A&B Smart Materials: Sustainable superabsorbent polymers for agriculture – trials, partnerships & investment opportunity

Opportunity for

Growers and producer groups seeking drought resilience and improved water use efficiency
Agri-input suppliers and distributors exploring sustainable, next-generation soil additives
Investors interested in scalable agri-materials replacing banned synthetics

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

Synthetic SAPs (superabsorbent polymers) are widely used to retain water in soils and boost drought resilience, but they are petroleum-based, non-biodegradable, and under regulatory threat. The EU will ban their use in agriculture from 2028, and global producers are under pressure to shift toward environmentally safe alternatives.

The SAP market is worth $9.1B globally, but nearly all current options are synthetic. Existing biodegradable alternatives are limited by poor performance or high costs. This creates a major gap: a need for high-performance, scalable and cheaper biodegradable SAPs.

Current opportunity

A&B Smart Materials is an Oxford University spinout developing biodegradable SAPs that offer (just after a few months of development) 70% of synthetic SAP performance at cost-competitive levels.

We are now seeking:

Growers and agribusinesses to participate in trials across soil types and crop systems
Letters of Intent from potential customers or distributors
Investors to support scale-up, field validation, and IP expansion

We’ve secured early traction, including a letter of intent with a leading global chemical company, and are currently negotiating a joint development agreement with another major player in the industry.

To express your interest in this opportunity or if you have questions go to "Enquire now"*

Opportunity background

A&B is a deep tech venture applying polymer chemistry to climate resilience. Our biodegradable SAPs use a proprietary technology to absorb water and slowly release it back to plant roots. This improves soil water-holding capacity, extends irrigation cycles, and reduces input costs, especially in dryland, sandy, or degraded soils.

Potential other applications

Beyond agriculture, our biodegradable SAPs have applications in:

Hygiene: nappies, pads, and wipes
Medical: wound care and hospital absorbents
Packaging: moisture-control pads for fresh food logistics
Industrial clean-up: eco-friendly absorbents for spills

We are in early-stage discussions with consumer and industrial players, and see a strong future in licensing the core technology across sectors. Early partners in agriculture may benefit from first rights or joint development in these adjacent industries.