£1.8m seed to commercialise BioPuff® insulation and restore peatlands
This article covers Ponda, a Bristol biomaterials startup, and its £1.8m ($2.4m) seed financing to move BioPuff® from lab research to commercial rollout. The development aims to scale a plant-based insulation grown on rewetted peatlands, supporting textiles decarbonisation, peatland restoration and new income streams for rural farmers.
Ponda, a Bristol biomaterials company, has moved from lab research to commercial rollout with a new financing push to bring BioPuff® — a plant-based insulation grown on rewetted peatlands — into market-ready garments and other products. The company links material manufacture to wetland restoration, a combination that aims to cut textiles emissions while restoring degraded ecosystems.
Why it matters
Degraded peatlands release around 2 gigatonnes of carbon annually and increase flood risk for adjacent farmland. Ponda’s approach — rewetted peatlands cultivated with Typha (bulrushes, cattails) using paludiculture — aims to turn those landscapes back into carbon sinks while producing biomass for industrial fibres.
By Ponda’s estimate, the system can avoid up to 30 tonnes of CO2e per hectare per year where applied. Restoring peatlands also provides water buffering that can reduce flood damage to farmland and create alternative income for rural communities.
After this year’s flooding, it’s obvious that restored wetlands can play a pivotal role in protecting farmland and farmers’ livelihoods. Working with Ponda shows these landscapes can stay productive even under pressures like climate change and create new commercial opportunities. Initiatives like this help push the government’s agenda forward while strengthening rural resilience and future income streams
Will Barnard, farmer in Ponda’s supply chain
Inside the product
BioPuff® is an insulation material made from Typha grown on rewetted peatlands. The company says the fibre has thermal performance comparable to goose-down, is produced at multi-tonne scale today, and is cheaper than animal-derived down. Production work — fibre processing, blending and prototyping — takes place at a Bristol facility where Ponda runs pilot-scale manufacturing to validate industrial standards.
The material has been trialled with several clothing and conservation partners. Berghaus has tested the fibre in outdoor garments; Stella McCartney has explored it within sustainable fashion development; Parley for the Oceans has worked on conservation-linked product initiatives; and Sheep Inc. has collaborated on prototype garments. Beyond apparel, Ponda positions BioPuff® for home textiles, bedding, upholstery and soft toys where lightweight, warm insulation is needed.
Over the next 18 months the company plans to expand production capacity, scale a European wetland farming network and aim for commercial BioPuff® lines for Autumn/Winter 2026 collections.
Who are the investors?
Who are the investors?
Ponda’s latest financing round closed at £1.8m ($2.4m) in seed capital. The oversubscribed round was co-led by Faber VC and Counteract, with participation from PDS Ventures, Evenlode Investment and the Royal College of Art. The raise takes Ponda’s total financing to about $6.5m, a figure that combines venture capital with non-dilutive support and awards such as funding from Innovate UK, the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award and recognition from the Terra Carta Design Lab.
Matt Isaacs, co-founder and partner at Counteract, said:
The Ponda team embodies the rare combination of deep scientific expertise and visionary regenerative leadership; their ability to navigate the frontier of wetland regeneration and material science to develop the scalable, carbon-negative solution of BioPuff® is profoundly impressive. We are delighted to back a team with the capabilities to make planet-positive materials the global standard.
Rita Sousa, Partner at Faber, said:
By coupling regenerative coastal wetland farming with an advanced material with strong potential in textiles and beyond, Ponda is well positioned to unlock significant business opportunities across multiple industries while delivering meaningful biodiversity impact at scale
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Founder perspective
Ponda was founded out of research collaborations at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art and describes itself as operating at the intersection of clean manufacturing, regenerative agriculture and advanced materials. The company has moved from lab concept to commercial pilot in Bristol and is framing its mission around building “climate-positive materials that restore nature as they scale.”
We’ve designed BioPuff® to meet the demanding performance standards of leading brands as a direct alternative to synthetic and animal-based insulation, while remaining cost competitive to enable widespread adoption. Every jacket filled with BioPuff® doesn’t just avoid emissions, it directly funds peatland restoration, one of the planet’s most powerful carbon sinks.
Julian Ellis-Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of Ponda
The bigger picture
Ponda’s model sits at the cross-section of two growing trends: nature-based climate solutions and product decarbonisation in textiles. Governments and funders in the UK and Europe have increased focus on peatland restoration as part of broader climate and flood-resilience strategies, and that policy attention has created new commercial routes for regenerative feedstocks. The round reflects rising interest from European greentech investors in nature-based materials that combine environmental impact with industrial applications.
If Ponda can bring BioPuff® to wider production and maintain cost competitiveness with synthetic and animal-derived insulation, the approach could offer a template for how materials companies link restoration finance with consumer goods. The next 18 months will be a test of supply-chain scaling, farmer engagement across wetlands and the ability to translate pilot production into seasonal retail supply.
This story underscores a wider shift in the UK and Europe: more capital and policy are starting to target regenerative materials and agricultural systems that deliver climate mitigation alongside commercial products.
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