{"id":40012,"date":"2017-01-24T07:23:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T06:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=40012"},"modified":"2017-01-20T13:30:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T12:30:55","slug":"vcs-invest-5-8-billion-in-bio-based-chemicals-as-focus-shifts-to-disruptive-synthetic-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/vcs-invest-5-8-billion-in-bio-based-chemicals-as-focus-shifts-to-disruptive-synthetic-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"VCs Invest $5.8 Billion in Bio-based Chemicals, as Focus Shifts to Disruptive Synthetic Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Venture capitalists have pumped in $5.8 billion into bio-based materials and chemicals (BBMC) startups since 2010, reflecting the drive for sustainability, performance, and alternatives to petroleum feedstocks. While from 2010 to 2015, the investment focus was on drop-in replacements for established chemicals, in 2016 VCs\u2019 focus has shifted to disruptive synthetic biology (synbio) and conversion technologies, according to Lux Research.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Synbio startups attracted over $300 million, accounting for 53% of all VC investment in 2016 (through October 11), and three of the top five deals. Fermentation and catalysis had funding shares of 20% and 16%, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVCs in 2016 have taken a step back in the value chain to focus on upstream technology platforms like DNA synthesis-as-a-service and automated genomic engineering and lab equipment,\u201d said Victor Oh, Lux Research Analyst and lead author of the report titled, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/members.luxresearchinc.com\/research\/report\/21604\" target=\"_blank\">Show Me the Money: Where Is Venture Capital Placing Bets in Bio-based?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSynbio companies are embracing information technology like BioCAD and BioLIMS to create disruption and to integrate new digital genetic tools like CRISPR gene editing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40013\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40013\" style=\"width: 527px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40013\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/PR_Graphic_BBMC_12_20_16.jpg\" alt=\"PR_Graphic_BBMC_12_20_16\" width=\"527\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2017\/01\/PR_Graphic_BBMC_12_20_16.jpg 811w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2017\/01\/PR_Graphic_BBMC_12_20_16-300x138.jpg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2017\/01\/PR_Graphic_BBMC_12_20_16-600x276.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40013\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">$5.8 billion invested by VC\u2019s in bio-based chemicals; focus shifts to disruptive synthetic biology. (Source: Lux Research)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lux Research analysts built a database of companies and investments in the BBMC space. Among their findings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Synbio poised to grow bigger. The top five VC investments \u2013 Zymergen, Gingko Bioworks, Twist Bioscience, Elevance Renewable Science and Bolt Threads \u2013 reveal an emphasis on automating synbio. These five have raised $430 million in total, and growth of these platforms should lead to even bigger numbers for the segment in 2017.<\/li>\n<li>Spider silk catches fancy. Spider silk\u2019s superior properties over those of conventional fiber materials like nylon and silkworm silk have prompted big deals, like $82 million for Bolt Threads over the last two years. Japan\u2019s Spiber and Germany\u2019s AMSilk have also pulled in big deals, and up-and-comers like Araknitek and Spiber Technologies may be up next.<\/li>\n<li>Low oil hits drop-ins, substitutes. Amid low oil prices, VCs have shifted focus this year to commercializing bio-based products that offer improved performance, not just \u201cgreener\u201d replacements for petro-based compounds. About 80% of VC investment in 2016 was on improved products, as opposed to only 46% from 2010 to 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The report, titled \u201cShow Me the Money: Where Is Venture Capital Placing Bets in Bio-based?\u201d is part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.luxresearchinc.com\/coverage-areas\/bio-based-materials-and-chemicals\" target=\"_blank\">Lux Research Bio-based Materials and Chemicals Intelligence service.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>About Lux Research<\/h3>\n<p>Lux Research provides strategic advice and ongoing intelligence for emerging technologies. Leaders in business, finance and government rely on us to help them make informed strategic decisions. Through our unique research approach focused on primary research and our extensive global network, we deliver insight, connections and competitive advantage to our clients. Visit www.luxresearchinc.com for more information.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Contact<\/h3>\n<p>Carole Jacques<br \/>\nLux Research, Inc.<br \/>\nPhone: 617-502-5314<br \/>\nE-Mail: <a href=\"mailto:carole.jacques@luxresearchinc.com\" target=\"_blank\">carole.jacques@luxresearchinc.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venture capitalists have pumped in $5.8 billion into bio-based materials and chemicals (BBMC) startups since 2010, reflecting the drive for sustainability, performance, and alternatives to petroleum feedstocks. While from 2010 to 2015, the investment focus was on drop-in replacements for established chemicals, in 2016 VCs\u2019 focus has shifted to disruptive synthetic biology (synbio) and conversion [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[6843,5838],"supplier":[934,13004,9441,2101,5079,11429],"class_list":["post-40012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biochemicals","tag-bioeconomy","supplier-amsilk-gmbh","supplier-araknitek","supplier-ginkgo-bioworks","supplier-luxresearch","supplier-spiber","supplier-zymergen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40012"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=40012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}