Dallas investment firm NexPoint Capital Inc. is investing $2 million in bioplastics maker PlantSwitch Inc., completing the latter's $7.7 million early growth funding round.
PlantSwitch, based in Sanford, N.C., was founded in January 2020 by CEO Dillon Baxter and Maxime Blandin, head of business development. The young entrepreneurs are looking to use agricultural residue to replace all petroleum-based plastic for single-use products.
Their "drop-in" plastic replacement is sourced mainly from rice hulls, but also potentially from wheat straw and other cellulose-rich crop byproducts. The company uses a carbon-negative production process at its 52,000-square-foot facility in Sanford.
NexPoint, which describes itself as a multibillion-dollar alternative investment firm, announced the funding in a Nov. 28 news release.
PlantSwitch noted it recently entered framework contracts with several national restaurant and grocery store chains, which it could begin supplying as early as next month.