Startup Spotlight #77 Ottan

August 19, 2021

OTTAN is an impact-oriented biotech startup that values green waste with the circular economy approach to reduce plastic and protect natural resources. OTTAN develops, designs, and produces sustainable bio-composite materials for designers by up-cycling food and agricultural waste. Let’s look into how their journey has been going, and where they are headed. Ayşe Yılmaz, the founder of Ottan shared how dreams can create a better and sustainable future.

When and why did you found your startup?

Our founder Ayşe is an industrial product designer and she was questioning how she could design products with nature, without compromising the environment when she was a student. Then she asked more questions: Why don’t we use peels, leaves, and shells instead of cutting down the trees? She found the solution on her deck. It was the leftover peels of an orange. A bio-composite from those peels was the first prototype she tried. From then on, she dedicated herself to making beautiful, sustainable, and durable materials by up-cycling green waste. She has made more than a couple of thousand material samples with more than 40 different zero-cost ‘waste’ materials in 5 years.

Tell us about your team.

Our founder Ayşe is an industrial designer and the inventor of Ottan Materials. She is a fearless leader and a dreamer of a better future. Saadet is a business administrator, food engineer and has 10 years of experience. Oben was the general manager of TEMA Foundation and Nestle confectionery for many years. Murat is a chemical engineer and has nearly 25 years of experience in this field. We are passionate nature lovers and hard-working visionaries.

What are your key and unique features?

Ottan Materials brings the colors and textures of nature into living spaces by preserving them naturally, without consuming virgin natural resources. With OTTAN, green wastes attain function before they biodegrade by gaining very high added value. Ottan Materials are the best practice of circular economy, proving the potential of green waste in interior spaces and functional products.

Tell us about numbers that matter to you.‍

Impacted people, revenue, number of trees saved through the use of Ottan materials, amount of reduced carbon footprint…

What are your plans for the next year and the next five years?

To see Ottan materials are used all over the world, to design collaborations and store chains with brands that have high brand value, to bring our production to a scale that can be done in 3 different continents...