Prism Worldwide raises $40M in Series A, A1 funding

Prism Worldwide, an end-of-life tire recycler based in Kirkland, Washington, has raised $40 million in Series A and Series A1 funds. The company says it is using the capital infusion to consolidate operations, invest in technology and equipment and expand its team.

To date, Prism says the funding has provided a foundation from which it has reached commercial viability, demonstrated by a round of sales and sales commitments for its thermoelastic polymers (TPEs). The company claims the development of its TPEs marks the first time any company has successfully created a sustainable, high-performance polymer derived from end-of-life tires.

The funding rounds were co-led by return investors Columbia Pacific Advisors, a Seattle-based alternative investment firm, and Jim Sinegal, co-founder and former CEO of retailer Costco. The combination Series A and Series A1 funding round also includes participation from Robert “Spike” Anderson, former CEO of Anderson Daymon Worldwide and current chairman of Prism’s board of directors.

“Prism has achieved what no other company has by successfully developing a novel method to turn end-of-life tires into a useful polymer that can be compounded into a wide range of rubber and plastic products,” says John Bratrud, portfolio manager at Columbia Pacific Advisors. “Solving the challenge of recycling tires and transforming them into sustainable, high-quality and reliable material opens a wide range of revenue pathways in every market that uses elastomers and plastics.”

According to Prism, the first deployment of Series A capital was for the acquisition of CRC Polymer Systems, a custom compounding company that supplies compounds, resins and colors to the plastics industry. Prism says the 2022 acquisition enabled it to increase its capacity for product development, manufacturing and distribution throughout the U.S. and North America.

“Few companies have such a significant number of avenues to achieve financial success,” Sinegal says. “In addition to individual customers, Prism’s technology holds profound value for large petrochemical polymer companies seeking ways to make their virgin materials more sustainable.”

Prism notes that, traditionally, tires are burned or ground into final-stage materials used on playground surfaces or sporting fields. With its technology, Prism reverses the polymerization of the tire rubber in what it calls a novel, energy efficient and low capital-intensive manner that allows the end material to be functional and flexible in a wide range of elastomer and plastic applications. The company claims it makes it possible to integrate a higher concentration of recycled materials to be used in both rubber- and plastic-based products without conceding product quality.

Prism adds that its technology can help companies scale revenues and profitability while helping them achieve sustainability goals by reducing carbon emissions and reliance on virgin petrochemical-based materials.

“Our patented technology has already captured the attention of a significant number of customers in the specialty polymer industry,” Prism CEO Bob Abramowitz says. “This novel technology eliminates the common fate of end-of-life tires and waste plastics that often litter landfills or illegal dumps by creating functional polymers from these valuable recycled materials.

“We’re already fielding inquiries from a host of companies seeking ways to make their customer and industrial products more sustainable. Even more compelling is that once the products manufactured from our polymer intermediates reach their end-of-life usefulness, they can be recycled again, creating a truly circular, long life.”

Prism says its technology and products are made and sourced in the U.S. Its performance solutions for the TPE, thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) and thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) markets under its Ancora brand and rubber modified plastics polymer markets under its Ennova brand are sustainable and offer a route to “making tires more circular.”