How chemical startup Interface Polymers powered its Series A fundraising using Ideals

Imagine a world where plastic waste is no longer a global crisis, but rather a valuable resource. That’s the vision of Interface Polymers Ltd, a company founded in 2016 by Dr Christopher Kay.

Interface Polymers’ mission is to lead a materials revolution by fixing problems with the most common plastics (Polyethylene and Polypropylene), opening new markets, and improving recycling of plastic. A truly inspirational mission that, to move forward, required significant investment. The challenge the company had to face, then, was how to showcase a professional image and attract investments?

Interface Polymers needed to find a way to present the company, but the tools they had at their disposal simply weren’t up to the task. 

“We soon realized that, to get to the next level, we needed a proper platform with all the functions that Ideals has,” says Teresa Waite, project manager at Interface Polymers.

They turned to Ideals, a platform that offered them the necessary functionalities to help them share their data with potential investors. 

The context

Headquartered in the UK, Interface Polymers is developing a platform of Polarfin® di-block products. Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) are widely used plastics,  however they don’t bond with other substances, including other plastics. This prevents them from being used in mixed plastic recycling.

Polarfin® provides a solution to this problem, offering an efficient and environmentally friendly method to improve adhesion on PE and PP surfaces. This provides an effective solution for improving the usability and recyclability of PE and PP.

In 2019, with strong customer demand and a prestigious grant from Innovate UK, the company began seeking investors to further their mission. 

Recognizing the importance of making the right impression on potential international backers, the team started conducting extensive research to find a suitable VDR.

Key challenges

As with many businesses seeking investment, Interface Polymers needed a VDR that enabled:

• Centralization of all relevant company data for investors
• Granular reports to track user activity
• Flexible permission levels that could be amended as bids progressed

Teresa Waite was particularly impressed with Ideals’ commitment to security. “The level of attention to detail gave our team the peace of mind they needed to confidently share our sensitive data with potential investors,” she says.

Besides the security levels, the team noted that Ideals offers a multitude of features while remaining intuitive. “It has lots of functions, but without being complex,” concluded Teresa. 

Solution 

After choosing Ideals, Interface Polymers was able to set up the room in less than a week, with “all the information a potential investor would want to see, packaged up in one place, that looked really professional,” says Teresa.  

The company experienced several key benefits from using Ideals, including:

• More efficient workflow management with all information in one place
• Instant access for users upon receiving an invitation
• Easy communication between potential investors and the team, with rapid responses to questions
• Real-time visibility for directors watching the progress of the investment process

In particular, the team appreciated the reporting features, including the visibility of different permission levels. They could quickly track which potential investors had access to specific documents, ensuring that each party had the appropriate level of access, “otherwise, you’d never keep track of who’s got what,” says Teresa.

The future

Since working with Ideals, Interface Polymers has successfully partnered with four investors, including a German chemicals company called Evonik. This deal includes a Circular Plastics Program, alongside a partnership to develop the use of Polarfin technology in paints and coatings.

Ultimately, the most critical aspect of the VDR was the impression it conveyed to bidders. Teresa concludes, “Everything was in one place. We could update access ourselves, it had a professional look and feel. It helped us secure Series A funding and we’ll be using the Ideals platform again in the future for our Series B raise.”