Origin Materials (ORGN) Quarterly Earnings
Q3 2025 saw progress commercializing PET caps. The company secured financing, advanced bottle cap tech toward commercial scale, received initial orders, and began ramping manufacturing.
Origin’s founders figured out how to create PET plastics using organic waste like wood shavings from lumber mills. Commercialization of this biotransformation technology hit a capex wall the company could not climb, so it has shifted to using its understanding of the mechanical properties of PET to commercialize manufacturing of PET bottle caps.
PET bottle caps may not sound like a big deal, but this was always considered an impossible feat by the packaging industry. From a sustainability perspective, PET bottle caps will make plastic recycling processes much more efficient, contributing to higher quality recycled plastics and lowering demand for newly mined hydrocarbons. Learn more about Origin Materials here and here. Paid subscribers can read an institutional Venture Review on Origin here.
3Q25 Earnings Summary
Origin (ORGN) reported Q3 2025 revenue of $4.7 million, down from $8.2 million in the prior year. The decline reflects the planned wind-down of its legacy supply chain activation program as the company shifts focus entirely to PET cap commercialization. Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities stood at $54.3 million as of September 30, 2025.
Operating expenses fell to $17.1 million from $32.5 million year-over-year, driven mainly by a $15.0 million drop in non-cash asset impairment charges and a $1.8 million reduction in research and development expenses. Net loss improved to $16.4 million from $36.8 million in Q3 2024, while adjusted EBITDA loss was essentially flat at $11.6 million.
On the financing front, Origin secured a convertible debt facility with an initial $15 million coming in by end of November, with the option to draw up to $90 million total as needed. The company also signed a non-binding term sheet for $20 million in equipment financing, bringing total CapFormer equipment financing capacity to around $30 million across five production lines.
The company reported that the CapFormer rollout is tracking to plan. Origin started production on its first line back in February 2025 and says that it expects to finish Factory Acceptance Testing through Line 6 by year-end. Completion of Lines 7 and 8 have now been pushed to Q1 2027 to better manage capital deployment. The company plans to have eight to ten lines running by end of 2026 to hit adjusted EBITDA run-rate breakeven in 2027.
On the commercial side, Berlin Packaging—a distributor with over 100 locations globally—placed its first order in October 2025. Origin’s PET 1881 caps went into California stores in August for flat water, which the company believes are the only beverage products currently on the market with PET caps. Over half the water brands in Origin’s qualification pipeline are also potential carbonated soft drink (CSD) customers.
The technology made some headway this quarter with successful testing of impact resistance and multi-day heated horizontal stress resistance—both critical for CSD qualification. Origin plans to roll these features into a single cap design in upcoming production trials. Their PET caps offer several advantages over standard HDPE/PP closures: better recyclability, superior barrier properties for oxygen and CO₂, potential to enlarge diameter, lighter weight, compatibility with 100% recycled content, and optical clarity.
Origin held its financial guidance steady: $20-30 million revenue expected in 2026, $100-200 million in 2027, and run-rate breakeven by 2027. The company also noted that its strategic review with RBC Capital Markets is moving along with productive engagement. In October, Origin settled shareholder litigation with no finding of liability, fully covered by insurance.
Read more on Origin’s Q3 2025 results in the company’s earnings release.
Brilliant coverage of Origin's pivot away from the biotech dream into commericalization that actually pencils out. The structuring of their equipment financing across multiple production lines is really clever becuase it essentially creates embedded optionality: they can pause capital deployment on lines 7-8 without torpedoing the whole operation while still hitting EBITDA breakeven on fewer lines. What's underappreciated here is how Berlin Packaging's first order validates not just the product but the entire go-to-market channel,since distributors won't commit unless they see pull-through demand from brands already in late-stage qualification.