Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Business

DSM invests $25 million in Amyris

Funds will be used to develop new routes to vitamins, pay down debt

by Melody M. Bomgardner
May 10, 2017 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 95, Issue 20

DSM will invest $25 million in the biobased chemicals firm Amyris and may follow with an additional $25 million in funding. DSM says Amyris’s fermentation technology is a good fit for its health, nutrition, and materials businesses, where consumers want products made from sustainable sources.

In the near-term, the two firms will work on health-related products, particularly vitamins and nutritional ingredients. They have an exclusive agreement to develop a low-cost route to vitamin A, which is normally made via chemical synthesis. Amyris and its partner Nenter separately have had success commercializing a process to make vitamin E from Amyris’s key intermediate, farnesene.

“Working closely together with Amyris and leveraging DSM’s route-to-market will accelerate our innovation toward cost-effective, fermentation-based processes for both existing and new products,” says Chris Goppelsroeder, president of DSM Nutritional Products.

If DSM does invest the full $50 million it will own almost one quarter of Amyris and obtain two seats on its board. Other, unnamed investors have committed an additional $45 million. Amyris will use most of the funds to pay down $75 million in debt. At the end of 2016, it reported long-term debt of more than $128 million and revenues of $67 million.

Earlier this month, Amyris reported that sales are up due to growing demand for farnesene used in winter tires. Companies including Sumitomo Rubber Industries are making tires with a farnesene-based rubber said to provide good road grip even in very cold weather. Amyris will report its first-quarter financial results next week.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.