Alusid Ltd has raised £500,000 in an equity funding round to support the circular-economy maker of ceramic wall and floor tiles in preparing for a planned initial public off on London's AIM.
Investors in the pre-IPO funding round, which valued the business at £10 million, included Frontier IP Group, PLC (LSE:FIPP), which converted £250,000 of loans into equity and now holds a 36.16% stake in the company.
Octopus Investments also contributed follow-on funding through its AIM VCT funds.
Some of the proceeds will also be used to expand Alusid's international distribution and accelerate product development, including advancing its proprietary low-carbon manufacturing technology, where waste tiles are converted via a patented dry granulation process into new designs.
Having developed sustainable tiles that use more than 95% recycled materials and have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the ceramics sector, Alusid is also developing moulded products, such as basins and shower trays, made from UK waste streams.
International distribution agreements are held in the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden, while UK retail partner Topps Tiles has launched two Alusid-made ranges, with a third due in early 2026.
Tiles made by the company include Starbucks, Harrods, Nando's and Pret-a-Manger.
Alusid CEO Alasdair Bremner said closing the new funding round "marks another important step towards bringing Alusid to the public markets".
He said the company is "seeing strong and growing demand from retailers and distributors across Europe for genuinely low-carbon tile ranges, and this investment will allow us to accelerate new product development and scale our distribution network with confidence".
Neil Crabb, chief executive of Frontier IP, said: "Alusid continues to go from strength to strength as the strong support from investors for this funding round shows."
Dominic Weller, fund manager at Octopus Investments, said: "We are proud to continue to support Dr Alasdair Bremer and the Alusid team as they build on their progress to date. Their mission to make sustainable tiles from recycled waste the industry standard remains compelling."
Alusid was the first spin-out company from the University of Lancashire, which also contributed to the funding round.