Based in Cologne, Vytal Global has raised €14.2M ($15.5M) in growth funding to fuel the expansion of its reusable food packaging solutions.

German eco packaging startup Vytal Global has secured €14.2M ($15.5M) in investment to scale its operations across Europe and enter the US market.

The company has just secured €8M ($8.7M) from Inven Capital and NRW.Venture, adding to the €6.2M ($6.8M) it raised in a funding round last summer. It brings the company’s total venture capital raised to €26M, a sign of investors’ faith in its smart reusable packaging solutions that outperform single-use on cost.

“This new funding comes less than nine months after our last raise and reflects an incredibly successful 2024 for the Vytal team,” said Vytal co-founder and managing director Tim Breker. He added that Inven Capital’s expertise would allow the firm to scale up and “make tech-enabled reusable packaging the new standard in gastronomy, events, and entertainment globally”.

Taking on single-use plastic

Founded in 2020 by Josephine Kreische, Fabian Barthel, Sven Witehöfft, and Breker, Vytal utilises data analytics to deliver cost-effective solutions to single-use plastic packaging for a range of businesses.

Its business model combines reusable products with smart tech and “seamless service”, with integration into multiple point-of-service (POS) systems, adaptable operations, a fair pay-per-use pricing system, and a large selection of containers.

These include microwaveable bowls in several sizes; burger, pizza and sushi containers; cutlery; and coffee cups. They’re made from materials like polypropylene, thermoplastic elastomers, and/or stainless steel, depending on the product.

So while the company is providing an alternative to single-use plastic, it doesn’t ditch plastic altogether, arguing that the “key difference lies in the circular system”. “Single-use plastic has a short usage span but a long lifespan, taking 20 to 450 years to decompose. That’s why we rely on our reusable system: the plastic has a much longer life cycle and is fully recycled at the end of its ‘life’,” the company says on its website.

Plastic production is responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions – this share is higher than the aviation sector, and is set to double by 2060. Meanwhile, over 90% of plastic pollution comes from single-use products. And to make things worse, only 9% of plastic the world over actually gets recycled.

“Today’s packaging solutions, especially single-use plastic packaging, are unnecessarily energy- and resource-intensive compared to smart reusable packaging solutions,” said Kristyna Machova, investment director at Inven. “We value Vytal’s innovative use of data and technology as a key differentiator, fostering a circular economy where reusable packaging is cost-competitive as well as superior in user experience.”