Swiss startup Seprify has raised €13.4 million to scale a cellulose-based alternative to one of the most widely used, and increasingly banned, industrial whiteners on the planet. IKEA is backing it.
Somewhere in Southeast Asia, a small beetle called Cyphochilus produces the whitest surface found in nature, not through pigment, but through the microscopic structure of its scales, which scatter light so efficiently that the result is a near-perfect white. For Lukas Schertel, then a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Bioinspired Photonics Lab, it was an engineering blueprint.
The question Schertel and his co-founder Oliver Polcher started with was deceptively simple: if a beetle can achieve optical whiteness through cellulose microstructure alone, why do food and cosmetics manufacturers still depend on titanium dioxide?
The answer, until recently, was that they didn’t have a viable alternative. Seprify, previously known as Impossible Materials and incorporated in 2022 as a spinout from Cambridge and the University of Fribourg is trying to change that.
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On Tuesday, the company announced a €13.4 million Series A to accelerate the transition from pilot validation to industrial supply. The round includes Inter IKEA Group as a strategic backer, alongside Una Terra Early Growth Fund, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and Kickfund, among other circular-economy investors. Total funding now exceeds €22 million, according to the company.
Titanium dioxide, also known as TiO₂ or E171 is a $16 billion global market. It makes food and confectionery white and opaque, boosts the SPF of sunscreens, and gives paints and coatings their brightness. For decades it was considered inert and unremarkable.
That view changed when Europe’s food safety authority concluded that it could no longer be considered safe as a food additive, citing concerns over accumulation in the body. The EU banned TiO₂ in food in 2022; Switzerland followed. Regulators in other sectors are now watching closely.
For manufacturers, the ban created a problem with few clean solutions. Most existing alternatives, calcium carbonate, rice starch, other mineral compounds, either fall short on optical performance, raise their own regulatory flags, or require significant reformulation. Seprify’s pitch is that cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, can be engineered to do the same job better.
The platform works by controlling the microstructure of cellulose particles so precisely that they scatter light in the same way as TiO₂ — producing whiteness, opacity, and UV-boosting through physical structure rather than chemistry. The company has translated this into three product grades: SilvaAlba, a food-grade whitening ingredient; SilvaLuma, a natural SPF booster for suncare formulations; and SilvaFolia, aimed at coatings and inks. All three are derived from FSC-certified virgin wood pulp and, according to the company, produce an estimated 80% fewer CO₂ emissions than conventional TiO₂.
The technology has been validated at technology readiness levels seven to nine, meaning it has moved beyond the research lab into real-world industrial conditions, through partnerships with manufacturers including Danish colour company Oterra, which last year announced a commercial collaboration with Seprify to bring cellulose white into mainstream food and beverage formulations. More than 100 customer organisations are engaged, according to the company, ranging from active evaluations through to early commercial supply.
Inter IKEA Group’s involvement signals something beyond a financial bet. IKEA, specifically Inter IKEA, which owns the IKEA concept and franchise system, has been building a portfolio of investments in sustainable materials that fit into existing manufacturing and recycling infrastructure. Coatings and surface finishes are obvious adjacencies.
The market Seprify is entering is not short of incumbents or of well-funded competitors. But it has something that few biomaterials companies at this stage can claim: a commercial partner of IKEA’s scale, regulatory-grade product validation, and a founding insight taken directly from a beetle.
