Innovate UK Business Connect's Sustainable Chemicals Innovation Network shines a spotlight on businesses rethinking how materials are made. Revive Eco is a brilliant example of this – a UK-based team of innovators, scientists, and sustainability problem-solvers, with a shared passion for transforming waste into opportunity. In this case, used coffee grounds into high-value, sustainable ingredients.
Founded in Glasgow in 2015 by Fergus Moore and Scott Kennedy, Revive Eco began with a simple idea – to unlock the untapped potential in everyday waste. Today, the company has developed a patented, scalable process that converts spent coffee grounds into sustainable alternatives to palm and coconut-derived ingredients – helping tackle deforestation, reduce carbon emissions, and bring circularity and sustainability into sectors such as cosmetics.
“We create processes to garner value from food industry byproducts and waste streams,” explains co-founder Scott Kennedy. “For us, that started with spent coffee grounds – but the ambition is to expand that know-how into different food waste streams.”
From early funding to scaling up
Early Innovate UK grant funding through the Sustainable Innovation Fund enabled Revive Eco to invest in research and development, grow its team, and refine its process.
“That initial funding was really important,” says Scott Kennedy. “It meant we were able to invest in R&D and develop the process that we have now patented. It’s something we simply couldn’t have done at the same pace otherwise.”
Alongside funding, Innovate UK Business Connects SME Accelerator programme that ran in 2021, helped the company take the next step with hands-on support, advice and access to potential investors.
“It really helped us take what we had to the next level,” Scott Kennedy explains. “We were able to refine our pitch deck, strengthen our messaging, and present the opportunity with much more confidence. And it created real opportunities. We’ve since gone on to pitch to investors we met through the programme. It’s opened doors that might otherwise have taken much longer to access.”
When it comes to his advice to others, Scott Kennedy explains where Innovate UK Business Connect can really help: “There’s a huge amount of support out there, and it can be overwhelming. Having that connection into Innovate UK Business Connect really helps you understand where to focus and how to move forward.”
Innovation for real-world impact
With its core technology now proven at lab scale, Revive Eco is focused on scaling up production. The company has already successfully demonstrated its process at pilot scale and is now working with manufacturing partners to take it further.
The company’s route to market is through distributors and formulators in the cosmetics sector, where demand for sustainable, bio-based ingredients is growing.
“There’s strong interest from the market,” explains Scott Kennedy. “The key now is having the capacity to meet that demand.”
Next steps – licensing and expanding impact
Looking ahead, Revive Eco’s ambitions are firmly focused on growth. Alongside scaling production across Europe, the company is exploring a licensing model – embedding its technology within partner sites to accelerate expansion without the need for new infrastructure.
At the same time, the company continues to invest in innovation – with new ingredients and exploring how its technology can be applied to other waste streams.
We want to plug our process into existing manufacturing sites. That’s how we see real scale happening. Coffee was just the starting point. We want to apply what we’ve learned to other types of waste and broaden the impact of circular chemistry across industries.
– Scott Kennedy, Co-founder, Revive Eco