On June 20, 2025, Forbes reported that Colorifix had raised $18 million in a Series B2 round led by Inter IKEA Group. The textile-colour developer in the United Kingdom intended to expand commercially.
A development project before the new investment
The company's earlier European Union project ran from January 2020 to June 2022. Its final CORDIS report described engineered microorganisms producing pigments through fermentation and applying colour to fabric. The report recorded an installed pilot production line and additional intellectual property arising from hardware changes. It also discussed possible applications for the fermenter design beyond textiles, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Those were prospective applications in the historical report, not announcements of customers in those industries.
A collection introduced the technology to shoppers
In April 2021, H&M announced Color Story, the second collection in its Innovation Stories programme. Its release named Colorifix among the participating innovators and described the collection as the technology's worldwide introduction. Several different colouring methods featured in the range; the announcement did not attribute every item to one supplier.
Approaches
- Biotechnology.
- Plant-based pigments.
- Closed-loop colouring systems.
H&M described Innovation Stories as a programme for trying materials and innovations before incorporating them into its regular assortment.
A larger bioreactor followed
H&M's 2022 sustainability disclosure recorded continued investment through H&M CO:LAB and installation of the first large Colorifix bioreactor in Portugal at the end of that year. It described several brands and assortments as ready to develop and place orders. This was the company's account of its position in 2022, rather than a report of orders completed in 2025.
The CORDIS project received approximately €2.47 million from the European Union.
Norwich Research Park reported Prince William and Cate Blanchett's visit to Colorifix on June 19, 2025.