Develop technology to help turn pineapple leaves into fabric fibers

Vu Thi Lieu - founder and CEO of startup Ecosoi brings to Shark Tank a green technology that is a trend in the world fashion industry. Established in 2021, this startup specializes in developing machines that create fabric fibers from green materials such as yarn separators, cotton whipping machines, yarn carding machines, etc.

According to the founder of Ecosoi, for every pineapple harvested, farmers will throw away 2-3kg of pandan leaves, so millions of tons of pandan leaves are thrown away every year. The startup's idea is to turn discarded agricultural products such as pineapple leaves into fabric, thereby contributing to adding value to agricultural products. Ecosoi's products already have customers in Vietnam and have been invited to exhibit at green fashion events around the world.

Ecosoi's model is to transfer technology to cooperatives and businesses that have raw material areas, facilities, and labor resources that are local people. The startup's current customer is Pinatex - the largest producer of leather from pineapple fibers in the world.

CEO Vu Thi Lieu herself is a university lecturer in the environmental department, director Nguyen Van Hanh is a farmer and another companion is the president of Keep It Beautiful Vietnam - an organization specializing in restoring villages. Traditional professions are being lost

The group of 4 founders of Ecosoi contributed 1 billion to the company, spent 800 million and currently has assets of about 800 million VND. This amount of money is mainly received from transferring technology of 20 machines to cooperatives and also earning profits from that.

The startup has an expected revenue of 4.7 billion VND in 2022, 40 billion VND in 2023 and 71.5 billion VND in 2024, with a profit margin on revenue of about 15%. Coming to Shark Tank, this company hopes to receive an investment of 100,000 USD in exchange for 20% of the shares.

The raised funds will be used by the startup to package processes and expand production to meet customer needs. The minimum level that customers want is 7 tons/month, but currently Ecosoi only achieves nearly 3 tons/month.

After the Startup's brief introduction, the Sharks showed quite an interest because this is an environmental protection product, in line with current trends.

Machine models developed by Ecosoi produce an average of 4kg of yarn/day. Meanwhile, the Philippines is the main pineapple fiber supplier for Pinatex, which can only produce about 3.75kg of fiber/day.

In addition, the startup added that after harvesting, the leaves will be transported back to be plucked, cleaned, and processed into fibers in a 48-hour process. While competitor Philippines produces 1 kg of fiber from 67kg of leaves, Ecosoi only needs 55kg of pandan leaves to create 1 kg of fiber.

When asked by investors about the issue of industrial protection, CEO Ecosoi said that they have registered a useful solution for pineapple leaf technology fibers and have also registered copyrights for yarn and fabric lines.

When asked to compare pineapple fiber with cotton fiber, the startup said pineapple fiber is 2.5 times more expensive than cotton fiber. This type of fiber absorbs sweat equally but has more durable mechanical properties than cotton fiber. In 2022, Ecosoi will export about 14 tons of fiber made from pandan leaves to the market.

Although there are some concerns because the development team are amateurs and do not understand how to operate a business, both Shark Hung Anh (CEO Bin Corporation), Shark Lien (Do Thi Kim Lien - founder of the application) technology insurance application LIAN) all highly appreciated the startup's products.

After a period of negotiation, Shark Hung Anh was the one who reached an agreement with Ecosoi when he decided to spend 3 billion in exchange for 30% of this startup's shares.