PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 27, 2023
When Tanbark Molded Fiber Products began producing wood pulp-based packaging for Luke’s Lobster shacks in October, the Saco startup took Maine’s centuries-old pulp and paper industry into innovative and uncharted territory. But Tanbark co-founder and CEO Melissa LaCasse had an inkling early on that she was heading in the right direction, becoming one of the newest players in a struggling legacy industry that continues to reinvent itself as technology and markets evolve. Her instincts were affirmed as she raised $3.2 million in seed funding.