The Ukrainian startup, Releaf Paper, plans to launch its first production in France by 2025
The company is considering opening a similar production in Ukraine, but currently the project can't find sufficient raw material volumes
A representative from the Ukrainian start-up, Releaf Paper, told Mind in an interview that the company was actively working on launching its first production in France.
"We will be working on this project until early 2025. As for the other two productions – we will decide on the locations closer to the beginning of the investment round, which will take place in the first half of next year. Each project is two years of work. We will try to speed up this process by working on several at the same time. For this, we will actively expand both managerial and especially technical staff," said Oleksandr Sobolenko, co-founder and CEO of Releaf Paper.
Each production is expected to have a local team, while Releaf's leadership team will focus on strategic management, finance, marketing, and R&D.
"It's possible that one of such productions will be located in Ukraine. A lot of factors have to come together at once, both economic and political as well as operational. We had preliminary meetings with the authorities of two major cities in Ukraine about supplying us with leaves as raw material. In both cases, we received a positive reaction, but there is not enough raw material for our plans yet," the company added.
Releaf Paper's head office has been abroad since 2021. It is expected that this year it will locally 'migrate' from Lyon to Paris. But this will not be the final location, say company representatives.
The Releaf Paper team is in six countries on two continents. The majority are Ukrainians. It is expected that in 2024 the company will expand by 25 more employees, this will be a local French production team.
"Further geographical expansion of offices is directly related to the locations of future productions: there will be a small office at each factory. For the next 5-7 years, we will concentrate all efforts on Europe. Then there are many plans, and they are associated with other continents," Releaf Paper pointed out.
Releaf Paper is a Ukrainian start-up founded in 2020 by Oleksandr Sobolenko and Valentyn Frechka. The company makes paper and packaging from fallen leaves.
Background. Mind earlier reported that the Ukrainian startup Releaf Paper planned to raise 8 million euros. It is expected that half will be provided by the European Commission.
