In Switzerland, cellulose biomaterials company Seprify has raised €13.4 million (US$15.8 million) in a Series A funding that included participation from Inter IKEA Group. Una Terra Early Growth Fund, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Kickfund, and other circular-economy-aligned investors also participated. With the new capital, Seprify will scale commercial production to hundreds of metric tons […]
In South Korea, femtech startup Inertia has begun selling its sanitary napkins, which replace petroleum-based super absorbent polymers with biobased alternatives, in the US market. Dubbed Prism Pads, the absorbent material core is based on cellulose. “Although many products today emphasize natural materials, in reality, most sanitary pads only use organic cotton in the top […]
In Indonesia, researchers at Bina Nusantara University in Jakarta are evaluating materials based on coffee waste that could be used to replace food packaging films. Led by Ata Aditya Wardana at BNU, the team looked at using coffee byproducts such as pulp, husk, silverskin and spent grounds as fillers and bioactives in biobased and edible […]
In Florida, a University of Miami research team has won the top prize at the recent Climate Correction Conference in Orlando for developing an algae‑based concrete additive that reduces the construction industry’s outsized carbon footprint. The team harvested native Florida algae and converted it into biochar, a carbon‑rich, charcoal‑like substance, that Jasmine Rodriguez, a first‑year […]
In Europe, the European Commission has launched a call for interest to join the newly created European Bioeconomy Investment Deployment Group, an initiative designed to accelerate public and private investment in the EU’s expanding bioeconomy sector. Announced on 10 March, the platform aims to close persistent financing gaps and help scale up innovative biobased industries […]
In Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (Umsicht) has launched HighTech PLA, an effort to replace fossil‑based plastics in the electrical and electronics sector with biobased alternatives such as polylactic acid. While PLA is already used in packaging and consumer goods, adapting it for demanding electrical applications represents a significant leap […]
In Dubai, Emirates Biotech has joined the CIRCLE consortium, an initiative funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking that aims to demonstrate a first-of-its-kind industrial biorefinery that converts organic food waste into biobased chemicals, including polylactic acid. The four-year project has €27 million in funding and brings together 17 partners across the value chain. […]
In Brazil, biomanufacturer Amyris has completed construction of a new production line at its flagship precision fermentation plant in Barra Bonita, Brazil. The site already housed three production lines to produce custom ingredients for numerous industries. “As we create ingredients that hundreds of millions of people use every day, we hold ourselves to the same […]
In London, Shellworks, a company using microbes to ferment used cooking oil and other second-generation feedstocks into a biodegradable plastic alternative, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding. The company will use the funds to scale up global production for its Vivomer material and expand into the US and EU wellness market. The […]
In London, Ananas Anam, a company making a leather alternative called Pinatex from pineapple leaf fiber, has filed for bankruptcy. The company amassed a number of offtake partners in its thirteen years of operation, including household names like Nike and H&M. However, according to Ecotextile, the company failed to achieve and sustain commercial scale and […]
