Renaissance Fiber has secured $2.24 million in financing to complete its first commercial-scale hemp fiber processing facility in North Carolina, advancing plans to turn domestically grown hemp into a textile input compatible with existing spinning equipment.
The funding will support construction, raw material purchases, inventory and working capital as the company moves beyond research and development. Its facility in Mocksville, N.C., is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, with commissioning and process optimization to follow.
The bulk of the financing comes from a $2 million SBA-backed package, split between a $1.5 million term loan and $500,000 in revolving credit through the agency’s 7(a) Manufacturers Access to Revolving Credit (MARC) program.
The $2 million package followed earlier commitments from the Fibers Fund and Invest Appalachia, announced in April. The Fibers Fund put up $100,000 at a low interest rate, and Invest Appalachia supplied another $139,000 through a zero-interest recoverable loan. That early backing helped Renaissance Fiber obtain the larger SBA-backed financing.
“Getting from a proven process to a working factory is one of the most challenging steps in advanced materials manufacturing,” said Daniel Yohannes, founder and chief executive officer of Renaissance Fiber. “This financing gives us the infrastructure and working capital to process American-grown hemp at commercial scale, using the textile manufacturing base that already exists in North Carolina and across the U.S.”
For Renaissance Fiber, the challenge was securing enough capital to begin commercial production before customers had committed to buying its fiber.
Sarah Kelley, managing director of the Fibers Fund, described the problem as a “Commitment Catch-22.”
“Buyers seek scaled production before committing to contracts, but textile businesses can’t scale production without capital,” Kelley said.
Renaissance Fiber’s manufacturing approach aims to address another obstacle facing the domestic hemp industry: the processing needed to make the crop suitable for conventional textile production.
The company uses a proprietary two-step process that first removes gums and other noncellulosic components from raw hemp fiber, then refines the material for spinning on equipment already used to process cotton and synthetic fibers.
For textile mills, the appeal is straightforward: Renaissance Fiber’s processed hemp can be spun on machinery they already use for cotton and synthetic fibers.
The company sources raw fiber from U.S. growers and works with farmers, yarn spinners, mills and product manufacturers. Its Mocksville operation is intended to connect domestic agricultural production with existing textile capacity, particularly in North Carolina’s established manufacturing region.
“America does not need to rebuild its textile industry from scratch,” Yohannes said. “The farmers, mills, technical expertise, and manufacturing equipment are already here.”
Andrew Crosson, CEO of Invest Appalachia, said the financing partners see an opportunity to support regional agricultural and manufacturing businesses that may struggle to attract conventional capital.
The Mocksville project is still under construction. Renaissance Fiber has not disclosed the plant’s planned annual processing capacity, expected production volumes or the timing of its first commercial shipments.
Those details will help determine how much of the domestic hemp supply chain the facility can ultimately serve.
For now, the financing gives Renaissance Fiber the capital to move toward commercial production. The next test will be whether its process can deliver consistent, spinnable hemp fiber at the volumes textile mills need.