Packaging is a trillion-dollar-a-year industry that generally has some sustainability issues. Impacted is a B2B company bringing green technology from jars, tubes and pouches to bottles.
The company has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by TenOneTen Ventures, taking its total funding to $3.3 million. The new funding will be used to hire additional primary packaging suppliers for distressed markets in North America and Europe, as well as to improve the existing sustainability rating system. The company declined to share its valuation or other details about the funding round.
As a former Global Brand Manager at Unilever Product Innovations, finding primary packaging is one of the biggest hurdles in the product launch process. The buying and selling process is long and inefficient, the industry is still dependent on in-person trade shows, word of mouth and analog middlemen. This often forces brands to overpay, delay product launches or lose sustainability,” Lisa-Marie Asenza, CEO of ImPacked, in an interview with TechCrunch. “My goal with ImPacked is to bring the trade show online 365 days a year, suppliers By giving them the tools to digitize their sales and marketing, they can quickly search, filter, filter, quote and buy packaging for brands – all in one place.”
Founders of Unpacked, Natasha Trueman (COO) and Lisa-Marie Asenza (General Manager). Image credits: damaged.
“TenOneTen is the lead investor in this round. We seek to bring strong stability to former operators who have successfully built and grown companies themselves. David [Waxman] And the entire TenOneTen team has been amazing in working with us, understanding our mission and vision, and the previous operators have helped us tremendously on our journey to the initial stage,” said Asenza. “As sustainability regulations continue to change and become more complex for brands to navigate, our goal is to help brand owners manage these challenges by ensuring that every product listed on our marketplace is registered with standard environmental sustainability standards. Make better purchasing decisions and verify the accuracy of the claims on their packaging.” .
The company is expanding its appeal and supplier reach across product lines and geographically.
Impac is currently joining a huge number of companies flocking to this space, biting off different slices of the market. Some companies, such as Olive, are focusing on reusable packaging, while others are looking for mycelium-based or plant pulp-based solutions.
Affected’s ultimate goal is to “source every major package on the planet,” creating a packaging ecosystem, the company says, with greater connectivity and collaboration between brands and suppliers in the packaging industry.
“The health of our planet is one of the most important issues of our time, and it’s clear that packaging has a big role to play. In the next 10 years, Impact will play a key role in showing the information and brands that need to change to sustainable packaging, all of which will drive suppliers’ innovation in packaging materials, design and production practices.” “I personally have a love/hate relationship with the word ‘sustainable’ – it’s confusing and the reality is that there is no one way to be ‘sustainable.’ It’s really about taking steps to reduce the impact of a brand’s packaging at the beginning and end of life. I believe that transitioning our industry to sustainable solutions starts with education. Brands need a better way to accurately assess the environmental impact of packaging options they consider early in the shopping journey. For example, if a brand adds a frosted lid to an otherwise reusable 8 oz glass bottle that already knows it won’t be widely recycled, it can protect its recyclability and claim ‘recyclable’ correctly on the packaging. You can take a decorative option.
