In Massachusetts, Circe has closed a $5 million seed round to advance gas fermentation technology for converting CO2, water, and electricity into sugars, fats, biodegradable plastics, and biofuels. It licensed the process from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute earlier this year.
Circe’s initial target products are triglycerides. “Oils are ubiquitous and play a central role in food, cosmetics, and biofuels; however, conventional production has a significant negative environmental impact,” Circe said in a press statement. “Traditional production of fats and oils from plants and animals currently accounts for 7% of global emissions. Additional expansion in capacity is synonymous with deforestation and biodiversity loss. There is an urgent need for sustainable and carbon-negative alternatives like those developed by Circe.”
Participants in the seed funding included include ReGen Ventures, Undeterred Capital, Ponderosa Ventures, Bee Partners, Exceptional Ventures, Climate Capital, and Safar Partners.
Circe also announced it has installed a pilot plant in Waltham, MA that will enable it to move out of its proof-of-concept lab and begin producing carbon-negative molecules at higher scale.
“Our microbes are doing what nature has done for billions of years — using CO2 to build complex molecules. All we’re doing is accelerating the process,” said Shannon Nangle, Co-founder and CEO of Circe.