HHonext Material
Honext Material is a Barcelona-based circular materials company that upcycles cellulose waste from paper mills into fully recyclable, non-toxic fibreboards for construction and interior design, using a patented enzymatic (biotech) process developed with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Founded in 2011 as a UPC spin-off by three generations of the Merino family, it manufactures HONEXT® panels for acoustic ceilings, wall cladding, partitions and shopfitting, and now operates as a joint venture with the German paper group WEPA (Honext x WEPA GmbH), a project backed by a €22.5M European Investment Bank financing in 2026. Its backers include CDTI/Innvierte, Caixa Capital Risc and EU Horizon 2020 grants.
SectorsCircular Economy, Sustainable Building Materials, Construction, Biotech / Industrial Biotechnology, Cleantech
Start-up MapProptech & Construction › Building materials & fabrication
Founders
F
Ferran Merino
Co-Founder
P
Pol Merino
Co-Founder & CEO, Honext Material; Managing Director, Honext x WEPA
Global models 5
EEcovative
United States · ecovative.com ↗
Uses a patented biotech process to turn agricultural waste into mycelium materials that replace conventional panels, foams and packaging.
~$150MComparable
BBiomason
United States · biomason.com ↗
Makes low-carbon building products, such as tiles and masonry, through a patented biological (microbial) process and sells them to the construction and interiors market.
~$95MComparable
PPrometheus Materials
United States · prometheusmaterials.com ↗
Makes bio-based construction materials with a biotech process developed as a university spin-off and sells them to builders.
~$35MComparable
PPlantd
United States · plantd.life ↗
Makes carbon-negative structural panels from fast-growing grass to replace wood-based OSB and sells them to the construction market.
~$20MComparable
MMade of Air
Germany · madeofair.com ↗
Turns biomass waste into carbon-negative, recyclable sheet material for facades, interiors and design products.
~$12MComparable
In the same niche 8 others
See all in the Start-ups Map →
Notes: Most funded first
Investors 10
Open as list →
EEuropean Investment Bank
www.eib.org
CCentro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación
www.cdti.es
CCriteria Capital Risc
www.caixacapitalrisc.es
UUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya
www.upc.edu
CCircular Capital
E
Evolvia, S.A.U.
GGrupo Construcía
MMeroil, S.A.
N
Nolabey Grup, S.L.
P
P.SAS PONT, S.L.
Funding rounds 4
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-17 | Series A (estimated) | €1.15M partial: only one investor's ticket was disclosed |
Lead not disclosed
+5 more
|
| 2026-05-06 | Venture Debt | approximately €22.5M | European Investment Bank |
| 2025-09-16 | Series A (estimated) | €3.33M partial: only one investor's ticket was disclosed |
Lead not disclosed
+2 more
|
| 2024-09-24 | Seed (estimated) | €2.5M |
Circular Capital
+5 more
|
News 1
Open as list →| Published | Article |
|---|---|
| 2026-09-17 |
Innvierte destina más de €11M en julio y agosto a 9 nuevas coinversiones en capital riesgo ↗
Webcapitalriesgo
2026-09-17 |