Recorded live at the Pitch Perfect Bioeconomy event in Brussels, this episode features Martin Tangney, Founder & President of Celtic Renewables, one of Europe’s most established bio-based scale-up stories.
Celtic Renewables takes biological residues from the Scottish whisky industry and turns them into high-value, low-carbon chemicals like acetone and butanol, the essential building blocks used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food production, and everyday products.
Less than 10% of what leaves a distillery becomes whisky. The rest? Untapped carbon. Celtic’s mission is simple: defossilize the chemical industry by squeezing more value out of what already exists above ground.
In this episode, Martin shares:
How a university research project became a commercial biorefinery
Why the biggest leap in scaling is from lab to pilot
The role of Biobase Europe in scaling 1,000x
Why surrounding yourself with complementary skills is everything
The hard truths about funding, risk, and “everyone wants to be first to be second”
Why founders need resilience, but also balance
One of the strongest takeaways: Don’t build a pier. Build a bridge. Get to the promised land, even if it’s not perfect.
This is a candid conversation about scaling industrial biotech, reframing “waste” as resource, and why change is the real driver of the bioeconomy.
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