After raising a seed round of funding, an alternative materials startup is gearing up to move into its new facility.

BUCHA BIO, a climatetech company that's creating sustainable materials to replace plastics and leather for the fashion industry and beyond, closed its most recent round of funding at $1.1 million in September. Now, the company is full speed ahead getting ready to move into a larger office and lab space this month while hiring within technical roles, supply chain, quality control scientists, and more to make sure BUCHA BIO is ready to scale.

"That's the biggest deployment of capital — making sure we have the team that can scale this and so we can set up the logistics needed," CEO Zimri T. Hinshaw says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. "It's not all fun innovative materials — it's also really fun international supply chain logistics. Some of these things we don't always talk about are equally important to make sure we are creating a product that has the potential to displace plastic and leather at scale."

Hinshaw shares on the podcast how his technology takes the raw material from bacterial and plant-based ingredients — basically a thick malleable substance — and turns it into a durable sheet of material that can be used in fashion, but also automotive and energy-adjacent industries.

BUCHA BIO was founded in New York City in 2020, but after the company participated in SOSV's IndieBio program, Hinshaw shares how he started looking for a new headquarters for the company — one that was more affordable, had a solid talent pool, and offered a better quality of life for employees.

"Manhattan is a notoriously difficult place to live and work — and to grow a company like this. It just came to a point where we couldn't afford to give the talent a high quality of life, and that's important to me as a leader," Hinshaw says. "We couldn't afford the space. ... That was the tipping point for us."

Hinshaw says he looked at over 20 cities closely — Austin; Akron, Ohio; Dallas; Miami; and more. He narrowed it down to San Diego and Houston, before ultimately deciding on the Bayou City.

Since officially relocating, Hinshaw says he's fully committed to the city's innovation ecosystem. BUCHA BIO has a presence at the University of Houston, Greentown Labs, and the East End Maker Hub — where the startup is building out a new space to fit the growing team.

"By the end of this month, our laboratories will be up and running, we'll have office space adjacent, as well as chemical storage," Hinshaw says. "We aren't manufacturing onsite — we're prototyping and improving manufacturing onsite."

The technology BUCHA BIO uses to produce its materials is called an extruder, and the company has its own smaller scale model within its facilities. Hinshaw says the process includes outsourcing the larger scale process at existing facilities.

After fully moving in and hiring the new team members the company needs at this phase of scaling, Hinshaw says he'll execute on his current plan to raise more funding from investors.

"As of right now, we are looking to catch up to the competition and to be a major player," Hinshaw says, adding that, as of now, he's aiming for a $10 million series A round. "We're breaking out, and this next round is going to prove that."

Hinshaw shares more about his game plan for BUCHA BIO and his passion for helping to make Houston a leader within the sustainability space on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.