This startup manufactures mycelium-based products for interior design, utilizing mycelium technology to create sustainable acoustic panels, flooring, fabrics, and leather alternatives. Their offerings provide environmentally friendly solutions that reduce reliance on traditional materials in architecture and fashion.
Funding
$13.4M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
CVECFounders
Product
Problem
The fashion and interior design industries rely heavily on traditional materials that often have significant environmental impacts due to resource extraction, energy-intensive processing, and waste generation. Sourcing sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives that meet performance and aesthetic standards remains a challenge.
Solution
SQIM is a biotech company that leverages mycelium-based biofabrication to create sustainable materials for the fashion and interior design sectors. By feeding mycelium with organic residues and low-value inputs from other industries, SQIM cultivates a variety of materials with tailored properties through custom fermentation processes. Their solutions, marketed under the brands ephea™ for fashion and Mogu for interior design, offer a shift from exploitative to regenerative production paradigms. These mycelium-based materials provide an alternative to traditional options, reducing reliance on resource-intensive processes.
Target Audience
The primary target audience includes fashion brands seeking sustainable alternatives to leather and other conventional materials, as well as interior designers and architects looking for eco-friendly acoustic and flooring solutions.
Features
- ephea™: Flexible mycelium materials for the fashion industry, offering premium haptics and chemical reactivity.
- Mogu Acoustic: Acoustic panels made from fungal mycelium and upcycled textile residues for interior sound dampening.
- Mogu Flooring: Resilient flooring systems based on upcycled agro-industrial residues for interior design.
- Proprietary fermentation processes to guide mycelium assembly into various material structures.
- R&D unit focused on evolving mycelium technologies through vertical farming and industrial integration.
- Technologies rooted in circular economy principles, transforming residual substrates into high-value materials.