Britain’s spirit needs lifting not taxing

There are lessons to be learnt from Nasdaq Tower’s neon billboards celebrating corporate success.

Notpla team celebrate funding outside New York’s Nasdaq Tower (via Imperial College London)

If you had been strolling around Times Square in New York earlier this week, you might have spotted a crowd of young men and women laughing with joy below the Nasdaq Tower skyscraper. 

Above them on the huge neon billboards flashed the news that Notpla has secured $25 million in its latest funding round. Among those jumping up and down were Notpla’s co-chief executive, Pierre Paslier, his co-CEO and co-founder, Rodrigo Garcia, the vice-provost and Professor of materials at Imperial College, London, Mary Ryan, along with their colleagues.

They were celebrating the news that their British-based company, Notpla – which has developed a seaweed-based biodegradable alternative to plastic – has raised enough new money so that they can expand operations into the US, with the aim of replacing 100 million single-use plastic items over the next two years.  

You may have heard of Notpla. As a start-up, it won a £1 million prize in the Prince of Wales’ 2022 Earthshot competition, and caused something of a stir when its edible capsules containing Lucozade were given out in the 2019 London Marathon to runners in order to reduce plastic waste.