Netherlands-based Black Bear Carbon BV, founded in 2010, has developed a unique, energy positive process for producing the world’s first Cradle-to-Cradle certified™ Carbon Black from tyres.
Black Bear Receives Investment
Black Bear’s industrial-scale prototype plant is operated by Dutch Green Carbon, a joint venture between Black Bear and Kargro, a tyre recycling company. The sustainable Carbon Black is used by clients worldwide for the production of tyres, technical rubber, coatings, plastics and inks.
The company plans to roll out more than 1000 plants all over the world, in cooperation with local partners.
Black Bear has now secured an additional €5 million from Capricorn Venture Partners and Particon, who join an earlier €11 million growth financing round. Using this growth capital, Black Bear aims to scale up its “Tyre to Carbon Black” technology, a unique carbonisation process used to transform tyres into recovered Carbon Black for use in the production of tyres, technical rubber, coatings, plastics and inks.
Black Bear’s first commercial plant, located in Nederweert, the Netherlands, is capable of processing more than 1 million tyres annually. The recovered Carbon Black is Cradle-to-CradleTM certified and is already used by major clients, including AkzoNobel.
Black Bear will use the capital to further develop this industrial-scale prototype plant and expand internationally. The company’s long-term goal is to upcycle all waste tyres into valuable products, which would achieve CO2 emission reductions equivalent to the planting of more than 1 billion trees.
