UK dandelion rubber startup QuberTech secures €4m funding round

UK biotech firm QuberTech has closed a £3.4 million (€3.9 million) funding round combining grant support and equity investment to advance its dandelion-derived natural rubber platform and scale commercial operations. The round was led by UKI2S, managed by Future Planet Capital, and Sustainable Ventures, with additional backing from the UK government’s Defra Farming Innovation Programme delivered via Innovate UK. QuberTech is engineering high-yield dandelion strains in controlled environments to produce high-quality natural rubber (NR) and other bio-based materials, targeting applications in packaging, cosmetics, and food. The company’s R&D integrates plant biotechnology, genome editing, and scalable production methods to move from lab to commercial viability. CEO Dr Ofir Meir stated the funds will accelerate R&D, expand the team, and validate the technology at pilot scale. He emphasized the need for resilient, locally produced alternatives to conventional NR supply chains, which are vulnerable to climate, disease, and geopolitical disruptions. Oliver Sexton, investment director at UKI2S, highlighted the fragility of global NR supply chains and praised QuberTech’s localized, scalable production model as a more resilient solution. The company’s platform aims to reduce reliance on tropical rubber sources by enabling domestic production of sustainable biomaterials.