Circulate Capital Adds $15M in Funding to Combat Ocean Plastic

Circulate Capital, the investment management firm dedicated to incubating and financing companies and infrastructure that seek to prevent ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia, announced that it expects to receive an additional $15 million in funding from Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC for Circulate Capital’s strategy to combat ocean plastic.

The company joins Circulate Capital’s founding investors, which include several of the world’s leading consumer packaged goods and chemical companies. Circulate Capital announced the launch of its fund in fall 2018 and expects to make its first investment by the end of 2019.

Circulate Capital’s investment strategy will focus on providing financing to companies and projects to build circular supply chains that can deliver and recapture resources at scale while preventing the flow of plastic pollution into the ocean in South and Southeast Asia. Circulate Capital’s investment model seeks to mobilize institutional investment capital by blending concessionary and philanthropic funds with market rate investment capital. Its objective is to mitigate risk and demonstrate that investment in turning waste into value can ultimately provide attractive financial returns. 

The news was officially announced at the Our Ocean conference in Oslo, Norway, where Rob Kaplan, founder and CEO of Circulate Capital, was joined by Miles Oberton, Asia region manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical.

“Chevron Phillips Chemical’s commitment to our investment strategy will significantly enhance our ability to advance the circular economy and cradle-to-cradle businesses more quickly by crowding-in capital for waste management and recycling solutions at scale that address the ocean plastic crisis in South and Southeast Asia,” said Kaplan in a statement. “We are grateful to our founding corporate partners, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, for their commitment to support solutions to prevent ocean plastic. Over the last two years, together with my team on the ground, we have identified more than 200 investment opportunities across a range of industries and are eager to begin to put this generous funding to work.”

“Our company has a vision to help create a fully circular economy where every piece of post-consumer plastic ends up where it should be, finding new uses through recycling, reuse or repurposing,” said Jim Becker, vice president of polymers and sustainability at Chevron Phillips Chemical, in a statement. “Our investment with Circulate Capital plays an important role in ensuring plastics continue advancing the sustainable economy, amid growing product demand globally. In conjunction with Circulate Capital and so many other industry leaders, we look forward to identifying solutions with the potential for lasting change and achieving the goal of zero plastic waste entering the environment.”