The Bioweg Story

Microplastics have become one of the most visible failures of the modern materials economy. From cosmetics to home care, from coatings to agricultural inputs, petroleum-based polymers have quietly accumulated in soils, waterways, and ultimately human tissue. Regulators have started to act — the European Commission's restriction on intentionally added microplastics, the broader REACH framework, and rising scrutiny from downstream brands — and a new generation of bio-based alternatives is finally meeting industrial-grade specifications.

Bioweg sits squarely at the center of that transition.

Founded in Lower Saxony by Prateek Mahalwar (CEO) and Srinivas Karuturi (CTO), Bioweg has developed a proprietary platform to produce bio-based cellulose ingredients that replace microplastics across cosmetics, home care, coatings, and agricultural markets. Two complementary founders, deeply technical, and just as deeply industrial — combining strategic vision, scientific depth, and the hands-on mindset required to scale a process from pilot to factory.

For Axeleo, the path to Bioweg ran through one of our anchor LPs.

“Our partnership with Veolia matters at every level: deal flow, technical deep dives, synergy identification. Bioweg was a textbook example. The first signal came directly from Veolia's team in Germany — a reminder of why we build long, operational relationships with the industrial partners that shape our market.”

From there, the work was the work: months of Q&A sessions, technical reviews, and a site visit deep in Quakenbrück. Industry is not just about big cities. It clicked over dinner — when Prateek and Srinivas recounted the hard years, the patient process scale-up, and the conviction to bring a complex biomanufacturing platform from lab to commercial reality. We knew then that we were backing real entrepreneurs: not only the brains to develop a great technology, but the discipline to turn it into a company.

Building the First-of-a-Kind Factory

In 2025, Axeleo Capital led Bioweg's €14M Series A alongside the European Innovation Council (EIC), BonVenture, and NBank. As with the founders, we paid close attention to the composition of the syndicate: a deliberate blend of German, European, and French investors, mixing pure VC capital with public and impact-oriented vehicles.

The round will primarily fund the construction of Bioweg's first-of-a-kind (FOAK) factory, enabling the commercial-scale production of its bio-based cellulose ingredient range — a critical step-up from pilot to industrial scale, and the single most important inflection point in this category of deep-tech investment.

Why This Deal Matters

Bioweg is our first investment in Germany — a concrete demonstration of our ability to invest across Europe from a French base. More importantly, it embodies the core thesis of our Green Tech Industry Fund: financing the future leaders of Europe's sustainable industry in large, deep, structural markets.

Three dimensions made the deal particularly compelling:

• First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) factory construction: the round funds the most critical and capital-intensive step in deep-tech industrialization — the move from pilot validation to commercial production.
• Industrial synergies: Bioweg has secured strategic relationships with major industrial groups, including Bayer and Pfeifer & Langen, significantly de-risking its path to scale and offering early visibility on commercial offtake.
• Decarbonization impact: by substituting petroleum-based polymers and reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions — a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2 — Bioweg contributes directly to the decarbonization of its target supply chains.

Microplastic-free supply chains are no longer an aspiration. They are a market in formation — and Bioweg is positioned to be one of its industrial leaders. A story we are proud to back from Series A onwards.