Encarmas Selected for 1stRound Deep Tech Program
The selection puts UTEC funding and partnerships behind a company whose pitch is the long fiber, low cost, high quality combination that existing CFRP recycling has not delivered, at a time when CFRP waste is projected to pass 150,000 tons a year worldwide by 2030.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
Encarmas Co., Ltd., a Hamamatsu-based startup founded in 2026, has been selected as a 15th cohort company of 1stRound, the startup growth support program run by University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners. The company recovers carbon fiber from carbon fiber reinforced plastic using supercritical and subcritical fluid technology, aiming for horizontal recycling of a material that is mostly landfilled today.
1stRound is co-hosted by universities and research institutions, and its 15th cohort adds a company built out of the JST EARLY program, drawing on research at Shizuoka University and Institute of Science Tokyo. Encarmas says the support covers funding, business partnerships, and access to experts, which it intends to use for initial funding and first customers. The company was evaluated on three points it says existing recycling has struggled with: keeping fibers long, keeping cost low, and keeping quality high.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.