Blue Earth’s 2026 investment programme highlights emerging technologies in sustainable fibres, textile recycling, biotechnology and AI-powered garment resale, with at least £1 million earmarked for ten winning businesses.
Blue Earth has selected ten companies in its Fashion & Materials category for the 2026 BE100 programme, identifying technologies that could transform textile production, material recovery and circular fashion.
The competition attracted 1,414 applications across ten industries, with 100 companies shortlisted following evaluation by 40 investment and industry specialists.
Following the Blue Earth Summit in London on October 14–16, Dutch garment-resale automation specialist VNYX was named the Fashion & Materials winner, securing selection for a minimum £100,000 investment, subject to final investment procedures.
Innovations Across the Textile Value Chain
The shortlist covers multiple stages of textile manufacturing and circularity. Spinnova, from Finland, produces textile fibres through mechanical processing of wood pulp and waste materials. 29acacia develops yarns from agricultural banana waste.
Colorifix uses engineered microorganisms to produce and apply textile colourants, while Industrial Microbes develops bio-based chemicals and materials using renewable feedstocks.
RE&UP focuses on recycling cotton, polyester and blended textile waste into reusable fibres. OceanSafe develops alternative polymers designed for recyclability and biodegradability.
Other shortlisted businesses include Next-Gen Leather, developing cultivated leather-like materials; Neptune Nanotechnologies, producing performance additives from crustacean-shell waste; and ID Genève, incorporating circular materials into watchmaking.
AI-Powered Resale Wins Investment
Amsterdam-based VNYX applies robotics and artificial intelligence to garment sorting, grading, cleaning, photography and preparation for resale. According to Blue Earth, its technology aims to reduce garment preparation time from approximately 19 minutes to less than two minutes, potentially improving the economics of second-hand clothing operations.
£10 Million Fundraising Ambition
BE100 Fund II, managed with venture-capital partner Haatch, has an upper fundraising target of £10 million. Ten winners across the programme have been selected for combined investment of at least £1 million, compared with three funded companies in 2025. Their collective additional funding requirement totals £27.8 million.
For textile manufacturers and brands, these innovations offer potential alternatives in fibre sourcing, coloration, recycling and product-life extension. The next challenge is establishing industrial-scale production, consistent quality, competitive costs and independently verified environmental benefits.
