2017 Mayor’s Entrepreneur Twipes expands to the U.S.
Twipes, the company behind the world’s first truly flushable and truly biodegradable wet wipe, expanded from the U.K. to the United States earlier this year.
The company, founded in London in 2015 by COO Ellenor McIntosh and CEO Alborz Bozorgi, was awarded the Mayor’s Fund for London Entrepreneur Award in 2017 for the pair’s work on the product.
In February, the co-founders, along with CMO Elizabeth Kotoulis, moved to the States after winning another competition — this one run by 43North, a startup accelerator from Buffalo, New York.
After winning the competition and securing a $1 million investment from 43North, Twipes now distributes to U.S. customers and are in the process of setting up manufacturing in Buffalo.
“The support has been immense. Going from the big city of London to a smaller city has been great,” McIntosh said. “Everyone — from locals to big corporate CEOs in the area — have come out to support our move, and I’ve been grateful to have people around us that really want us to thrive and succeed.”
Last month, members of the Twipes team visited London to meet with supporters of the company and to visit the company’s U.K. headquarters.
On August 15, McIntosh, Bozorgi, and Kotoulis, as well as Twipes hires Adam Duke, Tabitha Raithel and Elizabeth Dodman, sat down for brunch at Where The Pancakes Are with members of the Mayor’s Fund to catch up and share the company’s progress.
“That mayor’s team have always been one of our biggest advocates,” McIntosh said. “They’re the ones who gave us our first major funding, and since then, have continued to be our biggest cheerleaders. Catching up last month was really fun, it was a great opportunity to speak with Sally and the team and find out all the exciting events coming up.”
Though her colleagues returned to Buffalo, McIntosh is currently continuing scientific research in the U.K., and the team will be back in London next month for additional meetings.
“Both Al and I grew up in London, so the company’s roots really matter to us,” she said. “We know that being in the U.K. and close to Europe really helped us at a time when we needed to grow fast and get the education of the environmental impact out there to the masses.”
McIntosh also recalled how researching truly flushable wet wipes and working on the technology when London had its biggest fatberg under the city helped the company’s growth, as people finally started realising just how bad wipes that don’t break down are.
Twipes looks to continue its growth globally and create a larger impact on the environment, preventing fatbergs from forming and decreasing the amount of microplastics that enter the oceans.
