ow at the inflection point of industrial demonstration, Rubi’s pioneering enzyme technology produces essential materials from waste carbon and can be on-shored anywhere

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Rubi, the company pioneering the next era of manufacturing with technology that transforms carbon into essential materials, today announces a $7.5 million funding round and significant commercial traction, including multi-year offtake term sheets worth over $60M with leading fashion brands and manufacturers, eight new commercial partnerships, and moving pilots into larger-scale production testing.

Fresh Funding 
Co-led by AP Ventures and FH One Investments, with participation from Talis Capital, CMPC Ventures, H&M Group, Understorey Ventures, and angel investors, the funding will scale Rubi’s production system to industrial demonstration, accelerate the commercialization of additional pipeline products, and advance its engineered enzymes for enhanced performance and cost reduction.

Commercial Traction 
The funding announcement follows a breakthrough year of commercial validation for Rubi. In 2025, the company:

• Signed multi-year offtake term sheets worth over $60M with leading fashion brands and manufacturers.
• More than doubled its commercial partnerships from seven (including Walmart and Reformation) to 15.
• Completed successful fiber performance testing with multiple partners.
• Entered new pilots with major partners in the CPG and aerospace industries, expanding its impact beyond textiles.

“We started Rubi with the vision that cell-free, multi-enzyme pathways would unlock efficient, scalable, high-performance manufacturing for critical materials from CO2,” said Neeka Mashouf, Co-Founder and CEO of Rubi. “We’ve now demonstrated this technology scales effectively and meets or exceeds customer product standards, driving an inflection point of commercialization. The fresh funding will accelerate our scaling and growth to meet strong global demand for modular and affordable manufacturing of essential materials from waste carbon across textile, CPG, aerospace, and chemicals verticals.”

The company’s momentum extends beyond commercial partnerships. In 2025, Rubi made the Norrsken Impact/100 list, and Rubi’s Co-Founder and CEO, Neeka Mashouf, was recognized on the MIT 35 Under 35 list and was selected to speak at the World Economic Forum’s official program in Davos. Rubi also added six leading experts in biocatalysis, AI enzyme engineering, and scaling cell-free systems to its world-class scientific advisory board, including Dr. Michael Jewett, Ph.D, Dr. Richard Fox, Ph.D., and Dr. Alex Patist, Ph.D.

Advancing Toward Industrial Scale
Looking ahead, Rubi plans to advance to its industrial demonstration scale system, producing commercial quantities of material for customers across key textile and CPG formulation products.

“Rubi has reached an important transition point, with its technology now demonstrated at pilot scale and clear demand emerging across multiple end markets,” said Kevin Eggers, Partner at AP Ventures. “The team has made strong progress translating a differentiated scientific platform into early commercial traction. We’re pleased to support Rubi as it moves into industrial demonstration and the next phase of scaling.”

A Breakthrough Approach to Materials Manufacturing
Rubi’s modular manufacturing system addresses the key issues in industry today: supply chain resilience, production flexibility, and reduced capital requirements. Unlike conventional manufacturing that demands massive fixed infrastructure, Rubi’s platform touts 10x cheaper CapEx needs and can be deployed in modular units anywhere, enabling critical supply chains to be established at the point of need and at a fraction of typical infrastructure development costs.

The technology behind this breakthrough is Rubi’s proprietary cell-free enzyme platform, which represents a fundamental shift in how critical materials are manufactured. Unlike traditional fermentation or chemical processes, Rubi’s technology uses cascades of specialized enzymes to transform abundant carbon molecules like CO2 into complex materials like cellulose polymers. This approach enables production that is both more efficient and more flexible than conventional methods, achieving advanced tunability and performance in the end materials. AI and ML-based enzyme engineering strongly complements Rubi’s cell-free platform to continually advance enzyme performance, yielding gains in cost and productivity that can be immediately realized.

About Rubi
Rubi is pioneering the next era of manufacturing with technology that transforms waste carbon into essential materials. The company’s proprietary enzyme platform enables the production of critical chemicals and materials from CO2, unlocking modular production that can be on-shored anywhere. Founded in 2021 by Neeka Mashouf and Dr. Leila Mashouf, Rubi is creating a manufacturing system that works in harmony with the planet while strengthening industrial competitiveness. To learn more, visit www.rubi.earth.

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