Ecoat Secures €21 Million to Redefine Eco-Friendly Paint

In a bold stride toward decarbonising one of the most pollution-intensive segments of global manufacturing, Grasse-based GreenTech scale-up Ecoat has secured a €21 million funding package to accelerate its mission: transforming the coatings and paints industry, which is responsible for an estimated 2% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

The funding round is anchored by €18 million in equity investment from a coalition of impact-driven players: Yotta Capital, the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), and Starquest Capital. It’s further bolstered by public sector backing via France 2030, channelled through the country’s environmental innovation agency, ADEME. A debt facility supported by Bpifrance and Ecoat’s longstanding banking partners will soon bring the total to over €21 million.

“This marks a turning point for Ecoat. With the support of our new partners, we’re ready to scale fast — expanding production, accelerating R&D, and going global — all while staying true to our mission: making sustainable coatings the industry standard. We’re proud to be a European leader already — and now, we’re stepping into the US and Asian markets to take this impact to the next level,” says Olivier Choulet, CEO of Ecoat.

Founded in 2011, Ecoat has become a rising star in the sustainable materials space by doing something deceptively simple yet radically impactful: replacing fossil-derived polymers in paints with water-based, bio-based binders crafted through green chemistry and eco-design principles.

Binders—often invisible to the average consumer—are the unsung heroes of the coatings world, essential for adhesion, durability, and finish. But traditional binders are carbon-rich, petrochemical-heavy, and environmentally toxic. Ecoat’s innovation? High-performance alternatives that deliver both sustainability and technical excellence are tailored for decorative, wood, and metal applications.

“With its investment in Ecoat, Yotta is proud to finance through its Growth Fund Yotta Growth Industry, a French leading industrial SME which brings to the market innovative and cost-competitive low-carbon solutions to accelerate the decarbonisation of the paint and coating industry. We will work alongside Ecoat’s management and our co-investors to help accelerate its growth and its positive impact on the environment,” said Nadia Bouzigues, Managing Partner at Yotta Capital Partners.

And the market is noticing. While the broader coatings industry has either stagnated or declined in recent years, Ecoat has surged forward with an average annual growth rate of 60% over the last five years. That’s not just success—it’s a signal—a signal that the coatings industry, long overdue for reinvention, is hungry for scalable green alternatives.

“As an investor committed to advancing circular bioeconomy, we at ECBF are proud to support the expansion strategy of Ecoat, a technology leader with a clear commitment to sustainability and circularity. Ecoat’s unique bio-based solutions have already proven their potential in the cost-efficient de-fossilisation of paints and coatings,” adds Michael Nettersheim, General Partner at ECBF.

Ecoat doesn’t merely aim to reduce carbon footprints—it’s building a platform for industrial-scale decarbonisation. Its advantage lies not only in the products themselves but also in the infrastructure behind them: a deep integration of life cycle analysis, bio-based chemistry expertise, and a Responsible Care ethos for safe chemical stewardship.

This capital injection sets the stage for Ecoat’s next act—one that’s as ambitious as it is urgent:

• Ramp up production capacity to 30,000 tons of bio-based binders at its Roussillon facility, a key industrial site in southeastern France.

• Expand its workforce across R&D, manufacturing, and global commercial teams.

• Accelerate international growth across Europe, the United States, and Asia, targeting markets where regulation and demand are converging around sustainable solutions.

• Deepen partnerships with global industrial leaders, embedding Ecoat’s technology across the value chain.

• Pursue strategic acquisitions, leveraging momentum to consolidate its leadership in the next-gen coatings ecosystem.

Ecoat represents more than just another cleantech success story—it symbolises the next frontier in industrial sustainability: upgrading the invisible components that quietly shape the world around us. From the paint on your walls to the finish on your furniture, the future is being remade, molecule by molecule.

“We’ve been backing Ecoat since the very beginning, in 2013 — long before the coatings sector turned its eyes to sustainability. From those early days to becoming a European market leader, we’ve watched Ecoat turn vision into execution. This new round marks a new chapter: one of international growth, especially in the US market, to maximise the decarbonisation impact in the global building industry,” adds Chloé Cohen-Aknine, Investment Director at Starquest Capital.