Prism Worldwide, a leader in innovative material solutions focused on advancing end-of-life tire recycling technology, announced it has raised $40 million in Series A and Series A1 funds. The funding rounds were co-led by return investors Columbia Pacific Advisors (a Seattle alternative investment firm) and Jim Sinegal (co-founder and former CEO of Costco). The combination of Series A and Series A1 funding round also includes participation from Robert “Spike” Anderson, former CEO of Anderson Daymon Worldwide. Anderson is Chairman of Prism Worldwide’s board of directors.
Prism is using the funds to consolidate operations, make capital investments in technology and equipment, and expand its team. To date, the funding has provided a foundation from which Prism has reached commercial viability, demonstrated by an initial round of sales and sales commitments for its thermoelastic polymers (TPEs). Developing these TPEs marks the first time any company successfully created a sustainable and high-performance polymer derived from end-of-life tires.
The first Series A deployment was to acquire CRC Polymer Systems, a custom compounding company that supplies compounds, resins, and colors to the plastics industry. And the acquisition enabled Prism to increase its capacity for product development, manufacturing and distribution throughout the United States and North America.
Prism essentially breathes new life into end-of-life rubber tires, which traditionally have limited high-value uses. Tires are often burned or ground into final-stage materials used on playground surfaces or sporting fields. Through its environmentally friendly technology, Prism reverses the polymerization of the end-of-life tire rubber in a novel, energy-efficient, and low-capital-intensive manner that allows the end material to be functional and flexible in a wide range of elastomer and plastic applications.
Prism makes it possible to integrate a higher concentration of recycled materials into rubber- and plastic-based products without conceding product quality. Its technology can help companies scale revenues and profitability while helping them achieve sustainability goals by reducing carbon emissions and reliance on virgin petrochemical-based materials.
KEY QUOTES:
“Prism has achieved what no other company has by successfully developing a novel method to turn end-of-life tires into a useful polymer that can be compounded into a wide range of rubber and plastic products. Solving the challenge of recycling tires and transforming them into sustainable, high-quality, and reliable material opens a wide range of revenue pathways in every market that uses elastomers and plastics.”
– John Bratrud, Portfolio Manager, Columbia Pacific Advisors
“Few companies have such a significant number of avenues to achieve financial success. In addition to individual customers, Prism’s technology holds profound value for large petrochemical polymer companies seeking ways to make their virgin materials more sustainable.”
– Jim Sinegal, independent investor and co-founder and former CEO of Costco
“Our patented technology has already captured the attention of a significant number of customers in the specialty polymer industry. This novel technology eliminates the common fate of end-of-life tires and waste plastics that often litter landfills or illegal dumps by creating functional polymers from these valuable recycled materials. We’re already fielding inquiries from a host of companies seeking ways to make their consumer and industrial products more sustainable. Even more compelling is that once the products manufactured from our polymer intermediates reach their end-of-life usefulness, they can be recycled again, creating a truly circular, long life.”
– Bob Abramowitz, CEO, Prism Worldwide
