Business Roundup

Pixelligent has raised $7.6 million in additional funding. New backers include the Japanese materials firm Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. Pixelligent is developing zirconia dispersions for displays and other uses.

Carbios says it has optimized an enzyme capable of degrading used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into the monomers terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. The French start-up says it has tripled the rate of its hydrolysis process so that 97% of PET is converted into the monomers in 24 hours.

BASF will work with the blockchain developer Arc-net to use blockchain technology to analyze sustainability in livestock production. The goal is to help farmers decrease their environmental footprints.

Red Rock Biofuels has obtained financing and permits for a 57 million-L-per-year biofuels facility in Lakeview, Ore., that will run on forestry and agriculture waste. Red Rock expects the Fischer-Tropsch gasification plant to open in 2020.

BeBop Sensors has raised $10 million in a series A fundraising round led by Bullpen Capital. BeBop is developing smart sensors for incorporation into fabric products such as gloves and airbags.

Sanofi will spend more than $430 million to build a vaccines facility at its site in Toronto. The company says the plant will allow Sanofi Pasteur, its vaccines business, to meet growing demand for the five-component acellular pertussis vaccine.

RubrYc Therapeutics has raised $10 million in series A funding to develop new antibody therapeutics. The start-up spun off from HealthTell, and RubrYc will use HealthTell’s peptide libraries to develop therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Janssen Pharmaceuticals will jointly develop BMS-986177, an anticoagulant poised to begin Phase II trials later this year. The companies did not disclose how much money Janssen paid to access the BMS drug, which blocks factor XIa, an enzyme involved in blood clotting.