Real leather without animals in a $100bn market: Michael Newton, CEO at Qorium

0:00Scaling Europe:Hello and welcome back to the Scaling Europe show. I'm Seb Johnson. Thank you for following along. Today we've got a great conversation from our time at Slush and the conversation is supported by Databricks, whose unified platform power source on everyone's FY2026 target, becoming a truly AI-driven company, and Harmonic. Harmonic is the startup discovery engine used by leading VCs across the world to find their fund returners. Check them both out. Thank you. Hello and welcome back to the Scaling Europe show. We are here in Helsinki. I'm with Michael from Corium. You've got the product. Give us the intro.

0:33Scaling Europe:Give us the pitch. What are you building? Yeah, well said first. Thanks for having me here. I really enjoyed it. It's great to be here at Slush with you and whatnot. So what's Corium? Corium is a company that makes beautiful leather. We do that involving no cows and no animals at all. And so there's obviously a massive sustainability benefit to what we do and an ethical benefit to what we do. But it's really about how do we make beautiful, amazing product. Amazing. Because actually what most people don't know is that working with leather and how leather contributes to all the products we know, whether it be a car seat or a handbag or whatnot, it's actually really difficult for companies.

1:04And it's really expensive for them. And so we can make a uniform, beautiful, really consistent product that not only makes beautiful leather, but actually means that the car seat or the handbag and the process by which companies make them is better, cheaper, more reliable, and ultimately making just something beautiful that we can all covet. And so we love to think about a beautiful product with a great impact on the world.

1:26Scaling Europe:Amazing. and how do you make it? I mean, it's great. I mean, it's amazing. Can you talk about the process? Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's real leather. But what we do is we basically take the best that Mother Nature has given us and we just make it much more efficient. Today, if you want leather from a cow, obviously a cow has to be birthed and grown and then ultimately slaughtered. And you get the leather. For us, what we do is we're able to isolate the bovine fibroblast, its skin cell, very similar to what you and I have. And what we do is we then put that through a process that we've developed, a cellular agricultural process, we actually use those cells to just very specifically, very efficiently, and very precisely build the skin.

2:04Yeah, yeah. Build the leather. And so all you get is this very uniform collagen material, tissue, that you're then able to drop directly into the existing tannery supply chain and build the same leather that you need today. And so it's really about getting exactly the same product but in a much more efficient, better, and kind of smarter end result.

2:22Scaling Europe:And how did you come to this? Can you talk about your experience coming to this and your background that's led you to building this amazing product? Well, as you can hear probably from my accent, I'm an American, so not from Europe originally. But my background and my career has always been about bringing new innovation to market. And for really actually personal reasons, my wife and I, she's originally from Belgium, we moved to Europe a couple of years ago. And as part of that, I use it as an opportunity to kind of pivot my career. I'd worked the last decade or so for Nike. and actually at Nike we were very focused on how could we bring high performance, really wonderful technology and innovations that consumers would covet to market, but also ones that would drive a real improvement in our supply chain and drive a sustainability impact.

3:06And so I had the chance to do that with a number of products at Nike and I came away from that saying, you know, the ability to do that and the opportunity to do that is just so motivating, so exciting. How do I go find a great technology where I can help do that, where I can bring my expertise? And so moving to Europe, I was able to fortunately get connected to Corium. And what I saw was the ability to take what is one of the largest markets in the world. Leather is a hundred billion dollar market a year. It's crazy. I mean, it's everywhere. Just look around this room. Leather is ubiquitous. And so we had a technology there where we could say, okay, let's go really revitalize.

3:41We like to say reinvent it. And the technology comes from University of Maastricht. There's a professor there, a guy named Dr. Mark Post, who's really kind of the founder of this field. And so I was able to link up with him and some of the other founders that were around. And we've been off to the running for the last couple of years now.

3:58Scaling Europe:And you've just raised a big round. How much, who from, and kind of what enabled it? Yeah, so we're really very fortunate. I feel very grateful. We just closed our Series A. We raised 22 million euros. Amazing. Which was awesome. Real kudos to the whole team and everybody who's been a part of that. But yeah, I mean, how did that come together? I think really was a couple of things. One is that people understand that leather is a material that's unmatched. And they understand that nobody has been able to replace it despite a lot of efforts. And so really there is a learning now that is very clear that the only way you're going to replace leather is with leather.

