Black Bear raises another €5m to scale up

Nederweert, The Netherlands – Dutch cleantech company Black Bear has raised €5 million from venture capital firms Capricorn Venture Partners and Particon, the company announced 6 Nov.

This is in addition to an €11-million fund raising earlier in September, which Black Bear said was aimed at refining its recovered carbon black (rCB) technology and starting the global roll-out of its ‘cradle-to-cradle’ system.

The Dutch company has developed a “tire to carbon black” technology with a unique carbonisation process to produce rCB from end-of-life tires.

Black Bear currently operates an industrial-scale prototype plant in partnership with Kargro, a European tire recycler.

The plant, located in Nederweert, The Netherlands, can process more than 1 million tires annually, and the rCB produced is already used by companies such as AkzoNobel.

Black Bear said 6 Nov that it would use the raised capital to further develop the prototype plant and expand internationally.

Capricorn Venture Partners is an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative European technology companies. It is based in Leuven, Belgium. Particon is an independent venture capital firm in the region of Limburg, The Netherlands.