Investor Profile: Closed Loop Partners — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

The circular economy needs more than ideas — it needs capital that builds the actual infrastructure. That is the gap Closed Loop Partners was created to fill. The New York-based firm, a registered B Corp, has spent over a decade financing the shift from take-make-waste to keeping valuable materials in circulation — more than $7.5 billion worth to date — making it a distinctive route to startup funding for founders in waste, recycling and sustainable materials.

Our thesis: circularity as resilience and growth

Closed Loop Partners argues the circular economy is not just an environmental choice but an economic one: designing out waste, keeping products and materials in local circulation and regenerating natural systems builds supply-chain resilience and unlocks sustainable growth. Its materials-first approach targets five streams — plastics & packaging, food & agriculture, metals & minerals, textiles and water — and across more than 80 investments it estimates its portfolio has diverted 6 million tons of material that would otherwise have been disposed of.

Sectors and stages: three businesses, one platform

Closed Loop Partners operates as a platform of three businesses. Closed Loop Capital Management runs the investment strategies: venture capital (the Closed Loop Ventures Group, early-stage equity in circular breakthroughs), buyout private equity, and catalytic capital & private credit for infrastructure projects. The Center for the Circular Economy is the innovation arm, uniting competitors and partners on complex material challenges. Circular Services is the operating group — described by the firm as the largest privately held recycling and composting company in the US.

Fund size and cheque size

The firm launched in 2014 with an inaugural $100 million Closed Loop Fund backed by major consumer-goods and retail companies. Per 2024 reporting, the Ventures Group had backed 39 companies with $85 million in assets under management, the Leadership Group (buyouts) held $200 million across six acquisitions, and the Infrastructure Group had deployed over $225 million across 48 projects. A standard venture cheque range is not publicly disclosed; the firm also deploys flexible catalytic capital to companies, organisations and municipalities.

Notable portfolio

Venture bets include LAIIER (leak-detection sensors), VALIS Insights (metals data), Greyparrot (AI waste analytics), Algramo (refill packaging) and Earthodic. Infrastructure names include Evergreen, Greenmantra, IntegriCo, Preserve, QRS of Maryland and Reterra; on the buyout side, Sage Sustainable Electronics and Sutter Metals.

Partners

The firm was founded by Ron Gonen, its Chief Executive Officer — previously New York City's Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability — who was named a UN Champion of the Earth and is the author of The Waste-Free World. The ventures bench includes investors such as Aly Bryan of the Closed Loop Ventures Group team.

Programs, credits and perks

Beyond capital, the platform offers the Center for the Circular Economy's industry collaborations, the operating expertise of Circular Services, a 50-plus-company corporate partner network, and the firm's annual Impact Report benchmarking.

How to apply for funding

There is no single public application form that covers all three businesses; founders and project sponsors are directed to closedlooppartners.com to connect with the relevant strategy team — venture, buyout or catalytic capital and private credit.