Traditional leather production is environmentally damaging, and most leather alternatives rely on plastics, which contribute to pollution and waste. Arda Biomaterials, a chemistry technology company specialising in material applications of plant-based proteins, addresses this issue by upcycling spent barley grain from breweries into New Grain — a sustainable, animal-free, and plastic-free leather alternative that is both biodegradable and customisable.
Today, Arda Biomaterials has closed an oversubscribed $5.25M round led by Germany’s Oyster Bay Venture Capital. The financing includes the lead investor from Arda’s 2023 pre-seed round, Clean Growth Fund, alongside new London-based investors Kadmos Capital and Green Angel Ventures. This brings the company’s valuation to a low eight digits, as exclusively told to TFN.
This round will enable Arda to advance R&D on their first innovation — New Grain
, a novel leather-like material derived from waste barley proteins from beer breweries and whisky distilleries.
Arda Biomaterials co-founders, Brett Cotten and Edward (TJ) Mitchell, shared with us: “We are building a new facility on the Bermondsey Beer Mile in London, five times our current square footage. This new facility will host dedicated production space, an R&D lab, and our office. We will also be transitioning from a batch-based process to a continuous roll-to-roll process, which is the most scalable method of production.”
“Once optimised and patented, we will raise our next round to co-locate this continuous process alongside a brewery, enabling immense production outputs. We initially applied our technology to beer breweries and whisky distilleries because of their robust supply chains. As part of this raise, we will also prioritise commercial partnerships to introduce products to the fashion and other industries, starting on a small scale.”
The news of Arda’s fundraising comes alongside another recent announcement: Arda has been accepted into the sixth cohort of the 100+ Accelerator — a corporate accelerator program with AB InBev, Danone, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Colgate-Palmolive — where Arda will run a pilot with the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev.
Rethinking leather: A sustainable approach
Arda Biomaterials was founded in London in 2022 by Brett Cotten and Edward (TJ) Mitchell. Cotten, originally from the US, holds a Master’s in biotechnology from the University of Cambridge and has experience in the alternative protein sector. Mitchell earned a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Oxford and specialises in supramolecular chemistry and nanomaterials.
Brett Cotten and Dr. TJ Mitchell shared: “Personally, we are driven to reduce humanity’s reliance on animals and plastics for materials. Factory farming is abhorrent. Plastic is contaminating our bodies and the environment. With a modern understanding of chemistry and materials science, we can pick up where scientists left off in the 1930s and earlier, when petrochemicals weren’t the new wonder material and natural proteins were a large focus of materials innovation.”
Regarding the market opportunity, they explained: “There is a growing need for manufacturers and brands in fashion, footwear, automotive, and home goods to offer customers options free from animals and plastic. This consumer preference provides an opportunity for brands to increase revenues by accessing new market segments. Additionally, incoming regulations around deforestation, material end-of-life, and carbon emissions are creating further incentives for change.”
Leather is a co-product of industrial animal agriculture, requiring toxic chemical tanning to transform raw hide into usable leather. Most modern leather also includes plastic coatings. Material choice has a significant impact on both upstream and downstream sustainability. Through both incentives and regulations, the market is evolving.
The founders met through the Entrepreneur First accelerator in London, inspired by the grain waste from local breweries in the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Initially considering alternative meats, they pivoted to materials after recognising the potential for sustainable, high-performance alternatives to leather and plastics. Their mission aimed to address the environmental harm of traditional leather production and plastic alternatives, using their expertise in biotechnology and chemistry to develop innovative, circular biomaterials.
Co-founder and CEO of Arda, Brett Cotten, said, “Breweries and distilleries can do so much more than just provide feedstock. We utilise the same equipment, and they possess internal science and engineering expertise. Additionally, they have established brand partnerships within the fashion, automotive, and sports sectors, providing global scale, operational support, and commercial connections that are rare among feedstock providers.
Working with brewers and distillers is our superpower, enabling us to achieve competitive pricing and tremendous scale, making a significant impact across various industries. Perhaps we’ll even create global merchandise for brewers and distillers themselves.”
How Arda transforms brewery and whisky waste into novel materials
Arda’s chemistry platform modifies plant proteins to achieve two primary objectives: substituting for plastics and replicating the structure of animal-derived proteins found in materials such as silk, wool, feathers, and leather.
