Circular New Venture Programme
Ireland’s first accelerator dedicated to circular ventures
CIRCULÉIRE’s Circular Venture Programme is the first of its kind in Ireland targeting circular ventures seeking to scale and is delivered in collaboration between Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and Tangent, Trinity’s Idea Workspace.
Our Circular Venture programme is a combination of non-equity funding and mentoring that supports circular entrepreneurs who are demonstrating or enabling circular models to impact Ireland’s consumer behaviour, the economy, and accelerate the national transition to a circular economy.
Through the programme, CIRCULÉIRE helps entrepreneurs to impact Ireland’s consumer behaviour, the economy, and accelerate the national transition to a net-zero carbon circular economy.
Cohort 2023
Arcology System is a revolutionary smart and data-driven interior construction system that offers modularity and adaptability, unlocking circular economy value in the way commercial fitouts are financed, procured, built and managed for REIT’s, developers and end-users.
“We applied to the CIRCULÉIRE 2023 New Venture Programme to leverage manufacturing assistance and tap into specialist expertise across various verticals required by our hardware and platform solutions. Additionally we aim to become investor ready wit the guidance and resources supported by the programme”.
Ériu is reviving the lost legacy of Irish Wool. Ériu yarn is made from the softest Irish wool, hand selected, processed and designed entirely in Ireland. They are proud to be the first Irish knitwear brand whose products are exclusively Irish sourced and made through our ‘Farm to Yarn’ sustainable initiative, and sourced from a trusted network of farmers around Ireland, as well as Eriu’s own farm in Wicklow.
“Our vision is to expand upon our already circular model by setting up the manufacturing and processing on the farm premises through the scouring and Mill set up, in the most sustainable and circular fashion possible, utilising all by products for positive new solutions and engaging regenerative farming practices for the land so it is in harmony with the processing and manufacturing”.
The FACTORY is on a mission to reinvent the traditionally wasteful and plastic-reliant signage industry by utilising wood, cardboard and other more Earth-friendly materials. This vision will be enhanced by using green energy for production, and most importantly, a reimagining of the signage system, so reuse is at its core.
“We believe all businesses must operate in harmony with the environment, so, as in nature, the reuse of materials is vital. The CIRCULÉIRE 2023 New Venture Programme is a trail-blazing initiative that will facilitate The FACTORY to manufacture signage for a circular economy”
Tympany Medical are designing endoscopes at the leading edge of design, electronics, photonics and engineering. We believe in delivering first in class endoscopes to the ENT market and beyond to allow surgeons to maximise visualisation in minimally invasive surgery.
“Tympany Medical is driving a paradigm shift in endoscopic surgical visualisation. This project will deliver the world’s first sustainable, sterile, panoramic endoscope with integrated lens cleaning for Surgical visualisation in ENT procedures. Surgical visualisation through the use of endoscopy is an essential component of minimally invasive surgery but currently creates a large amount of avoidable environmental waste.”
UsedFULLY creates science based solutions for unwanted clothing and textiles. Circulating textile resources, measuring impacts, reducing waste and emissions. Implementing new technologies and circular business models at scale, ensuring the full value of textile resources are maximised to minimise the impacts of what we clothe and protect ourselves with.
“UsedFULLY is excited to be accepted into the CIRCULÉIRE 2023 New Venture Programme. Growing a thriving business through the support and networks of this programme. Rapidly scaling our science based, circular textile solutions in Ireland, Europe and beyond.”
Well Spent Grain are committed to leading the charge in improving climate change as well as reducing the impact of food waste in the supply chain by upcycling brewer’s spent grain (which is underutilized and wasted in the food supply chain), all while contributing to a circular food economy and promoting sustainable snacking lifestyle.
“In the long term, our dream is to become a leading food upcycling company that offers a wide range of value-added food & snack products in Ireland & Europe. We will be acting as a role model and advocator for a circular economy across Ireland & Europe”.
Cohort 2022
Jiminy retails “sustainably-made new” toys that have joined CIRCULÉIRE’s Venture Programme to a line of “proudly pre-loved” toys. In this pre-loved product line, the toys are checked, cleaned, warrantied, and packed in a stylish, branded, gift-able box.
