Dennis Nobelius: It's 2026 and we're igniting phase two
At Syre, our first phase was to establish key commercial interest, build a strong investor base sharing the mission, and secure access to key technologies. The direction is clear and well underway, showcased commercially through our key partners H&M Group, Nike, and Launch Partners Houdini, GAP, and Target, as well as our strong investor base consisting of TPG Rise Climate, H&M Group, Giant VC, Norrsken VC, Leitmotif, IMAS Foundation, Vargas, and Volvo Cars.
This year, we’re entering our second phase, focusing on industrialization and financing. For us, it means continuing to build our presence and operations in Vietnam, deepening our ties with the Gia Lai region and showcasing what our next steps in the plant roll-out would mean, as well as preparing for the related financing. In the last year, we’ve had three meetings with Vietnam’s Prime Minister, showing that the support in making Vietnam a global hub for circular textiles couldn’t be stronger.
We’re also mapping – in great detail – the feedstock sources and partners to work with in the supply chain and preparing for our upcoming multi-ton trials and relations with spinners and fabric manufacturers. This naturally ties into our partners across apparel, automotive, and home interior brands, creating more opportunities along the textile value chain. By making a true drop-in product, we turn circular polyester into a broader business opportunity, especially given the huge supply-demand gap we see in the years to come.
As for our feedstock partners, we recognize the work ahead of us together – establishing greatly needed roadmaps for collectors and sorters out there and taking steps from a grey, informal, work area into bigger transparency and appropriate work conditions. This is infrastructure that doesn’t really exist (it does to some extent for cotton) when it comes to polyester, which is why we wish to be part of building this ecosystem.
We are also establishing our chosen technology paths covering all stages: from pre-processing, depolymerization, purification to polymerization, resulting in circular PET chips. Already, we’ve met the quality criteria for everything from seat upholstery in a car to performance apparel.
For phase two, just as in phase one, we’re going for speed and scale, choosing the path that brings us to scale the fastest with quality maintained. I also believe it's fair to say we have some of the world's absolute key experts in the area – covered within the team and as partners.
More exciting news to come...