The PVA Pro project, which produces polymer bags that can completely dissolve in 70-degree Celsius warm water in 30-60 minutes, has just received investment from ITI Fund with a capital of nearly 1 million USD.
ITI Fund announced its investment on the afternoon of August 3. Ms. Dang Thi Kieu My, Director of ITI Fund, said that this amount of money will be used to increase production capacity, access international markets and strengthen the marketing team capacity of startups. PVA Pro is a project in the top 10 finalists of the National Innovation and Startup Talent Search Competition (Techfest 2022).
Transparent biodegradable plastic bags that decompose when dipped in warm water, produced by PVA Pro. Photo: ITI Fund
Founded in 2021, PVA Pro is a startup that applies new bioplastic technology on the PVA plastic platform. Traditional PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) plastic is used in making laundry detergent film, pharmaceutical packaging...
Normally, PVA is often opaque and dissolves quickly in cold water. These are the disadvantages that make PVA plastic very difficult to use for packaging that requires transparency, thinness, and flexibility. The key members of PVA Pro then researched and created a technology that uses the soft, flexible properties of PVA plastic to create a new type of polymer that is thin, transparent, highly flexible, and only dissolves quickly in warm water. This property is very suitable for packaging. "This type of plastic does not create microplastic particles, does not pose a danger to animals and natural ecosystems when decomposing," according to the project team.
Ms. Thai Nhu Hang, co-founder of PVA Pro, shared that the project is in the final stage of researching environmentally friendly packaging products used in the garment and fashion industry. The project's goal is to continue researching and providing packaging solutions for other sectors such as retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Currently, the project has built a factory in Long An with a production capacity of 30 tons of bioplastic raw materials per month and will increase to 90 tons per month after investment.
Ms. Dang Thi Kieu My highly appreciated the project because PVA Pro can produce its own source of plastic pellets in Vietnam. Currently, many businesses have to import raw materials from China and then mix them to create plastic bags. She said that the project team's initiative in sourcing raw materials is the basis for the product to progress faster from the research stage to practical application.
According to Ms. My, in reality, the cost of producing a bioplastic bag will be many times higher than that of a regular bag. "We will accompany the project to optimize technology and production scale to reduce this difference, helping the product get closer to the market," Ms. My said.
ITI Fund (Increase– Together– Innovation Fund) is an innovative startup investment fund established by 4M Group, aiming to accompany startups and contribute to the sustainable development of the startup ecosystem.
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