Why we Invested: Magnomer

In our fifth investment in the few short weeks since TBD Angels launched, we participated in a pre-seed investment round in Magnomer, Inc., an exciting materials science opportunity in the global push to improve the sustainability of consumer packaged goods.

Magnomer’s proprietary magnetic inks can be applied to a variety of plastics used in disposable packaging, such as drink bottles, labels, & caps. This can dramatically improve the recyclability of those items in the waste stream, since they can be sorted at a recycling facility with inexpensive magnetic retrieval. What we like about the company:

• Clear goal, with relentless adaptation. Ravish Majithia, the company’s CEO, knew from the outset that he wanted to put his materials science Ph.D. and Babson MBA to work in the sustainability sector, and confirmed early on that magnetic coatings would improve plastics recycling. With that broad goal in mind, the company proceeded to confirm applicability to a number of very different packaging issues, progressively searching in the market for the most pressing situations.
• Limited cost and limited need for change by deployers. Many intriguing ideas to improve CPG recyclability are unattractive to global companies due to dramatically higher unit costs, or significant obstacles in changing over to new packaging. The Magnomer innovation is more or less just another ink pass on current packaging, and brands appear to be willing to pay a premium ink price for a recycle-friendly feature that doesn’t force them to re-tool their entire packaging solution.
• Support of a global CPG player. The simplicity and adaptability of the solution has attracted the interest of a global beverage company that has completed one paid pilot project with Magnomer already and is launching a second, larger pilot, which with good results should translate to scalable revenue.
• A lot done with a little. Besides the impressive commercial traction at such an early stage, we liked the intensive effort the team had made to date to fund itself from modest winnings: $50K from Mass Challenge, $10K here, $15K there. Every dollar was carefully applied.
• Innovative IP. Some of the strongest defensive moats in startups are patents. Magnomer started early in assuring patent protection for its innovations with Wilson Sonsini, one of the country’s premier IP legal teams — who liked it so much, they invested in the round, too.
• Passionate & compatible founder team. Ravish brought on two co-founders, including an important link to testing and manufacturing in India, rapid and inexpensive. The view we’ve had of how this partnership is working so far has been impressive.

The Magnomer investment opportunity came to TBD Angels through our own network, and the eleven members participating, all with valuable operating expertise, are eager to help advise Magnomer from here. The investment round was 50% oversubscribed, a nice sign, we think, of what’s to come. Congratulations to Ravish, Vishal and Kumaril; welcome to the TBD Angels group!

Emily Green is a member of TBD Angels