PVA Pro, a start-up focusing on the production of water-soluble polymer bags that can fully dissolve in warm water at 70°C within 30-60 minutes, has secured close to $1 million in funding from the ITI Fund (Innovative Startup Investment Fund).
Transparent bio-plastic bags made by PVA Pro dissolve when submerged in warm water.
The ITI Fund's investment was announced on August 3. Dang Thi Kieu My, Director of the ITI Fund, stated that the funds would be used to enhance production capacity, international market access, and the marketing team's capabilities for PVA Pro.
Founded in 2021, PVA Pro is a startup that leverages new bioplastic technology based on PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol). While traditional PVA is used in laundry detergent capsules and pharmaceutical wrapping, it is often opaque and rapidly dissolves in cold water, limiting its use for transparent, thin, and flexible packaging. To address this, key members of PVA Pro developed a method to utilize PVA's flexible characteristics to create a new polymer with thin, transparent, high flexibility properties that only dissolve quickly in warm water. This characteristic makes it ideal for packaging and doesn't release harmful plastic particles during decomposition, according to the project team.
Thai Nhu Hang, Co-founder of PVA Pro, shared that the project is in the final stages of researching environmentally friendly packaging products for the fashion industry. The goal is to extend these solutions to other sectors like retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). PVA Pro has already established a production plant in Long An, with an initial capacity of producing 30 tons of bioplastic material per month, expected to rise to 90 tons per month after investment.
Dang Thi Kieu My praised the project for its potential to locally produce bioplastic materials in Vietnam. Currently, many businesses import plastic materials from China and then blend them to create bags. My believes that the project's proactive approach to sourcing materials is a basis for faster progress from research to practical application.
My mentioned that in reality, the production cost of a bioplastic bag will be significantly higher than a regular plastic bag. She stated, "We will work closely with the project to optimize technology and production scale to reduce this difference, making the product more accessible to the market."
The ITI Fund (Increase–Together–Innovation Fund) is an innovative startup investment fund established by 4M Group. It aims to support startups and contribute to the sustainable development of the startup ecosystem.
