PlantSea

We're very proud to be featured in Deeptech Insider Magazine as one of 20 Greentech – Emerging Innovators in 2026. This is what building a future that gives more than it takes looks like. Thank you so much for the write up, what a great group of innovators to be among!

🔬 Science Sum up: May 11 – 15 Occupiers are actively taking space across the UK, with requirements broadening beyond offices to include wet labs, dry labs, cleanrooms, advanced manufacturing and pilot plants. Sciopolis has secured the second occupier ahead of its innovation hub opening at 1 Portal Way in North Acton. P.Happi® will occupy a 732 sq ft laboratory on a two-year term, with a view to potentially expand. Heartfelt Technologies Ltd has relocated to St John's Innovation Park from Cambridge Science Park. The company will occupy the space within the 43,000 sq ft Platinum Building. Enovateq is moving into Unit B10 in Davidson House at Aberdeen Energy & Innovation Parks. The firm has been based on the park since 2019 and has upsized twice, having most recently signed a 12-month fixed term licence agreement to allow further flexibility. PlantSea doubled its workspace just months after launching its first commercial hub within Liverpool Science Park. Flexibility to expand onsite was one of the key priorities for the start-up when it first moved into Sciontec Developments Limited's innovation centre.  Humanoid has expanded, taking 42,000 sq ft at One Triton Square, having founded two years ago at its first 3,000 sq ft office. The 370,000 sq ft building, which is equally owned by British Land and Royal London Asset Management, is now 94% occupied. The NHS pathology network covering south west London has agreed to lease 18,444 sq ft of warehouse space at SEGRO plc Park Redhouse Road in Croydon. The two facilities will serve as a pathology hub with lab space for testing samples. Scarborough Group International has formally closed the acquisition of 75,000 sq ft Old Medical School Leeds from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The handover of the 130-year-old building marks the first step in the development of the Innovation Village, which could potentially deliver 1.5m sq ft of space designed for healthtech users. Mark Jackson says: “Our goal is to create a place where clinicians and innovators can work shoulder to shoulder.” Real estate industry leaders will be heading to Leeds next week as UKREiiF kicks in. Check out what Estates Gazette’s plans are for the event and come back on this page next Friday to catch up with the latest updates from the science-related real estate sector. #lifesciences #realestate #occupiers #leasing #development #deals #outlook #market #goldentriangle #rent #lab #office #innovation

Speaking of packaging and labels - shout out to the team Sustainable Print Limited, who have been doing a lovely job of showing off our paper and labels in their social content lately! Thank you as always for your support, and for choosing to work with PlantSea.

We'll be in the Netherlands this week for PLMA International Council - Amsterdam (Private Label Manufacturers Association) World of Private Label. Get in touch if you want to meet with Rhiannon or Catrina, or if you have any tips on the best places in town for a coffee! We have a few slots left on Wednesday to meet at the show and some time on Thursday for appointments too, so please do get in touch if you want to talk about our seaweed polymer plans, or any of our stunning and sustainable paper and packaging! See you in Amsterdam.

It's really encouraging to see natural polymers being spoken about in the Lords, and to hear that Baroness Hayman is taking our definitions question back to DEFRA. The definition of Natural Polymers is holding our sector back. The UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) only recognises cellulose, which means materials like ours, are taxed as plastic in the one regulation that most directly shapes packaging choices. All we're asking for is a one word change, to bring PPT into line with the EU and UK's REACH definition: "a material consisting of a polymer, other than a *natural* polymer that has not been chemically modified" instead of the current: "a material consisting of a polymer, other than a *cellulose-based* polymer that has not been chemically modified". It's really that simple.

