Bolt Threads joins with Patagonia

The synthetic spider silk start-up Bolt Threads has raised $50 million in Series C financing and attracted the outdoor clothing firm Patagonia as a partner. One of C&EN’s 10 Start-ups to Watch last year, Bolt was founded in 2009 by chemist Dan Widmaier and partners. The firm genetically modifies yeast to express silk in industrial fermentors. Bolt, which earlier raised $40 million, says it is producing silk protein at a large scale and will move into yarn manufacturing this summer.