In Boston, synthetic biology firm Ginkgo Bioworks and Sumitomo Chemical have announced a partnership to identify biobased ingredients for cosmetics and personal care applications. Sumitomo Chemical will leverage Ginkgo’s codebase and expertise in organism engineering to sustainably produce molecules used in products across a broad range of industries. The target molecule is planned to be […]
In the UK, researchers have created an aquatic snail-inspired biomaterial so strong it could one day serve as a renewable alternative to Kevlar. The breakthrough has its origin in 2015 work characterizing the tooth material of limpets, which has tensile strength even stronger than spider silk. Atomic-level analysis revealed a dense network of chitin fibers […]
In Boston, a startup producing sustainable chemicals for apparel, personal care and medicine from natural silk proteins has raised $120 million to scale production. The financing will advance global sales for Evolved By Nature’s Advanced Silk products, which can also replace petrochemical coatings used by the leather and textile industries. In the last year, the […]
In London, popular investing and savings platform Plum has introduced a 100% recyclable and biodegradable debit card partially made of sea salt. The Plum Card will be free to the company’s Plum Ultra customers. The premium service offers cash back and budgeting solutions for £4.99 (US$5.92) per month. The plum-colored debit card is 57% sea […]
In Italy, Pirelli will soon launch passenger car tires that incorporate fillers made from lignin using a proprietary process technology. The process uses a novel chemical treatment and coprecipitation techniques developed over several years. It has been optimized for “scale-up and utilization in car tire products,” Luciano Tadielli, innovative materials researcher, Pirelli Tyre SpA, said […]
In Chicago, a food tech company developing extracts and alternative proteins from algae has received funding from Tokyo’s DIC Corporation. DIC says the unspecified investment in Back of the Yards Algae Sciences advances its position in “more sustainable and circular algae-derived products,” including natural food colorants, natural food additives, and biostimulants. BYAS owns proprietary technology […]
In New York, Simplifyber reports a $3.5-million seed investment that it will use to advance its cellulose-based additive manufacturing method for clothing production. The company has developed a novel approach to clothing and accessory manufacturing that removes traditional spinning, weaving, cutting, and sewing and replaces it with a less resource-intensive process and fully biodegradable end […]
In Paris, waste cocoa bean husk is the latest renewable material innovation to hit the runway, thanks to a partnership between Dutch Fashion Designer Iris van Herpen and ice cream brand Magnum. van Herpen and Magnum brought in Zaandam-based design studio Klarenbeen and Dros, which had experience making biopolymers from materials like algae, mycelium, and […]
In Denmark, precision fermentation firm Biosyntia has closed an €11.5 million (US$11.6 million) Series B funding round that it will use to launch the world’s first biobased vitamin B7. ECBF lead led the funding, with participation from existing investors Sofinnova Partners and Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings A/S. […]
In California, Lindsey Lohan and sustainable sneaker and clothing brand Allbirds have launched an activewear collection that is a nod to Mean Girls, an icon teen comedy starring Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Tina Fey. Leaning heavily into pink—which the main characters in the quotable cult classic made a point to wear on Wednesdays—the collection features […]