“We’re conscious that re-use is an equally powerful way to make toys sustainable. We know from experiments that there’s a bigger shift in people’s mindsets and behaviour needed to normalise pre-loved toys. We applied to CIRCULÉIRE’s programme for some expert help getting that started” – Sharon Keilthy, Founder and CEO of Jiminy Eco Toys. Check here Sharon’s interview about her business with RTE News.
Electric Avenue are a bike-share provider that is exploring the modularity of their bikes and batteries, which creates the potential to remanufacturer them at the end of each lifecycle. Applying this method, they double the life span of a lithium-ion battery pack and keep bikes on the road and out of landfills for longer.
Refunk is a one-stop eCommerce platform that facilitates the buying, selling and commissioning of pre-loved and upcycled furniture through their marketplace.
Returnr is eliminating single-use food and beverage packaging in cafes and independent retailers through a B2C deposit return scheme for reusable food and beverage packaging.
KnowCarbon are a digital and traceability venture that focuses on providing transparent, actionable data to companies and consumers on carbon. KnowCarbon mission is to accelerate the move to a zerocarbon economy and reduce carbon emissions by 100M tonnes by 2030 (2x the carbon footprint of Ireland).
Cohort 2021
Harley & Marley have launched “Planet Loving Pets” a super-premium range of fish-based pet treats made from sustainable and nutritious ingredients in Ireland. The company’s range is made by Origin Green Gold Members Atlantis Seafood of Kilmore Quay, Wexford and the first range features four products. Their treats are made of locally caught fish, under Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM)’s Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP), meaning it is all sustainably fished and traceable.
IFF Plastics turns waste plastic (farm, industrial and ocean plastic) into
top quality fence posts using a closed loop recycling service. Their goal is to increase recycling volumes by 150 tonnes annually. They partner with farmers, business, and customers to deliver a circular plastics business model.
Niskus Biotec Ltd.
Niskus Bioetc is focused on the provision of innovative products and services to the agri-food and biotech sectors in fungal large-scale solid-state fermentation. The company works with customers to select the most suitable fungal strains for their process and growing media and to develop and scale-up new fungal derived high-value products such as proteins, enzymes, and intermediates.
Sensi is a cleantech company that has developed the world’s first Smart RVM (Reverse Vending Machine) using Visual Artificial Intelligence. Their products incorporate advanced visual recognition technology and digital rewards, enabling deposit return schemes (private and regulated) for several recyclable materials and reusable products, in each case ensuring collection of a virtually uncontaminated stream of material.
Verifact are a cloud-based sustainability platform that enables supply chain information to be captured and stored securely. This data is then used to validate the supply chain claims including circular economy related claims. The story of the product can be brought to consumer level through the use of on-pack QR Codes.
Cohort 2020
Previously Ashleigh Environmental, Biowave Technologies have developed a novel solution to transform and derive value from underused anaerobic digestion feedstock materials.
Avoca Seafood
Avoca Seafood Ltd. The venture is are improving salmon farming practices through industrial symbiosis.
DACS has developed a battery management system to extend the useful lifespan of lithium battery packs. This unit costs 8-12% of the basic array but doubles lifespan and prevents capacity loss. Proven effective via field trials and customer testing of finished systems – now looking to expand and begin to offer B2B, B2C and St-A-A-S products and components to a range of customers.
DACS (Digital Array Control Systems Ltd)
I Am Not A Virgin – IANAV
A high-quality clothing and shoe company, specializing in 100% recycled or biodegradable a high-quality clothing and shoe company, developing 3D printed footwear from secondary raw materials.
The world’s first cloud based technology platform designed explicitly around the logistical requirements of the Circular Economy. The ZeroNet app has now launched in Brighton & Hove in partnership with Tech-Takeback, to provide the RevaluElectricals service. Available in over 120,000 homes, the service is designed to radically streamline the domestic recovery of unwanted small electrical and electronic devices.
“The programme was extremely helpful to us in terms of the very professional content that helped us in many aspects of the business, especially strategic and corporate selling. It also helped us to refine our key messages and our sales pitch. CIRCULÉIRE has helped put the ZeroNet on the map and additionally connected us with many key circular stakeholders including the local authority waste prevention network (LAPN) in Ireland and many others” – Paul McSweeney, CEO of The ZeroNet.