4:33And what's obvious in that is that it's not just a sustainability story. That's very much a part of who we are and a part of our ethos and the founding origin of the company. But really, it's about making better product, right, that results in, you know, kind of the goods and the, you know, pieces that consumers love. And brands are obsessed with being able to serve them. And so we really see that as being the avenue to not only build a very exciting company, but also build something very impactful. And I think our investors really see that, too. And I think that's what stood out is that we have kind of this unique opportunity, this unique technology.

5:06And then behind the scenes, I think we have really a team and, you know, kind of all the, what I like to say, the conditions of success necessary for us to be able to scale this and grow it. And so I'm pretty excited about that. And I think our investors were too.

5:18Scaling Europe:Amazing. And what kind of stage of the journey are you at? So you've obviously got it. You've built the technology. You're developing leather in a whole new way. Are you actively selling it? Are you going out to market? Is it in real products people can buy or use? What stage are you at like that? Yeah, no, we're still relatively early in our journey, having just raised the Series A. We have now really developed both what I like to say the product and the process. And so we feel very confident in the quality of the product as well as the process to make it. What our Series A funds for us is the ability to industrialize that process.

5:51And so we're really doing and starting to scale up from sizes that are more like what you see here into sizes that will be first about the size of this table and then beyond that. And so we're really in the phase of getting it to where we can be really commercial with it. And so we haven't yet started to sell the product. We're working with a number of customers, names you would know, and really fun, sexy companies. Unfortunately, I can't talk about that. And so what we're going to see now is we're going to go from kind of co-developing in that and to start really commercializing that. And so, you know, it's an exciting time for us, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us still.

6:24Scaling Europe:Yeah, of course. And when you look at these kind of partners that you can't mention, you know, who are the right kind of partners that you're looking for? Or is it, I don't know, people who use leather in their car seats? Is it bigger than that? Is it consumer-facing stuff? Who are the ideal customers or partners for your product? Yeah, I think what we look for most is for people who obsess leather, for whom the heritage, the quality, right, kind of the luxury of leather is just integral to who they are, not just as a company, but frankly, their brand and their brand image. And so we're really focused on brands that are kind of at that top 30 or so percent of the leather market.

7:02And so these are really the higher end brands, whether it be luxury leather goods companies who are primarily in Paris or that area, or more of the automotive companies that are in Germany and other parts of Europe. And so we're focusing on that space right now. And it's not that we don't see a wide appeal and a wide kind of market for us. We do. We see that over time. but for right now to focus on these companies for whom leather is so core to who they are and they have the expertise and the depth and then we can co-develop with them and we can really come in and say okay we can give them a beautiful leather that actually really makes their products better and makes their footprint much better yeah like that's just a win-win-win and so those are

7:41Scaling Europe:the collaborations we're working on now amazing when you look to the future when you look at the actual development and the build of this product how how much can you industrialize it can can you imagine a future where you are creating tons of this you know in a week a month a year what does the future look like yeah absolutely we believe this is totally scalable and we can get it to a place where there's absolutely no price premium and that is our goal in fact we want to go to market with no green premium yeah because we really actually don't believe that green premium exists yeah people are going to buy our product because it's beautiful leather that makes their products better yeah and then because it also drives a sustainability impact right but it has to be all those things.

8:21I very much believe, and as I lead Corium, we are a product company. It's about making beautiful products that, you know, kind of really people want. So we'll get there. It's going to take some time for us to do it, but we see that, you know, we'll get to a place where we can be making, you know, really millions of square meters of leather per year and start to really make an impact on the overall leather supply chain. So yeah, we want to get it to scale. It's going to take us a little bit of time to get there, but we see that path very clearly.

8:49Scaling Europe:You know, you've just raised a series A looking forward to the series B. Are there things, milestones that you've got to do on to kind of unlock that next stage? And is it about, you know, creating the table size of leather? Is it about commercializing? What are the things that you have to achieve to kind of get to that next stage? Yeah, well, trust me, you know, we just closed this Series A and I raised$22 million. I'm like, oh, I should get a day off. Nope, we immediately start thinking about the Series B. We're right into it. And it's really like, that's such an important question because it is, what are we going to need to achieve to ensure that we can be successful in that stage?

