£2 million investment secured for Borders mill behind eco-insulation products

Investment of £2 million has been secured to accelerate the growth of natural fibre insulation at a Scottish Borders mill.

After successfully establishing the IndiNature Mill in Jedburgh and with the production line now operational, the follow-on investment has been secured by construction materials manufacturer Industrial Nature (IndiNature), with its existing major investor the Scottish National Investment Bank. The fresh funding will be used to underpin a planned second stage of capital expenditure projects to accelerate growth, including upgrades and additional production equipment to improve performance and manufacture new insulation products. Bosses said the money would also go towards carbon reduction measures.

Chief executive and co-founder Scott Simpson said: “We would like to thank all the local engineers and other contractors who have worked with our fantastic mill team and machine suppliers to establish production and secure this second phase of investment - a big milestone. We’re grateful to have an impact investor like the Scottish National Investment Bank following on their original investment for this next stage of growth.”

He added: “More than ever we need to urgently insulate homes in the UK with appropriate materials - natural products like ours not only insulate, the materials they’re made from are also carbon negative. This investment is speeding up our ability to deliver healthy, low carbon products at high capacity to the market. We’re very much looking forward to accelerating growth this year.”

The new investment of £2m follows on from an initial £3m investment by the Scottish National Investment Bank in 2021, which unlocked a further £800,000 in grant funding from Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund and £250,000 from South of Scotland Enterprise.

Andy Clapp, executive director, investment portfolio management at the Scottish National Investment Bank, said: “We have seen IndiNature go from strength to strength since our initial investment in August 2021 and are delighted to continue to support them through this planned scale up stage. The work of this company continues to support the delivery of the Bank’s missions in developing innovative solutions to drive the industry’s transition to net zero.”

IndiTherm is a flexible thermal insulation batt made from industrial hemp sourced from farms in the UK.