Back to UBQ blog
TEL AVIV, Israel – June 14, 2023 – UBQ Materials, climate tech developer of advanced materials made from waste, today announced that it has been named to the inaugural XB100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private deep tech companies, published by XPRIZE and Bessemer Venture Partners.
The XB100 was launched to celebrate the entrepreneurs who are commercializing scientific research into deep tech and spotlight how they are impacting our society across nine categories. The XB100 evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: impact on humanity, valuation, scientific difficulty, and commercial traction. For impact on humanity, XB100 enlisted the help of a judging panel of scientists and industry experts who assisted in the evaluation.
“UBQ’s inclusion in this ranking exemplifies how innovation and technology can extend beyond software to break through the norms of our physical world,” commented Jack ‘Tato’ Bigio, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UBQ Materials. “UBQ is introducing a sustainable alternative to oil-based plastics, reducing the carbon footprint of thousands of products across industries including construction, logistics and supply chain, consumer goods and even automotive. ”
UBQ™ is an advanced material made entirely from unsorted organic and unrecyclable household waste that has been diverted from landfills or incineration. It is a novel, worldwide patented material that has already been adopted by leading industry brands from Mercedes-Benz to PepsiCo and McDonald’s. This year, UBQ will open its new facility in Bergen Op Zoom, Netherlands, with an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons of UBQ™, converting 104,600 metric tons of annual waste into a new raw material. With the support of the municipality, UBQ’s industrial-scale facility and research & development lab play a strategic role in transforming the region into a clean tech hub.
“The companies on the XB100 list represent the most valuable and impactful private companies in the deep tech sector,” said Tess Hatch, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “The XB100 awardees defy imagination and will reshape the human experience.”
“Investments in the commercialization of scientific research propel humanity forward,” said David Cowan, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “After years of investing in deep technologies ranging from quantum computing to rocket technology to next-generation biotherapeutics, Bessemer has marvelled at the potential of XB100 companies to tackle profound problems facing our species and our planet.”
“We’re honored to recognize the innovators featured on the inaugural XB100 and their important impacts on society,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “As we work to empower problem-solvers around the world to address humanity’s greatest challenges, XPRIZE celebrates these great minds and our collective impact.”
The XB100 list is published online at https://www.bvp.com/xb100.
About UBQ Materials Ltd.
UBQ Materials Ltd. closes the loop between the ecosystems of waste and materials. Through its advanced conversion technology, UBQ Materials Ltd. has created the world’s first bio-based thermoplastic, UBQ™, made entirely from organic and unrecyclable household waste. An easy material swap for plastic, UBQ™ preserves finite resources, prevents methane emissions in landfills and provides a climate-positive solution for a circular economy. A certified B Corp, UBQ Materials is a globally expanding company providing the world’s largest businesses, municipalities and consumers with the ability to create a truly circular economy where human consumption lives in harmony with the planet.
Learn more by visiting www.ubqmaterials.com.
Media Contact
FINN Partners for UBQ Materials
Nicole Kaufman Grubner
Nicole.grubner@finnpartners.com
+972-58-444-5418
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has $20 billion of assets under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong, Boston, and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).
XPRIZE
XPRIZE is a global future-positive movement delivering truly radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. XPRIZE inspires and empowers a global community of problem-solvers to positively impact our world by crowdsourcing solutions through large-scale competitions, tackling the world’s grandest challenges in exploration, environment, and human equity. Donate, learn more or join a team at xprize.org.
