Business Roundup

Chemours has acquired Southern Ionics Minerals, which operates a titanium and zirconium mineral sands mine in Charlton County, Georgia. Chemours says the geological formation is similar to the one at its mine in Florida serving its titanium dioxide business.

Tosoh will spend nearly $50 million to expand chloroprene rubber capacity at its plant in Shūnan, Japan. The plant will have a capacity of 37,000 metric tons per year when the project is complete in 2021.

Hexion and Black Mountain Sand have formed a partnership to provide resin-coated proppant sand for hydraulic fracturing. Hexion has installed one of its Voyager resin-coating facilities at Black Mountain’s El Dorado Mine in Texas.

Biome Makers, a soil microbe analytics firm, has raised $4 million from investors to expand its services in the US, Europe, and Latin America. The firm uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to help wine-grape growers and other farmers improve their soils.

MilliporeSigma has acquired BSSN Software, a German lab informatics firm. MilliporeSigma, a supplier of research chemicals, analytical equipment, and laboratory gear, has worked with BSSN since 2014 to provide digitized data management.

Exelixis will pay the drug-discovery service firm Aurigene $10 million for exclusive licenses to three of its experimental oncology drug programs. The two companies will also work on three new programs, each of which could earn Aurigene an additional $2.5 million.

Inari, a plant-breeding and seed company founded by Flagship Pioneering, has raised $89 million in a third funding round. The firm uses genomic and computational tools to improve yield and sustainability in seeds including corn and soybeans.

Novo Holdings, part of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, has invested $72 million in the gas fermentation firm LanzaTech. The funds will help LanzaTech expand its platform for producing fuels and chemicals from waste gases.