Codexis CEO: “We’re hitting escape velocity” as Shell deepens ties to enzymes pioneer

At WBM 2009, Codexis CEO Alan Shaw offered more details on the company’s expansion, including a new investment from Shell Oil rumored to be on the $30 million scale. “In a way, Shell is like IBM and we’re Microsoft,” he said, “in that we have a partner that gives us a channel for massive adoption.”

Shaw emphasized that the company’s 1 million strong enzyme library gives it the opportunity to offer its customers a highly customized solution based on crop and growing conditions, and then mass produce to customer-required scale. Codexis, now up to 300 employees, described its strength in terms of its talent, and said that retention of that talent is made far easier by the investment from Shell, which offers a validation of the company’s technology and vision.

“We’re just starting to see real consumer consciousness about carbon,” added venture capitalist Tom Baruch, who has backed Codexis through his CMEA Ventures fund “We’re getting escape velocity,” Shaw said, although he said that the pace and scope of biofuels development, now that they have established a worldwide exclusive relationship with Shell, is entirely up to the oil major although governed by undisclosed mutual covenants which Baruch characterized as typical for biotech deals.

Under the new deal, Codexis will work with the Iogen cellulosic ethanol plant in Canada, which Shell has also invested in. “The expert Codexis team will make a real difference in the race toward full-scale commercial production of biofuel from non-food sources,” said Shell biofuels EVP Graeme Sweeney. “Better enzymes will improve efficiency and help lower costs.” Sweeney is conducting a free public webinar on Shell’s biofuels perspective on April 7th – to register for the webinar, click here.

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