EIB venture debt support pledged to Matrix Pack

Matrix Pack, Europe’s leading producer of drinking straws, has become the first Greek company to benefit from the European Investment Bank’s venture debt financing to help the company reduce the use of single-use plastics among millions of consumers.

The EIB has agreed to provide an 8.5-million-euro five-year venture debt financing facility to accelerate Matrix Pack’s research and development, capital investment and international expansion of activities across Europe and North America.

The agreement was announced at the company’s premises near Athens on Monday. EIB Vice President Christian Kettel Thomsen was also given a tour of the company’s facilities.

With four production units – three in Greece, and one in Bulgaria – as well as a sales network in Europe, the US, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East, Matrix Pack produces single-use paper straws and biodegradable lids focusing on alignment with the EU’s Single Use Plastics Directive prohibiting the use of plastics as of 2021.

The company has an ambitious research, development and innovation investment plan to phase out plastic-based production and shift its entire product portfolio to renewable and biodegradable materials.