Cubic, a plastics upcycling startup, has raised $1.9 million to extend its seed contract a few months after announcing its initial capital investment. The startup’s latest investment comes from African Renaissance Partners, an East African enterprise capital firm; Endgame Capital, an investor favoring climate change technologies; and King Philanthropies, a climate and extreme poverty investor.
The fresh capital comes as the startup scales its operations in Ethiopia after organising a factory in Addis Ababa, where it converts plastic waste into related building materials resembling bricks, columns, beams and jambs. Co-founder and CEO of Kubika Kidusa Asfawtold TechCrunch that the startup goals to double its operations in Addis Ababa because it lays the foundation for pan-African growth from 2025.
Kubik’s approach is to convert plastic waste into “low-carbon, sustainable and affordable” building materials using proprietary technology that Asfaw says it’s going to forfeit license to speed up pan-African development and eventual global growth.
“We want to solve the problems of cities, so we are thinking about making our business model truly circular. The way we have developed our business strategy is that we are currently in a focused phase of proving this model here in Ethiopia. We will expand it to several more markets to prove the variety of contexts in which this business model can operate. But over time, what we really want to do is evolve into a company that licenses this technology,” said Asfaw, who co-founded Kubik with Penda Marre in 2021
“This is how we feel like we are able to really scale. “It’s not about having factories around the world, but about the industry adopting a new way of producing materials globally,” he said.
He said their product allows developers to build partitions without the use of cement, aggregates or steel, speeding up construction and reducing costs by “at least 40% less per square meter.” Cost is a key barrier in construction, and the availability of inexpensive or lower-cost building materials provides a higher option for developers of inexpensive housing projects.
Asfaw said Kubik’s materials had passed safety tests conducted by the European standards agency Intertek, which checked, among other things, strength, toxicity and flammability.
“We don’t want to sell something that is harmful to people. We did not start selling until these reports were available,” he said.
The startup currently processes 5,000 kilograms (with a capability of 45,000) of plastic waste per day. It has signed partnerships with corporations and the Addis Ababa Municipality for regular supplies of plastic waste. In the near future, it is considering product diversification to include paving stones and flooring materials.
It is estimated that in the world produces 430 million tons of plastic per 12 months, two thirds intended for short-term use. Clearly, the world is choking on plastic waste, and while the situation is made worse by consumption trends in developed countries, in regions facing rapid urbanization and economic growth, resembling African citiesplastic waste is also getting uncontrolled, requiring urgent motion. In the coming days, startups like Kubik will play a leading role in providing sustainable solutions to the threat.