We like to go back to our roots, and next week PlantSea will be at the Mid-Wales Business and Innovation Exachange on Tuesday, 22/04/26! Spread across the Aberystwyth University campuses, the event brings together businesses from across a range of sectors to talk through the things that are affecting us all right now: supply chains, Net Zero, AI, and where the circular economy fits into all of it. We'll have a stand. If you're coming along and want to talk seaweed-derived polymer film, what replacing PVOH looks like at manufacturing scale, or just what we've been up to since the EIC award, come and find us! You'll find more info and registration here: https://lnkd.in/ese8tJyc

We're Hiring: Product Development Technician (Biopolymers) Location: St Asaph, North Wales Salary: £25,000 – £35,000 depending on experience and capability Full-time - 35 hours per week | two-years fixed-term PlantSea has developed a new class of seaweed-derived polymer designed to replace synthetic plastics in water-soluble packaging and delivery systems. We are a venture-backed, UKRI award-winning company working to bring genuinely plastic-free materials to market. Following significant recent funding and commercial progress, we are scaling our technology from laboratory development into pilot and industrial production. This is an exciting time to join PlantSea. As we grow, we are looking for people who want to contribute directly to the development of cutting-edge materials with real commercial and environmental impact. Full job description and requirements below. Send your CV and covering letter to hello@plantsea.co.uk. Let us know if you have any questions!

I’m a big believer in the power of **seaweed** and offshore wind farms; we’re only just getting started. We’ve already seen some early wins through our work with SeaMark , OLAMUR , and of course the seaweed chip commercial with Sam L. Jackson. But there is much more on the horizon in Europe’s seaweed value chain. Here are three of the most exciting companies I’m following in the seaweed space right now 👇 1️⃣ Arctic Seaweed AS I’ve been watching this team for a couple of years. Absolute pioneers in seaweed cultivation and mechanisation. If the blue economy is ever going to scale in Europe at the pace we need, it will likely be built on their tech proven, robust, and designed for industrial scale. 2️⃣ PlantSea I only met them recently at a pitch night. They’re replacing harmful microplastics in dishwasher pods with soluble seaweed film – improving human and ocean health in one competitively priced solution. Already gaining traction with some big FMCG names, and have onboarded key parts of their value chain to scale. 3️⃣ Zenco Group Recently connected with the team here on LinkedIn. They’re turning seaweed into fuel and carbon sequestration at a competitive price for a narrow set of industrial customers. Something completely contrary to what I thought would be a viable use case for seaweed but another great example of how seaweed can move far beyond “nice niche” into key infrastructure. 🌊 Big picture These are just three examples showing we’re nowhere near the end of the seaweed value chain story in Europe. From materials to food to health to climate, seaweed is quietly becoming a serious industrial platform. 💬 Over to you - Who else should be on my seaweed watchlist in Europe? - Are you building in seaweed, blue economy, or offshore platforms? Drop a comment or send a DM – would love to connect. Sean McNeill Belinda Howell Alex Newnes Matthias Boeing Essi S.

What started as our little Seaweed project in Aberystwyth is now a CNN-worthy story! Amazing to see how far we have come since the 2020 lockdown, where we were experimenting with Seaweed and its properties as a material, and now we are preparing to scale into the thousands of tonnes. https://lnkd.in/ejMTjzjK Alex Newnes PlantSea

We’re still reeling from the support of our crowdfund! Our initial aim was to raise £50,000, and we raised over £350,000, backed by more than 500 individual investors. But that’s not the end of the story - the response from our crowdfund community helped unlock further backing from Sustainable Ventures Angels Invest Wales ( Development Bank of Wales ) SyndicateRoom Republic Europe and Innovate UK, taking total funding to over £1.8 million. The capsule market is booming, but PVOH, widely used and often labelled biodegradable, still contributes to microplastic pollution. PlantSea's technology offers a genuine alternative, and this funding puts polymer sales to leading manufacturers within reach in the next 12 months. Our dream is to see plastic-free alternatives become the standard, at prices that make sustainable choices accessible to everyone. New angels, investors and customers have already come off the back of the crowdfund. The door is open, and we're moving fast.