Asahi Kasei has decided to invest in Circularise B.V., a startup company in the Netherlands that provides digital product passports and mass balance bookkeeping software, together with Brightlands Venture Partners, 4impact capital, and Neste, in November 2022.
Circularise is a startup company founded in 2016 aiming to accelerate the shift towards a circular economy through supply chain traceability and transparency. Circularise has developed a highly reliable supply chain management system that achieves both anonymity and transparency based on Smart Questioning¹ technology utilizing Zero-Knowledge Proofs² with a blockchain. By using these technologies, various information such as raw materials, recycling history, biomass and recycling content, carbon footprint, third-party certification, etc. can be traced through the supply chain while maintaining the confidentiality of each stakeholder's information.
The Asahi Kasei Group expects to contribute to a carbon neutral and sustainable world by joining the establishment of a digital platform ensuring reliability and transparency in the supply chain through its investment in Circularise, in accordance with its medium-term management plan focused on the theme “Be a Trailblazer.”
1 Smart Questioning: Circularise's patent-pending method of using Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) to share essential and useful insights into product and material information throughout a supply chain over a public blockchain without sharing any specific data.
2 Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP): a form of perfectly hiding encryption that allows sharing of useful insights into information without sharing any specific data. ZKPs can be used to share insight into the environmental impact of a product or material without sharing any specific data on the composition or manufacturing processes of a product.
About Circularise B.V.
Location
Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg 35, 2595 AN, Den Haag, Netherlands
Founders
Mesbah Sabur and Jordi de Vos
Establishment
July 2016
Operations
Providing a traceability platform in supply chains utilizing a blockchain, with digital product passports and mass balance bookkeeping software