Uplift360 secures £6.17 million seed funding
Sustainable material regeneration is becoming a critical priority for the defence sector as it seeks to secure supply chains and reduce waste. So, this funding round for Uplift360, which supports the development of advanced recycling technology for strategic composites, could mark a watershed for the industry.
By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on February 7, 2026.
Advanced materials startup Uplift360 has secured a €7.4 million (£6.17 million/$7.97 million) seed funding round to scale its proprietary chemical regeneration technology, according to a February 6 press release.
The oversubscribed round was led by European deep-tech venture fund Extantia, with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Promus Ventures, and Fund F, the press release states. The investment is intended to facilitate the expansion of production capabilities and the establishment of further industrial partnerships.
Uplift360’s technology focuses on the recovery of high-value composite materials, including carbon fibre, aramids such as Kevlar, and hybrid laminates. These materials are used extensively across the aerospace, defence, wind energy, and automotive sectors.
“Our technology turns what is currently burned, buried or exported into a reliable, high-quality feedstock stream,” Sam Staincliffe, CEO and Co-Founder of Uplift360, said in the press release.
Unlike traditional recycling methods, the company’s chemical processes. When recovering resins like those used in helicopter blades, Uplift360 has a process called ChemR. For aramid fibres, which are used to make body armour and spall liners in armoured vehicles, a separate process called Renew, is used. Both are designed to be non-degenerative, allowing for the recovery of fibres that maintain the same quality as virgin materials.
The new capital will be used to commission a first pilot-scale processing line in the UK in 2026. This facility will allow for higher processing volumes and real-world validation of the technology. The company also intends to increase research and development into regenerated-fibre performance and expand its distributed model for composite circularity across Europe.
How can old defence equipment be repurposed?
A drone arm that has been made out of recovered helicopter blades by the Uplift360 ChemR process. Credit: Uplift360
The startup currently operates in the UK and Luxembourg and has already established several collaborations with major industrial players. These include a project with Babcock regarding Eurofighter Typhoon end-of-life materials, work with Leonardo to repurpose Merlin helicopter blades into UxV components, and an ongoing project with Rolls-Royce.
Under the collaboration with Leonardo, Uplift360 produced a structural component for a drone from end-of-life helicopter blades in October 2025. The blades were expected to be incinerated or sent to landfill. There are two key components to that story: Not only were the materials recovered, but they were repurposed into a new part. This shows that recycling can be made useful for defence.
Company profile: Uplift360
Uplift360 is an advanced materials company that specialises in the circular economy for the defence and aerospace sectors. Founded by veterans and materials scientists, the company focuses on “material regeneration”—a chemical process that breaks down complex composites into their original constituent fibres without losing structural integrity. By providing a domestic source of high-performance fibres, the company aims to mitigate supply chain bottlenecks caused by geopolitical pressures and the limited availability of raw materials.
Calibre comment: Greening defence, a dirty word
A senior British officer responsible for reducing the environmental impact of the British MoD recently explained that it was difficult to talk about environmental impact with his peers. He was speaking at the IQPC International Armoured Vehicles conference back in January. However, when reducing impact through a hybrid engine, which improved the capability of an armoured vehicle, he said that his colleagues were willing to listen.
This touches upon one of the thorny issues for defence: Greening defence is a bit of a dirty word, or phrase. Most people want to talk capability, they aren’t interested in sacrificing money – which is scarce – for no appreciable uplift in firepower, mobility, or protection. But when reducing the environmental impact of defence comes hand-in-hand with improved capabilities, many are more willing to listen. This is why the Uplift360 funding could mark a watershed moment for defence. It could provide the ability to recover hard-to-find materials from retired or used equipment, reducing the UK’s reliance on extended foreign supply chains (the capability) whilst reducing the environmental impact of sustaining its defence estate.
You may have noticed a significant uplift in defence investment lately. Money is pouring in, especially to the UK. If you would like to learn more about this, please do have a read of the articles linked below, it really helps Calibre out. Thank you.
Lead image credit: Uplift360.
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