Revive Eco, a biotech start-up founded by University of Strathclyde graduates to repurpose coffee grounds has received investment of more than £375,000. Glasgow-based Revive Eco is creating palm oil alternatives from used coffee grounds for the food & drink and cosmetics industries. In a latest funding round led by Gabriel Investment Syndicate and which included the University of Strathclyde’s Strathclyde Inspire Entrepreneurs Fund, Scottish Enterprise, Crowdcube and private investors, it received £376,000 to commercialise a patent pending process to recycle coffee grounds into a sustainable palm oil alternative.

The Glasgow-based green tech startup was launched by co-founders Fergus Moore and Scott Kennedy in 2019, following a project the pair carried out during their undergraduate degree at the University of Strathclyde and when both worked in coffee shops in the city.

Their innovative idea is to collect and repurpose used coffee grounds to save some of the estimated 500,000 tonnes of coffee waste that is sent to landfill every year, with the waste used to create innovative products.

Revive Eco extracts high-value, natural chemicals from the coffee grounds to create a palm oil alternative that can be used across the cosmetics, home cleaning, pharmaceutical, and food and drink sectors. Approximately 70 million tonnes of palm oil, which is found in many household products, are produced annually, with its production being one of the main drivers of deforestation and carbon emissions globally.

The investment round, in which the University of Strathclyde and Scottish Enterprise also participated, will support the company as it looks to grow its team, and scale up its manufacturing capabilities at their base at BioCity Scotland.