Peter Schorsch
If the crowdfunding trend is dying down, a Central Florida tech company didn’t get the memo.
Timeplast, a company that creates a water-soluble solution, has raised more than $1 million through a StartEngine campaign.
Its product, which is made from organic waste, has the potential to replace most fossil fuel-based materials. It’s been in research and development for 15 years, has been awarded four patents and has established a global supply chain.
“Worldwide, countries are taking steps to eliminate plastics in a wide range of methods, with some countries, like Canada, banning single-use plastics altogether,” Timeplast founder and CEO Manuel Rendon said. “Globally, we create more than 400 million tons of plastic waste every year, which is just not sustainable.”
Rendon has a background in environmental engineering and previously created and patented a bio-based hydro-soluble material. He also created a liquid solution for molecular disintegration and reusing of fossil-based plastics.
The Timeplast product, which is soluble within 60 hours, can be used for all types of plastic using current equipment and manufacturing.
For example, the material is already being used to create soluble straws, a response to more and more communities and businesses ditching plastic straws that can make their way into ecosystems and harm wildlife. Unlike a common alternative, paper straws, straws using Timeplast look and feel like their plastic predecessors, but dissolve and leave no negative byproducts or microplastics.
Timeplast uses materials approved for human consumption by the Food and Drug Administration.
Investments through the StartEngine campaign ranged from $100 to $10,000.
“The response has been significantly better than what we had hoped for,” Rendon said. “The world truly understands the issues that plastics and other materials create for our environment and see this as a solution to a cleaner planet in the future.”
Timeplast currently employs nine workers in Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company is pre-revenue but is manufacturing the new materials locally at its Longwood headquarters.
“Timeplast is another example of homegrown businesses with innovation (and) the potential of having a (positive) impact to a global challenge,” University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program site manager Rafael Caamano said.
“Supporting and incubating companies such as Timeplast could contribute to our regional economy as they have the necessities of generating high-paying jobs while attracting outside capital.”
Timeplast is a client of the UCF Business Incubation Program, which provides early-stage companies with tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable. It has provided business development resources resulting in more than 300 local startup companies reaching goals faster.
