Why Impact Engine invested in Footprint

About Impact Engine

Impact Engine is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests financial and human capital in early-stage companies.

• Chicago, Illinois, United States
• 11-50
• Micro VC, Venture Capital
• Convertible Note, Early Stage Venture, Seed, Venture
• www.theimpactengine.com

About Footprint

Footprint is a materials science technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures solutions to replace single-use plastics.

• Gilbert, Arizona, United States
• 1001-5000
• Venture – Series Unknown
• Private
• www.footprintus.com

Our Investment in Footprint

The Packaging sector is the largest user of plastics, producing ~150M tons of plastic packaging waste annually (Citi).

In the U.S. alone, 80M tons of packaging waste is produced per year, 40% of which ends up in a landfill (EPA.gov). It is estimated that half of all packaging waste is produced by the food and beverage industry.

Single-use plastics are especially problematic because most products cannot be recycled or composted.

Additionally, from 2019 through 2050, CO2 emissions from plastic production and incineration could equate to 56 billion tons, or almost 50 times the annual emissions of all of the coal power plants in the U.S. (NPR.org)

Introducing Footprint

Footprint International Holdco, Inc (“Footprint”) is one of the market leaders in biodegradable, fiber-based food packaging.

Its packaging solutions eliminate single-use plastics in the food and beverage sector with products such as protein trays, shelf-stable cups, produce tills, straws, beverage rings and lids, and frozen food packaging.

Footprint’s products are oil & water leak proof, freezer & microwave & oven safe, water resistant, and shelf-stable as well as 100% compostable, recyclable and repulpable, biodegradable, and ocean safe.

To-date, Footprint has been issued 6 patents and has submitted 18 U.S. and international patents.

Reason behind investment

Footprint’s IP-backed solutions demonstrate superior product performance for the most challenging food applications.

We believe Footprint is poised to grow as their customer base includes the largest CPG and Food companies who are all large end users of single-use plastic food packaging.

Footprint’s leadership team brings a culture of innovation — the Company’s founders Troy Swope and Yoke Chung were previously engineering managers at Intel and its Board of Directors includes leadership with backgrounds from Sproutz, Salesforce, and Intel.

Impact

We believe, based on company-provided information, that Footprint has the ability to make a tremendous positive impact on climate change and the environment by replacing single-use plastics.

Since its founding in 2013 through December 31, 2018, Footprint has

(i) replaced 50M pounds of plastic,

(ii) saved over 38M kilograms of CO2 equivalent emissions, and

(iii) saved over 1.4 billion megajoules of energy.

Upstream in its supply chain, Footprint obtains its feedstock from sustainable North American fiber sources certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and Forest Steward Council.

At the end of life, Footprint’s products are 100% biodegradable, recyclable and repulpable in a modern landfill or water.

Conclusion

As Footprint continues to innovate and expand its product offerings, we are confident in its ability to drive substantial change in the packaging industry, making a lasting contribution to global sustainability goals.

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