eco:fibr launches crowdinvesting campaign for sustainable pulp from pineapple plants

The Hanover-based greentech startup eco:fibr GmbH has officially gone live with its crowdinvesting campaign on FunderNation. From now on, private investors can invest from 100 euros in the young company and thus participate in the economic success of an innovative recycling approach.

With the capital raised, eco:fibr plans to start production on a ton scale and enter the market at the beginning of 2026.

Turning waste into raw material: pulp from pineapple plants

Around 4.5 million tons of pineapple plant waste are produced in Costa Rica every year, which has been a massive environmental problem to date. eco:fibr uses this previously unused biomass to produce sustainable pulp for the paper and packaging industry.

The resulting eco:fibr pulp replaces conventional, wood-based pulp and thus helps to reduce the number of trees felled: Around 224 million trees are needed every year for global pulp production alone.

Sustainable process without harmful chemicals

The company has developed its own environmentally friendly extraction process that does not use sulphur compounds or toxic solvents. The optional bleaching process also uses only oxygen-based processes instead of chemicals containing chlorine.

With eco:fibr, we are transforming a waste problem into a marketable resource - and creating a sustainable value chain from the field to the factory.

The resulting pulp can be further processed by the paper industry for specialty papers, packaging or design products.

From student project to greentech start-up

eco:fibr was originally founded in 2020 as an Enactus project at Leibniz Universität Hannover and was established as an independent GmbH in 2022. After successful laboratory phases with a 150-liter reactor, the team led by Michelle Spitzer, Julian Kolbeck, Niklas Tegtmeier, Susan M. and Merit Ulmer-Kasak is now planning pilot production in Costa Rica.

The crowd-investing campaign will be used to finance the first production batch and the establishment of "basic fiber production" in order to supply the first customers.

In the long term, eco:fibr wants to expand its process to other regions and plant residues and thus make a scalable contribution to avoiding deforestation and waste.