Gen Phoenix secures $18m with investment from Dr. Martens

Gen Phoenix, the producer of sustainable recycled leather at scale, is announcing $18m in funding to further the company’s mission to create premium and eco-conscious next-gen materials.

The investment was led by venture capital firm Material Impact, with participation from Dr. Martens, InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover, and Tapestry, the house of modern luxury lifestyle brands that include Coach, Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade. The funding round also includes existing investors ETF Partners and the Hermes GPE Environmental Innovation Fund, who continue to support the company’s growth plans.

Launched in 2007, Gen Phoenix – formerly known as ELeather – has over fifteen years of experience manufacturing sustainable recycled leather and pioneering circularity at scale. In a category that for others is defined by future hypotheticals, Gen Phoenix serves brand partners in search of tangible solutions to their sustainability goals.

Inspired by the cyclical regeneration of the phoenix, Gen Phoenix gives new life to leather waste by transforming it into a sustainable alternative.  The latest round of funding will bolster growth for the business and further efforts to meaningfully tackle the world’s waste problem.

“We’re thrilled to be working with a consortium of like-minded, sustainability-focused partners across a variety of sectors,” says Gen Phoenix CEO John Kennedy. “We look forward to extending our vision of circularity to new markets and providing our customers, strategic partners and end consumers with best-in-class circular materials.”

Material Impact, who led the round, sees its investment in Gen Phoenix as core to its thesis of building deep tech companies powered by material science that solve enduring, large-scale, real-world problems. Paul Deninger, Operating Partner at Material Impact, joins Gen Phoenix as Chairman of the Board. Paul has a successful track record of driving companies to scale.

“At Material Impact we seek out transformational technologies that can have immediate or near-term impact on large-scale problems,” says Paul Deninger. “Gen Phoenix is in a category of its own when it comes to innovation, product performance, price parity, market traction and scale, all critical components for a business that aims to drive meaningful change in the next-gen materials space.”