- 6/5/2024

Triple Helix disrupts the value chain

3 min

Triple Helix aims to create change in the traditional and capital-intensive chemical industry by investing in alternative commodities and recycling. "In a nutshell, we want to prevent products from being incinerated or landfilled at the end of their life by recovering the material streams and turning waste into new commodities," says CEO Steven Peleman. "And I really do mean any waste stream. Our first project is a factory to break down polyurethane foam and reuse it as a liquid raw material for industry."

Venture studio

Peleman and his three partners know the chemical industry inside out and are aware that it is very difficult to broker change. "Some of these plants have been around for decades. Simply saying that we intend to do things radically differently and disrupt the market? That is not how it works, which is why you need smaller companies that serve as a catalyst for change."

The core of Triple Helix is formed by an independent venture studio that sets up and develops circular projects, creating the right ecosystems around them. "We started with the industry we know best and are gradually expanding our business. We now have a dozen legal entities and are working on a new cluster, focusing on CO2 and sulphuric acid recovery."

Friends, family and fools

As a start-up, Triple Helix is still in the investment phase. “This is a huge challenge,” Peleman says. "These days, the only way to finance a venture like ours is to find investors who can afford to take risks, especially in an industry like ours, with expensive installations, test equipment and laboratories. But the profiles you need are also very expensive. Because you need the experience and knowledge. During the start-up phase, you basically have no choice but to rely on friends, family and other contacts. Our credibility is increasing in leaps and bounds, giving us more clout," says Peleman.

Scalable and cost-effective

The polyurethane recycling plant will be their first lighthouse project. "We want to show that our business model works and that it is scalable and profitable to get traditional equity players to invest."

They expect to finalise the financing in the first quarter, so they can start building the factory at the end of March. "We’re ready. The lab results are good. We have a commitment from market players to supply and purchase material. And we are in discussions with three countries to roll out the plant internationally."

Over the next two years, Peleman wants to make the infrastructure profitable and further expand the other ventures. "It’s not our intention to create one hundred companies. But we do want to set up a few that provide actual solutions to problems and then internationalise them. Between five and ten years, we want to be able to say that the entire set-up has been financed, is running smoothly, and delivering great results so that we can hand it down to the next generation."

Ready to push boundaries together

BNP Paribas Fortis has been following and advising Triple Helix for three years, from when they first presented the idea to the concrete development of the financing options. “We went through a learning process with the bank,” Peleman says. “You need to build a relationship and get to know each other, so both parties can assess the risk.”

Today, BNP Paribas Fortis is one of two banks in a consortium that will help finance a large part of the factory. "I see that the bank has the in-house knowledge to understand what we are doing. But understanding what we do is more important than knowledge. And that is something the bank definitely provides."

Triple Helix is ready to change the world.

"We went through a learning process with the bank. You need to build a relationship and get to know each other so both parties can assess the risk," says Steven Peleman, CEO of Triple Helix.