9:22And we're already walking back from that sub right now. So I think it's a couple of things. So for us, one is it is going to be able to demonstrate the full industrialized manufacturing size. So obviously this is great, but we need to get to a place where we're making it at square meters. And we're already working on our way to doing that. So that will be a clear kind of milestone and goal for us. I think the second thing is really going to be, can we make our process more efficient? So this is essentially a living process, right? We're working with cells. And that bio process, as we talk about it, we know that we have to drive efficiencies.

9:53And we measure eight key metrics as part of that that demonstrate and get us to a place of higher efficiency. And then you hit on it, the third one, and in some ways the most important is, can we take the next commercial steps? And for me, what I'm really excited about is getting to a point where we can start to talk about the work we're doing with certain companies and then actually have signed commitments from them in terms of off-take agreements and other sorts of very contractually solid partnerships. That's going to be really important for us too.

10:22Scaling Europe:Interesting. I also want to talk about you being an American here in Europe. This show is all about, my company is all about, it's called Scaling Europe. It's all about taking European tech to the next level. and a lot of what I hear and a lot of people I speak to, I had Gabe, one of the co-founders of Harvey AI in America, two big American VCs on the show yesterday. I'm always interested in hearing an American's perspective from the cultural and technological differences that we see from Europe to the US. What do you see? Having lived in America, worked in amazing companies in America, now in Europe, do you see big cultural differences in the way that we approach building companies?

11:01Yes. Period. Okay, next one. So it's been really interesting for me. I started my career actually as an investor, and then I did a lot of startup work, and then I worked for Nike, a very large global company, for a long time. Coming from the United States, coming to Europe, and joining a venture-backed startup, right,

11:20Scaling Europe:that's a lot of change, right? Yes. It's a lot of movement. And I was ready for really kind of as big a change as possible. And frankly, I've seen that in some places and not in others in ways that have surprised me. Interesting. Which has been really eye-opening. But overall, I do believe, just to put it kind of at the highest level, Europe is a great place to build companies. Yes. But it has its pros and it has its cons. I think Europe gets focused, the cons get focused on a lot. Yeah. And there's always a little bit of the younger sibling or less accomplished because it always gets compared to America.

11:57Scaling Europe:And that's fair and whatnot. But frankly, I think we have to look at what are the pros and cons in Europe, what are the pros and cons in the U.S., and how can we build an environment where we can get the best of both worlds? And I actually think there's a really unique opportunity right now for Europe to play a very important role, not just to improve its economy, not just to drive the development for its people here, but really on the global stage. Because what does Europe do best? What have I seen here? incredibly predictable, reliable, frankly mature, right? When things are, you know, kind of in works, they're going to get done.

12:31They may not get done quickly, but they're going to get done. And then there's just an ultimate, you know, kind of culture around, you know, intellectualism and raw science and exploration in that way. And I think so you have just like a lot of very, you know, kind of good benefits and good foundations there. Where you're at fails is, right, one, the funding environment is much tougher. Yes. Like just period. There's much less money here. Getting that money is much harder. So that's difficult. The bureaucracy truly is much worse. And I use that word in the literal sense, not in the pejorative sense.

13:03Just having just closed around, the steps we had to jump through to do that from a legal perspective, from a diligence perspective, frankly, it was just much tougher and took much more effort and time. And so that friction does add up. So that's a big piece. I think then from a cultural perspective, from your employees and kind of the environment, we're fortunate. We have an amazing team that are super committed to our mission. But overall, it's very different than when I was working in New York when people are just 24 hours a day, really running and gunning. And again, pros and cons there.

13:33Scaling Europe:Yeah, of course. But when it comes to just purely building a company, you really do see that difference. And so I think now there's just a really unique opportunity considering what's going on in America. Frankly, the step back from science, like, frankly, some of the unpredictability that's been driven there. Yeah. The kind of lack of open arms for talent from all over the world. Yeah. So I think there's an opportunity now for Europe to kind of say, we've got that great base. How do we lean into some of our weaknesses to get better? Yes. To, like, remove some of that friction, to get it to be more of one market, to, you know, have a culture that will expect failure and, frankly, celebrate that because they see that as the road to success.

