How One Retired European Soccer Player Turned His Millions Into Billions By Founding A Green Startup

Fans of European soccer will remember Mathieu Flamini for a distinguished career where he made millions while playing for some of the world's biggest football clubs, such as Arsenal and AC Milan. However, Flamini may have a much bigger impact on the world through a successful startup investment he made during his playing career that has turned him into a billionaire.

On the pitch, Flamini was a tough tackling central defensive midfielder who protected his back line and had the vision to pick out quality forward passes that started counterattacks for the team. What no one could have imagined is that Flamini's ability as a visionary businessman would put him in a position to reinvent himself as a successful businessman.

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A Soccer Player With A Plan

Flamini was still playing in 2008 when he co-founded GFBiochemicals with partner Pasquale Granata. GFBiochemicals provides environmentally friendly solvents and materials to companies as an alternative to petrochemicals. GFBiochemicals pioneered the use of a substance known as levulinic acid, which is a compound made from wood and corn waste that can replace petrochemical solvents in industrial applications.

Flamini and Granata spent years — and millions of dollars — developing levulinic acid. Both men saw the potential of levulinic acid as an environmentally friendly, sustainable replacement for many petrochemical products that are necessary for manufacturing a wide range of consumer goods.

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The Breakthrough

In 2015, GFBiochemicals became the world's first company capable of producing levulinic acid on a scale large enough to replace petrochemicals for large-scale industrial operations. In another example of timing being everything in life, GFBiochemicals began mass-producing levulinic acid at a time when many companies and governments were looking for a way to reduce their carbon footprint.

Levulinic acid allows petrochemical-dependent companies to continue their normal operations while running cleaner because they swapped out the petrochemicals for the acid. Because GFBiochemicals manufactures levulinic acid from agricultural waste, it has a near-endless source of the base product to start with, and production of its products doesn't impact the food chain.

In addition to those benefits, levulinic acid is nonflammable, making it easy to transport safely, and it doesn't pose a threat to the water supply or air quality where it is used. All these factors make GFBiochemicals look like a stroke of genius by Flamini and Granata. GFBiochemicals has exploded in value, with some analysts estimating that the company could be worth $25 billion.

A Millionaire Athlete Becomes A Billionaire CEO

If that estimate is correct, Flamini, as co-founder and one of the earliest investors in GFBiochemicals, would have a net worth of several billion dollars. However, this is more than just an economic consideration for Flamini, who is also now the company's CEO. He sees GFBiochemicals as a vehicle for him to meaningfully contribute to the world around him. As it turns out, Flamini has had a lifelong passion for helping the environment.

"As a child, I had two passions: football and sustainability. I grew up in Marseilles near the sea and was aware of the environmental questions around ocean plastics and chemical pollution from a very young age," Flamini told Sifted magazine.  

Flamini put his money where his mouth was when it came to pursuing his passion. Then he got rich, and the world may be a better place for it.

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