Uplift360 closes €7.4 million Seed round
Bristol-based advanced materials startup Uplift360 has secured €7.4 million in Seed funding to scale its chemical regeneration technology for high-value composite materials used across aerospace, defence and industrial manufacturing.
The round was led by Extantia, with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund, Promus Ventures and Fund F. Sam Staincliffe, CEO and co-founder of Uplift360, said the financing signals a stronger European push to build sustainable, strategic manufacturing capacity by converting composite waste into “a reliable, high-quality feedstock stream” for primes, OEMs and government customers.
Regeneration, not downcycling
Uplift360 says its proprietary process can recover materials such as carbon fibre, aramid (including Kevlar) and hybrid laminates without degrading performance, positioning the output as equivalent in quality to the input. The company argues this approach addresses two pressures at once: growing composite waste streams and supply constraints driven by geopolitics and limited virgin fibre availability.
Pilot line planned for 2026
The company plans to use the Seed capital to commission its first pilot-scale processing line in the UK in 2026, expand partnerships with major OEMs, and increase R&D into regenerated-fibre performance and new applications. It also aims to develop a distributed model for composite circularity across Europe.
Industrial collaborations already underway
Uplift360 is already working with industrial partners including Babcock on end-of-life material recovery for the Eurofighter Typhoon, Leonardo on repurposing Merlin helicopter blades into UxV components, and a collaboration with Rolls-Royce.
Sander Verbrugge of the NATO Innovation Fund described the platform as “dual-use innovation” aimed at reducing emissions while strengthening supply-chain resilience for strategically important sectors.
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