14:11Yeah. And I think there's just a chance there. And I'm actually really happy to kind of be an American who can hopefully help push that a little bit. Not just to make Quarium a success, but hopefully help that be a little bit of a model for how we work more broadly. And so I'm really bullish, but at times I bang my head against the wall. And I just, you know, I got to keep the bigger picture in mind. And so, you know, it's always easy wherever you are to focus on the cons. Yeah. I think it's like, and Slush is awesome because you see this community here. this is the community that's trying to push the bounds on what Europe can be.

14:42100%, yeah. And I've been really impressed at how many Americans are here and how much opportunity they're coming over, not just to try to strip the innovation and pull it to America, but actually support it here. Yeah. And so that's been fun.

14:54Scaling Europe:Yeah, and I think opening that sort of like the two-way street between American and European tech is opening up more. And I completely agree about the opportunity that Europe has, and especially when you talk about the problems and the issues, for the first time it feels like we have the politicians who really want to address them. And even yesterday, Ursula, you know, from the EU, was talking about stripping back the bureaucracy. And, you know, one of the examples that I tweeted about was cookies, you know, the cookie banners. Americans laugh at us because every time you're on a website, you've got to, like, give your cookie selection.

15:23It literally drives me crazy. It's absolutely ridiculous.

15:25Scaling Europe:And yesterday they were like, we're going to get rid of that. You know, you do it once for six months and you never have to see it again. And it's like things like that. It sounds silly, but those things matter. But it's just the attitude that those are the things that we've been focusing on for the last couple of decades, is those types of bureaucracies and processes and regulations. I mean, just, you know, frankly, like opening a new bank account. Yeah. Like the challenge to do that as opposed to doing that in the United States. And you say, OK, well, maybe there's good reason why that makes it.

15:55It's like, no, there's no more fraud on these. Yeah, yeah. Like, how do we just remove that friction? And the cookie one is like a great example. That's a canary in the coal mine, right? If we can start to make some progress there, what else can follow?

16:06Scaling Europe:And it was probably well-intentioned at the time, but nobody cares. Everybody, yeah, just get rid of it. It's just friction. Sometimes I accept, sometimes I deny, I don't care, I just want to get rid of it. But it's that mindset of adding these unnecessary barriers, which in the moment take 10 seconds, but they speak to a much wider culture and attitude. And seeing that change at the policy level is amazing for us right now. And for me, what it comes down to is I always think about what percentage of my time am I spending on things that add value to my business? And what percentage am I spending on things that do not add value to my business?

16:39And right now in Europe, the percentage that I spend on things that are not value add, it's hard for me to put a precise number on it. But it's meaningfully higher than what I would have.

16:49Scaling Europe:And especially going through like funding processes, right? Absolutely. You talked about the bureaucracy and it being different in different countries. And Germany is especially bad. I mean, even just creating and forming a company in Europe can be really painful. The UK is quite good at it, but other European countries is just... And I think we're seeing progress in other places. It's interesting. I was talking about this earlier today. I've seen a lot of American friends of mine who are entrepreneurs who are running international businesses. They've seen a lot of progress in France and seen France really leaning into supporting and trying to reduce the bureaucracy, drive and support business growth, especially attracting international talent.

17:24That's been great to see. I think the Netherlands where I'm based hasn't leaned into it quite so much and has an opportunity to still do so. The Netherlands has a lot of advantages too, especially just how prevalent English is there. Yeah, that's true. And so I think they have an opportunity to lean into it, but they haven't yet done it in the same way. So I'm hoping we're starting to see some movement there.

17:41Scaling Europe:Yeah, and I think the ecosystem in Amsterdam, the tech ecosystem is growing. And you're getting some quite big tech companies come out of there. and I think you need that environment and that ecosystem to then be the ones who are kind of asking for the change. It's always disappointing me though because a lot of those big companies in the Netherlands, they're always threatening to leave. And some have left. But then some have threatened to leave just to try to put some leverage out there so that they get what they need to continue being there. And there's a couple of big companies that, frankly, if the Netherlands were to lose them, the impact would be massive.

18:15And so I really hope, and I think you do see some recent elections and whatnot. I think you see more awareness of this. Yes. But I want to see some more action on it. And a proaction as well. And the culture that comes with that. So.

18:26Scaling Europe:Well, look, thank you so much for joining me, Mike. It's been a great conversation. I look forward to kind of seeing you grow and develop and roll it out further. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate it.