Startup that turns pandan leaves into fashion materials received capital of 3 billion VND

Grasping the trend of greening the fashion industry, startup Ecosoi brought fabric woven from pineapple leaves to Shark Tank, calling for an investment of 100,000 USD for a 20% stake.

Vu Thi Lieu - founder and CEO of Ecosoi gives actual data that for every pineapple picked, farmers will throw away 2 - 3 kg of pandan leaves, so there are millions of tons of pandan leaves thrown away. annual.

Startup Ecosoi was established in 2021 and develops machines such as: yarn separator, cotton whipping machine, yarn carding machine to create the main products of raw yarn and whipped yarn. 

According to the 2023 plan, the company will have a new product line of industrial yarn rolls to serve the fashion industry. Expected revenue in 2022 is 4.7 billion VND, in 2023 it is 40 billion VND and in 2024 it is 71.5 billion VND, the profit margin on revenue is about 15%.
 

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

The CEO said that the capital raised will be used to package all 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.
 

The startup also talked about Ecosoi's technological superiority, producing an average of 4 kg of fiber/day. Meanwhile, the Philippines is the main pineapple fiber supplier for Pinatex, which can only produce about 3.75 kg of fiber/day.

Besides, during the leaf harvesting process, if the Philippines produces 1 kg of fiber from 67 kg of pandan leaves, Ecosoi only needs 55 kg. Nguyen Van Hanh - co-founder of the startup added that about the production stage, after harvesting the leaves will be transported and processed in a 48-hour process to pluck, clean, and process them into fibers.

CEO Vu Thi Lieu herself is a lecturer in the environmental department, not a business major. Co-founder Nguyen Van Hanh is a farmer and another companion is living abroad - President of Keep It Beautiful Vietnam organization, specializing in restoring traditional craft villages that are being eroded.

They met at one point, Ecosoi - the place where all their dreams were fulfilled and so the whole group was fierce with this project. Ecosoi has had small fashion shows taking place in Switzerland, Canada and soon Greece.

Shark Hung Anh believes that startups need to rebuild their company model, not just stop at an idea. He also reiterated the risk of price squeeze when depending on a single customer. For these reasons, he offered $100,000 to own 40% of the shares.
 

With this offer, Shark Lien and Shark Erik immediately made a competitive offer: 100,000 USD for 36% of shares with the promise to help the Startup go faster and take off successfully. Refusing to give way, Shark Hung Anh reduced its ownership percentage to 30% with support in properly restructuring the company.

While the startup was consulting, Shark Lien also shared with Shark Erik that she had a pretty good impression of CEO Vu Thi Lieu because she was agile, and it could be seen that the two companions really wanted to get this deal done.

However, after a period of discussion, CEO Vu Thi Lieu decided to choose Shark Hung Anh because she also had a guide from Quang Nam and he was very sincere. Another reason is that she wants to avoid valuing the company too low. Ecosoi's business was successful with the companionship of Shark Hung Anh.