WHY TEXTILES, WHY NOW
of global carbon emissions
of global clean water pollution
of 120 million tonnes of textile waste is recycled each year
500K tonnes of microfibres shed into the ocean every year
The textile and fashion industry accounts for c.35% of total global PFAS demand
1) BCG, Quantis 2) European Parliament (2025) 3) Textile Exchange, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Fashion Portal (2023) 4) European Environment Agency (2022) 5) European Environment Agency (2024)
BEYOND FASHION
Textiles reach far beyond fashion, into mobility, healthcare, construction, clean energy, security, agriculture, and tech infrastructure. Bombyx invests across all of them.
OUR STORY
Dr. Giuseppe L. Gherzi founds the family firm in Zurich after studying the textile industry in Italy, England and Scientific Management in Harvard, Boston, USA. After WWII he is instrumental in rebuilding Europe's shattered textile industry, adding a full engineering arm.
A second generation takes over and expands the firm internationally, into India, Italy, Turkey, and Hong Kong.
A third generation, Francesco and his brother Giuseppe, run the business together, building it into the world's leading advisor on technical textiles.
Francesco founds Bombyx. Rather than approaching textiles from the outside as a category to disrupt, Bombyx starts from decades of first-hand knowledge of where the industry's waste, inefficiency, and opportunity actually sit.
Having spent much of my career in the global textile and fashion industry, I saw extraordinary innovation struggling to reach industrial scale. We founded Bombyx Capital Partners to bridge that gap, empowering visionary founders with capital, expertise and industry connections to drive sustainable transformation while delivering attractive financial returns.
OUR MISSION
Bombyx partners with entrepreneurs re-inventing materials, re-using resources, and re-wiring the textile industry. We back the science and technology, including AI, machine learning, robotics, biotechnology, and circular innovation, that will define textiles for the next decades to come.
Bombyx Growth Fund I launched in 2019 as the world's first investment fund dedicated exclusively to the full textile and fashion value chain with a sustainability lens, backed by €20 million in capital and anchor investor Bordier & Cie.
Bombyx was built to fund the growth-stage companies solving these problems, filling a gap that is consistently underfunded between early-stage funding and private equity.
Just as silk stands for quality, innovation, and durability, the Bombyx Growth Fund embodies these values in the world of investment. It is named after Bombyx mori, the silkworm known for producing the finest silk.
Where every silk thread begins.
Founders turning overlooked, resource-intensive processes into breakthrough technology.
Long-term value creation; resilient companies that make textiles circular for good.
Rigorously engineered, proven in the field, built to perform and to last.