I want to solve society’s problems in a way that doesn’t force it to completely change, says founder

Tired of being made redundant, Mushroom Material founder Shaun Seaman decided to make plastic packaging redundant instead.

“I got made redundant twice, once from an IP firm and once from another company where I was lead product developer,” Seaman says.

“I think the turning point for me, and most founders, is realising that while you might be happy to work for someone else, you have to believe in what they’re doing. It’s very difficult to find that. Either from a product point of view or a moral point of view.”

Frustrated with decisions being made and directions chosen for businesses that he didn’t understand or agree with, Seaman started making them for himself. 

Mushroom Material, which just closed a $8.5 million seed funding round, aims to disrupt the global plastics market by replacing polystyrene-based Styrofoam with pelletised fungi. 

Up to 30 percent of landfills are taken up by polystyrene packaging, which takes centuries to break down. This packaging then becomes microplastics which leech into the environment. 

“Watching the amount of waste that goes into packaging and general product design was quite upsetting. Yes, it’s nice, and we want to have these things, but do we have to destroy the environment while we do it? Is there not a better way,” Seaman says. 

Mushroom Material’s pellets leverage the uniquely flexible properties of mycelium, mushrooms’ root structure, to create a sustainable polystyrene alternative that retains the durability of plastic while biodegrading in months. 

While it’s the magic component, the mycelium only makes up a fraction of the overall pellet mass. The rest is formed from agricultural byproducts – everything from sawdust to food waste.

This gives Mushroom Material flexibility as both a product and as a company, able to produce using local agricultural waste virtually anywhere in the world. 

“The materials are incredible; they have very similar properties to polystyrene, like impact resistance and thermal and acoustic insulation. You can use them for packaging, but also pharmaceutical use and keeping things cold. Basically, anywhere you find polystyrene,” Seaman says. 

‍

‍

The $8.5m funding round came from Singapore’s Wavemaker Partners, SEED capital, as well as local VC’s Icehouse Ventures and K1W1. That round will finance a 1300 sqm pilot plant in Mt Roskill, with a goal of producing samples this year and serving customers by 2025.

“New Zealand, to me, has one of the best R&D cultures on Earth. You can have a mix of expertise in one person that you won’t find anywhere else; you can have someone who works in a lab but also knows how to weld,” Seaman says. 

But New Zealand is just the launch pad. Seaman’s eyes are firmly on the global market as the transition from polystyrene and other plastics gathers momentum. 

New Zealand has already banned the use of many single-use plastics, and legislation is either in place or being investigated in the United States, European Union and dozens of other countries.   

Mushroom Material is ready to capitalise on the shifting market by fitting into the existing supply chain without a radical production overhaul.

“Polystyrene is being banned, but the supply chain and infrastructure exists, so for us, it was about ‘can we keep that infrastructure and just replace it one for one?’” says Seaman. 

“It was a case of taking this material and melding it with the plastic injection moulding industry. Even if you just take polystyrene, that comes in little beads and you merge the beads together into the final product. We’ve done exactly that because we know it scales.” 

Seaman believes that focus on solving a tangible problem while following the logistical path of least resistance is key to his success. 

“I don’t want to create an entirely new market; I want to improve the one that’s already there. I want to solve peoples’ problems, I love doing that but in a way that doesn’t force society to completely change. Because society is not going to completely change.”

But while its ambitions are grounded in practical realities, that doesn’t mean Mushroom Material is thinking small. The long-term goal is to replace all polystyrene globally and then look to other plastics as well.

As for his advice for other founders looking to replicate his success, Seaman says it comes down to always asking a simple question of yourself and your business. 

“Are you solving a real problem, or are you pushing technology? Pushing a technology is difficult but solving a real problem means you don’t have to prove anything; the market is there.”