Jiva Completes Seed Investment Round
Jiva Materials Ltd has completed a £750k seed funding round led by Sky Ocean Ventures and supported by Sorbon Investments, Armstrong Capital Management, Venrex Investment Management and InnovationRCA. Jiva Materials Ltd was assisted by MBM Commercial LLP in these transactions.
The investment accelerates commercialisation of Soluboard® – a material designed to make Printed Circuit Boards fully recyclable.
The organic structure of Soluboard® means the non-toxic ingredients begin to delaminate when immersed into hot water. This allows the natural plant-based fibres to be composted, the remaining solution to be disposed of using standard domestic waste water systems and the electronic components to be removed for recycling.
Sky Ocean Ventures is an impact investment fund with a £25 million commitment from Sky media group with a focus on accelerating technology that can address the plastic crisis.
Sky is particularly interested in supporting the development of materials that are both sustainably manufactured and improve end-of-life processing and recycling for products. Sky acknowledges Soluboard® as a sustainable alternative to the industry leading PCB material that would improve upon numerous stages of the product lifecycle. Sky also acknowledge Jiva’s functioning Soluboard® PCB as a proof of concept and fully support the further development of the technology.
This significant investment will extend Jiva’s runway with a primary focus on securing the route to market for Soluboard®. The cash has allowed the company to grow in size and the team now consists of Jack Herring (CEO), Dr Jonathan Swanston (CTO), Steve Curtis (CPO) and Steve Driver (Business Development Lead).
The investment will enable Jiva to optimise and produce enough Soluboard® to manufacture fully functioning PCBs in collaboration with key partners in the world of electronics. Following this, we will carry out a number of mechanical and electrical tests as defined by our potential customers – dependent on the results of these tests, further optimisation may need to be carried out if required.
EU domestic appliance and white goods manufacturers have confirmed their interest in Soluboard®. Tighter regulations are being placed on manufacturers of electronics to put the responsibility of recycling firmly with the producer.
Jack Herring, CEO of Jiva Materials Ltd, said:
“All of us at Jiva are very thankful for the support from our shareholders, both new and old. We look forward to bringing Soluboard® to market by working with key players in the world of electronics. It is time for us to take responsibility for our products and the impacts that they are having on the planet.”