$ALT TEX$

ALT TEX YC Application

Summer 2022Active

ALT TEX went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2022 batch as a Industrials company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Summer 2022
Industry: IndustrialsClimate
Team size: 10
Status: Active
Launched: 2022

Founders

$Myra Arshad$
Myra ArshadFounder
$Avneet Ghotra$
Avneet GhotraFounder

What ALT TEX does

ALT TEX is a Toronto-based biomaterials startup that has developed the world’s first biodegradable and carbon neutral fabric, engineered from the world’s largest landfill contributor - food waste. Polyester alone makes up 60% of the $2.5 trillion fashion industry and is the biggest blocker preventing brands from meeting sustainability mandates. The patent-pending ALT TEX fermentation technology creates a polyester alternative that works with the existing infrastructure to supply a sustainable, high performance and cost competitive polyester replacement to fashion brands, at scale. The product solves key problems for fashion brands, consumers, and the environment: (1) Fashion brands: ALT TEX sells fabric to fashion brands, allowing them to differentiate via sustainable options (sustainable fashion growing 11% CAGR) and hit sustainability targets, without sacrificing performance or changing their current supply chain. (2) Consumer: The ALT TEX fabric is projected to be half the price vs. other specialized sustainable alternatives (due to low-cost input and scalability), meaning greater accessibility. (3) Environment: A single shirt produced with ALT TEX fabric can divert 1 kg of food waste from landfills, 9 kg of carbon emissions from the air, and 4 g of micro-plastics from our waterways. Co-founders Myra and Avneet have worked together managing teams and projects for six years, with backgrounds in serial entrepreneurship, corporate sales at Fortune 500 companies, textile manufacturing and biochemistry. To date, ALT TEX has created their first fabric prototype that’s 70% stronger than cotton, secured $1M in LOIs and raised $2.3M.

ALT TEX's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

ALT TEX, Summer 2022 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

ALT TEX

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Biodegradable, carbon neutral fabric from food waste

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We make a polyester alternative fabric engineered from food waste that is biodegradable and carbon neutral. Our product delivers a high-performance, cost-competitive substitute for polyester that works with existing supply chains, enabling fashion brands to meet sustainability goals without sacrificing quality or disrupting their manufacturing.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in Toronto, ON, Canada and plan to keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Toronto's ecosystem supports our biotech and textile development, and our founding team is based here. We also benefit from proximity to fashion brands and manufacturing partners in North America.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real ALT TEX YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from ALT TEX's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like ALT TEX would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.