Julia and Jordy had the motivation and some startup capital: They secured a $534,760 AUD grant from Australia’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre in early 2020 and raised $75K from angel investors. What they lacked in manufacturing knowledge, the then four-person team made up for with enthusiasm and patience. Trying to build an extruder and make cling wrap without instructions brought a lot of “‘What have we done?!’ moments,” Kay recalls. But after three weeks, the pilot factory was ready to go.
In order to scale production, Great Wrap needed investors. They originally sent out pitch decks through Google Drive, but “we couldn’t really get any sort of analytics [on] what people had seen,” Kay explains. “[And] you can sometimes share a whole folder by accident, giving away years of IP.”
An angel investor-turned-mentor suggested they use DocSend for their data room (a space where confidential information can be stored and shared) in 2021.
“We’ve got over 50 impact-aligned investors all around the world that we’re able to share data with really easily now,” Kay says. “You can isolate those classified documents and give access directly in a way that’s far more easy to control than a Google Drive.”
Using DocSend gave Great Wrap the security and intel they needed, as it also showed which investor read what parts of the pitch deck and for how long. They ultimately raised $24 million in their 2022 Series A funding round.
Wrapping up a global problem
What started as a thought experiment between two people falling in love is now a world-first product that could very well solve one of the largest ecological problems of our time.
“It’s hard to zoom out and think of it in that way,” Kay admits. “When you get into that mindset of constantly improving, you don’t [say] ‘We’ve done it!’ as much as you probably should.”
But as Kay pulls up to their manufacturing facility, she lets a little bit of marvel escape. “It’s the size of two football fields,” she says.
The transition to the 11,000-square-meter space was inevitable: “What we could have made in a year at the pilot factory, we can make in a day here.” (Before it produced 100,000 rolls of Great Wrap daily, the factory made plastic coolers, a bit of irony that isn’t lost on Kay.)
Thankfully, setup was easier this time around: An engineering team came in to install the extruder and the Great Wrap team has grown to include manufacturing experts.