFuze, with biomaterial manufacturing, UNCAGED skips the cow to create an animal-free leather product that mimics the texture and performance of traditional leather. Stephanie herself is a serial entrepreneur, founding her first company –a digital marketing agency– in 1999, which she led to exit in 2014. In 2008, Downs held a pivotal role in PETA, where she consulted on corporate negotiations. It was during this time that her negotiations with Tesla led to Elon Musk’s blanket adoption of alternative animal-free leather in its interiors. After this, Stephanie co-founded Good Dot, India’s largest plant-based meat alternative company, and …

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Biodegradable Vegan Leather Jacket

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Leather Alternatives

UNCAGED Innovations Secures $2M in Pre-Seed Funding to Create Plastic-Free, Luxury Vegan Leather

UNCAGED Innovations, a US biomaterials startup focused on leather alternatives, announced it has raised $2M in pre-seed funding from investors, including InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The funding will be used to launch the company’s “next generation high-performance” vegan leather. Founded in 2020, UNCAGED Innovations is working to offer a sustainable alternative to leather for the consumer goods and automotive industry. Using patent-pending technology, the startup is creating a platform of biomimetic, plastic-free substitutes to replace animal hides that don’t require tanning chemicals. Compared to traditional leather, UNCAGED says its materials can be produced within hours, while animal-based leather can take up to several years.  To support the development of its technology, UNCAGED Innovations has also received a coveted grant …

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