Finnish startup Elea & Lili has raised €2.5M to develop a Cellulose Super Absorbent (CSA), a biodegradable and non-toxic plastic material. The company claims that CSA matches the performance of fossil-based polymers while being fully biodesgradable. The CSA is made from cellulose, the structural polysaccharide found in plant cell walls and one of the most abundant organic materials on Earth. The firm claims that it is compatible with existing diaper production lines and that its CSA's absorption performance is comparable to conventional synthetic polymers in laboratory conditions. The seed capital will be funded by Lifeline Ventures, the Helsinki-based fund behind Wolt and several Nordic deep-tech companies, and will support agricultural field trials and the expansion of the core team.