Ogyre, the global fishing for litter platform that aims to clean up plastic from the oceans, has closed a €3.8 million capital increase to expand its global mission against marine litter pollution. Founded in 2021, the company closed 2024 at break-even with a turnover of over €2 million and is preparing, thanks to the round led by Vertis, to tackle the scale-up phase, with Crédit Agricole Italia and Open Venture participating as co-investors.
Ogyre works closely with fishermen and local communities at the heart of its regenerative model and, thanks to its fleets operating in Italy, Indonesia, Brazil and Senegal, contributes to cleaning up the ocean and coastlines, safeguarding marine ecosystems.
Thanks to its platform that uses blockchain technology to track waste fishing activities, Ogyre enables companies wishing to conduct campaigns in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to finance waste collection and participate in the mission to rid the ocean of plastic. From Luna Rossa to Panerai, from Feltrinelli to AS Roma and many others, over 200 brands have chosen to embrace the project.
The capital increase will be used to expand Ogyre’s mission globally into new countries, with a particular focus on areas most affected by marine pollution, in line with the company’s impact-first approach. The goal for 2026 is to reach an annual collection target of two million kilograms of waste, with an average of five tonnes removed per day, equal to a volume five times higher than in 2025, aiming for a total target of 20 million kilograms collected by 2030. The team, which currently has 25 people in Italy, will be strengthened by this capital increase with the aim of expanding its presence in Europe and attracting new international partners, thus accelerating its ability to scale its impact.
In addition to increasing harvesting operations, the investment will continue to focus on the social impact of the project. The company promotes the sustainable development of coastal communities, employing over 130 fishermen on its boats with wages up to three times higher than the local daily minimum wage. In order to valorise waste and include it in a virtuous cycle of recovery, it collaborates with local cooperatives to send the collected materials for recycling or responsible disposal.
Finally, part of the funds will be allocated to the continuous development of its technology, in order to consolidate Ogyre’s role in the blue economy scientific community as one of the main sources of tracked and transparent data on the state of marine litter pollution and plastic disposal from the planet’s water basins.
“The ocean is a vital resource for our future: the livelihoods of three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity. Thanks to the new capital, we will be able to significantly accelerate the achievement of our collection targets, with a scientific approach based on the systematic tracking of the waste life cycle,” said Antonio Augeri, co-founder and CEO of Ogyre (pictured), in a statement.
“Thanks to this capital increase, we will be able to scale the Ogyre model in foreign countries and attract new international partners, allowing us to have an even greater impact. Expanding our operations to new ports will offer many companies the opportunity to have an even stronger real impact on the environment, local communities and knowledge sharing on the health of the seas, in line with the SDGs of Agenda 2030,” says Andrea Faldella, co-founder and CEO of Ogyre.
“Over the next five years, the ocean economy will play a decisive role in the race to achieve the SDGs, and there are still few innovative companies capable of responding to these challenges, laying the foundations for going further in the long term. Companies are paying increasing attention to these issues, and the demand for solutions to environmental and social sustainability problems will only grow,” says Alessandro Pontari, partner at Vertis Venture 5 Scaleup, a fund managed by Vertis.
“We decided to participate in this capital increase because the project reflects our focus on initiatives that generate value for the environment and the community. Ogyre has unique characteristics and is part of the Le Village by CA Parma network, Crédit Agricole’s innovation ecosystem that accelerates start-ups and innovative ideas which, like this one, have the potential to stand out at national and international level,” adds Andrea Riva, Head of Open Innovation at Crédit Agricole Italia.
“We chose Ogyre for its environmental and social mission, and we are delighted to accompany them in the scale-up phase of the project,” says Virginia Filippi, president of Open Venture.
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