Brett Cotten and Dr. TJ Mitchell explained: “We take this globally abundant feedstock and extract the plant-based proteins, manipulating them with our technology to create an animal-, plastic-, and rubber-free material most similar to vegetable-tanned leather. The first part uses brewery equipment.”
“The second part uses plastic-manufacturing equipment without the plastic. Our technology can be applied to other feedstocks beyond spent grain and other products beyond leather-like materials. We’re truly a platform for materials innovation that aims to eliminate animals and plastics from the supply chain, empower local economies, and create exceptional fabrics for fashion, automotive, home goods, and more.”
“The key innovation isn’t just the technology but also the supply chain — brewers can help us create scaled materials that are cheaper than animal or plastic alternatives, producible almost anywhere globally. Brewers and distillers already work with sports, automotive, and fashion brands through sponsorships. What if we could connect them not just through sponsoring, but materially through product?”
They have already transformed brewery spent grain into cardholders featuring the recognisable Beavertown skull-and-bones logo. The company plans larger product launches in 2025 and 2026 as production capabilities expand, with limited consumer availability expected later this year.
Co-founder and CTO at Arda, Dr. TJ Mitchell, said, “The natural world has all the necessary building blocks to create incredible, environmentally friendly materials. Spent grain is a perfect case: the abundant feedstock is rich in protein that we can extract and manipulate to create New Grain , all without the need for plastics or petrochemicals. The material has come a long way since the first experiments in my kitchen, and it now looks and performs as a viable alternative to animal-derived materials or plastic. We can’t wait to see it in more products.’’
Speaking about competition, Brett Cotten and Dr. TJ Mitchell noted: “We focus on technological approaches. The market includes plastic-based products and green-washed fruit and cactus materials that contain polyurethane. Some biotech approaches emerged — mycelium, bacterial cellulose, and cultivated materials — but many proved too expensive and unscalable for widespread impact, with many still relying on plastic. Then came innovators like Natural Fibre Welding, pioneering plastic-free solutions.
While we respect them, many sustainable chemistry approaches rely on rubber, which impacts feel, performance, and end-of-life disposal, while facing supply chain challenges due to plantation farming that is vulnerable to climate change and disease. We’ve developed a chemistry process free from rubber, plastic, and animal products, and we’re committed to maintaining that standard.”
VCs embrace Arda’s sustainable materials solution
In the next years, Arda plans to build their first co-located facility with a brewing or distilling partner. They aim to produce 1 M+ m² (~10M sq ft) of material annually from a single site, empowering the fashion, automotive, aerospace, furniture, and footwear industries with materials that meet performance, aesthetic, scale, and price requirements — while enjoying some great beer and whisky along the way.
Philip Stark, Principal at Oyster Bay: “We are pleased to back Arda on their mission to transform brewers’ spent grain into next-generation materials. Brett and TJ bring a rare combination of technical excellence and mission-driven ambition, and we are confident they can build a category-defining champion. Starting with leather alternatives, Arda is more than a materials company – it’s a reflection of Brett and TJ’s commitment to building a circular, sustainable, and scalable future. At Oyster Bay, we are excited to support them on their Journey.”
Susannah McClintock, Investment Partner at Clean Growth Fund, said, “We are proud to continue supporting Brett, TJ and the Arda team as they lead the charge in revolutionising materials science with sustainable, plant-based alternatives. Their innovative approach to transforming proteins from waste grain into high-value materials represents a significant advancement in decarbonising industries that rely on traditional animal-based and petrochemical materials. The Arda team combines exceptional technical expertise and a relentless commitment to sustainability, enabling them to deliver solutions with the potential for transformative environmental impact.”
Remy Kesrouani, Managing Partner at Kadmos Capital: “We were impressed by Brett and TJ when they presented their innovative solution at ARDA. We found their approach to be both elegant and impactful, which prompted us to explore further and uncover a truly differentiated scientific foundation and intellectual property that remarkably harnesses the power of nature. Moreover, Brett and TJ embody the qualities we seek in driven, ambitious founders, and we’re excited to support them on this journey.”
Cam Ross, CEO of Green Angel Ventures, says, “It’s rare that a young founder impresses our members as well as TJ when he first pitched Arda Biomaterials. We had a large number of angels keen to invest in their early round and support their journey. We feel Arda’s innovation is critical; with the amount of raw resources that society is consuming, along with the associated effect on climate change, new alternatives are vital. It’s even better when they look this good.”
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