Thousands of new startups are founded every year – emerging companies with the potential to disrupt the packaging industry. To give you a head-start on emerging technologies and startups that will impact the packaging sector in 2022, we analyzed a total of 2 423 global packaging startups & scaleups. Meet 5 of the most promising startups to watch!
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Packaging Startups to Watch in 2022
Out of 2 423, the 5 packaging startups to watch are chosen through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 2 093 000+ startups & scaleups globally. As the world’s largest resource for data on emerging companies, the SaaS platform enables you to identify relevant startups, emerging technologies & future industry trends quickly & exhaustively.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the 5 packaging startups you should watch in 2022 as well as the geo-distribution of the other 2 418 startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. We hand-picked the 5 highlighted packaging startups based on our data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, the relevance of technology, and funding, among others.
Compack enables On-Demand Custom Packaging
Presently, companies do not favor large-scale packaging production runs due to short-run marketing campaigns, promotions, and changing market demands. Storing large quantities of packaging materials also increases material and inventory costs, which eventually leads to wastage. At the same time, on-demand packaging caters to the needs of current market demands and scales the throughput as needed. This is why startups offer high-quality on-demand packaging services for manufacturers. Due to this, companies are able to minimize warehousing costs and optimize shipping operations.
Founding Year: 2020
Location: Mazkeret Batya, Israel
Total Funding: Undisclosed
Use for: Customized Packaging, On-Demand Packaging
Compack is an Israeli startup that facilitates on-demand custom packaging. The startup’s online packaging vendor hub allows users to create custom packages with structural design flexibility and graphic personalization options. The platform also provides services with low minimum order quantities. Besides, it enables users to find the best supplier against their budget and order quantity. As a result, Compack’s solution offers a fast turnaround in packaging products for manufacturers across all industries, thereby reducing time to market.
IUV develops Plastic-Free Packaging
Consumer habits and corporate responsibility encourage the packaging sector to remove plastic from their supply chain and reduce environmental pollution. To further aid this, startups provide materials that efficiently replace conventional materials without quality loss. Out of those, bio-based materials are the most promising plastic-free alternatives due to their low manufacturing costs and renewability.
Founding Year: 2019
Location: Ravenna, Italy
Total Funding: Undisclosed
Use for: Sustainable Packaging, Plant-based Packaging Materials, Edible Packaging
Italian startup IUV offers plastic-free packaging solutions for toiletries, cosmetics, home care, and non-food sectors. The startup replaces plastic using biodegradable film from naturally sourced raw materials or agri-food sidestream. Consequently, IUV’s materials are biodegradable and compostable. This enables companies to reduce their dependence on fossil-fuel-based plastics and facilitates the transition to sustainable manufacturing practices. The startup’s product line includes biodegradable films and biodegradable coatings.
Cirqle advances Circular Packaging
Single-use materials are a significant component of accumulated wastes in landfills and oceans. Along with the environmental impacts, the inability to recycle single-use packaging incurs expenses on new material procurement and manufacturing. To tackle these issues, startups develop solutions that enable the reusability of packaging products. Reusing packages significantly reduces the overall production costs while reducing companies’ carbon footprint.
Founding Year: 2020
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Total Funding: $1 800 000
Use for: Sustainable Packaging, Reusable Packaging
Cirqle is a Danish startup that provides circular packaging solutions for the food and beverage sector. The startup combines intelligent packaging and an online platform to track and tag companies’ packaging pools. Consumers are also able to return the package at the time of delivery or through pick-up services. This granular level packaging data, in effect, benefits capacity planning and combatting packaging loss. In addition to its reverse logistics services, Cirqle offers washing and sanitation services for the collected packages. The startup, thereby, allows food and beverage brands to increase the value of their products without additional infrastructure or capital expenses.
Plexform Packaging Services provides End-to-End Automotive Parts Packaging
Automotive packaging is challenging because the parts are large, heavy, irregularly shaped, and rigid or fragile. Besides, any damage to products leads to expensive returns that increase wastage expenses. To tackle this, startups provide automotive packaging services tailored for the industry and its specific products. This means, each product package is carefully optimized to improve part protection and reduce in-transit damages.
Founding Year: 2019
Location: Ontario, Canada
Total Funding: Undisclosed
Use for: Automotive Parts Packaging, Returnable Packaging
Plexform Packaging Services is a Canadian startup that offers end-to-end automotive parts packaging solutions. The startup provides customized packaging solutions based on customers’ requirements, from designing to manufacturing. In addition, it specializes in returnable packaging and material handling solutions such as steel racks and interior bulk containers. This allows automotive manufacturers to streamline their packaging based on the product specification and reduce the time to market.
Mushroom Material develops a Mushroom-based Styrofoam Alternative
Polystyrene is critical in packaging due to its favorable physical properties including absorption, waterproofing, and durability. However, styrofoam is a principle litter and the material leaches into food items while used in food packaging. It also breaks down into smaller beads which pollute the water and are consumed by aquatic animals. Due to this, startups create styrofoam alternatives made from sustainable or bio-based materials. This enables packaging companies to reduce their impacts on the environment without reducing material quality.
Founding Year: 2020
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Total Funding: $100 000
Use for: Polystyrene Alternative, Sustainable Packaging
New Zealand-based startup Mushroom Material offers a mushroom-based alternative to polystyrene styrofoam. The startup combines the vegetative part of mushrooms, mycelium, and fibrous agriculture waste to develop its material. Moreover, the resulting material is biodegradable and easily fits into existing processes while providing the same protective properties as polystyrene. For clients with in-house design, Mushroom Material further supplies the raw material directly to the manufacturers.
Discover All Emerging Packaging Startups
The packaging startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free Packaging Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies and emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2022!
