Seprify Raises €13.4M to Scale Cellulose Materials

Seprify, a Swiss company developing cellulose-based materials, announced a €13.4 million Series A round aimed at scaling its platform as an alternative to titanium dioxide, a widely used whitening and opacity additive in cosmetics, food and coatings.

The round is supported by Inter IKEA Group and features participation from Una Terra Early Growth Fund, Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Kickfund and other investors focused on circular-economy solutions. The funding will primarily be used to bolster production capacity, supplier qualification and early commercial supply agreements.

Seprify’s platform packages process expertise, application know-how and intellectual property covering process, product and end-use applications. The company highlights two flagship product grades: SilvaLuma, an SPF booster designed for cosmetics and personal care, and SilvaAlba, a food-grade whitening option intended as a scalable substitute for titanium dioxide.

According to the company, the cellulose solutions have been validated at TRL 7–9 through collaborative work with industry partners, and Seprify is now moving through formal supplier qualification steps. The startup says it is engaged with more than 100 customer organisations at various stages, from active evaluation to early commercial supply.

CEO and co-founder Lukas Schertel framed the funding as a move to “focus on execution and scale,” emphasising consistent quality and reliable supply as immediate priorities to meet requirements of large industrial customers. Seprify is targeting cosmetics and personal care — including suncare — as near-term markets, while preparing for higher-volume uses like coatings, inks and printed electronics.

Inter IKEA Group’s Innovation Ventures manager Robert Carleke commented that IKEA seeks realistic replacements for high-impact incumbent materials that fit existing manufacturing and recycling systems. He described Seprify’s platform as sufficiently mature to warrant exploratory industrial partnerships across surface finishes and broader materials applications.