Two young scientists built a $250M business using yeast to clean up wastewater
forbes.com
forbes.com
Company is called Solugen. $12 M/yr in 2019, on track for >30 M/yr in 2020
Wastewater treatment is 80% of their revenue
Bio-engineered a yeast to create produce enzymes that create hydrogen peroxide from feedstock sugar
The solution produced also contains organic acids that breakdown minerals. Mineral buildup can clog and corrode pipes over time
Initially created 5 gallon batches, for use in pools, hot tubs and spas. Found that market after a group of float-spa owners contacted them on facebook
Joined Y-Combinator
Partnered with wipe manufacturer to sell them hydrogen peroxide solution hoping the deal was stepping stone to bigger industrial customers
Hired a salesperson from oilfield services Schlumberger to market wastewater cleaning products to oil drillers
The product is appealing for the wastewater cleanup market because of it's anti mineral buildup effects and it does not cause algal blooms compared to HEDP. It's a $5 B/yr market. Includes oil and gas drilling which regulation requires wastewater to be cleaned. The product had a successful test with an oil and gas customer. The customer had 20% reduced efficiency in it's water injectors because of iron-scale buildup and lost $29 M/yr. The product increased production again without the need of additional acid sitmulation. Demand for wastewater treatment increases with age of oil drilling sites. “We go head to head with phosphates, We are not premium.”
Production of solution also sequesters 1.35 tons of CO2 compared to it's competitor HEDP which emits 3 tons. According to independent audit from Life Cycle Analysis
Also produced more than 100K gallons of hand sanitizer that it dontated to healthcare facilities. Partenered with local ethenol facility. Plans to increase hand sanitizer production mini-mills (smaller regional production facilities) and considering commercial opportunities
Plans to expand to agriculture fertilizing, a $175 B/yr market. Hoping to re-invent fertilizer with biodegradable alternative that replenishes essential minerals and metals to soil
Why haven't they set up shop in Europe yet? If they are already cheaper than the conventional product the carbon price would be all additional profit.
Probably forbidden here, or really difficult to get approval. Europes public and leadership fears bio engineering and has not yet realised its importance in the future.
Someone with more insight into Biotech correct me if I am wrong.
Maybe the fact that there isn't a market for GMO consumer products is where you got it mixed up? Hell even the worlds leading GMO company Monsanto is owned by a German company.
Still, how difficult is it to bring GMO products to a European market like Germany? I'd imagine the hurdles are higher and more expensive compared to the USA?
What does this mean? Tongue-in-cheek interpretation: 'some simple paragraphs without full stops follow'. Is it some sort of note-taking framework though?
It's interesting that people see genetically modified yeast producing hydrogen peroxide as "natural" -- but not regular hydrogen peroxide.
If the yeast started producing too much hydrogen peroxide then presumably it would just die. Unlike when someone adds too much chemicals to a pool, which is common enough that probably most people have experienced it.
The yeast are in chemical reactors. The company harvests the peroxide from the reactors and sells it as a substitute to petroleum-produced peroxide.
Read some of the Q&As for Ozone Generators on Amazon, many people think it's safe for humans and pets. The internet is a dangerous place for information at times.
If you want to be a smartypants I guess noble gases are elementary.
>“It was a Trojan Horse for us, with an aim of selling the brand and getting a supplier contract,” he says. As in the Iliad, the plan worked.
The Trojan Horse isn't actually in the Iliad, it's in the Little Iliad, a now lost epic poem.
I appreciate the pedantic correction.
The horse is mentioned briefly in the Odyssey, since it's attributed to Odysseus's cunning wit. Probably the work that describes it most thoroughly is the Aenid, which came hundreds of years after Homer's works or the Little Iliad.
The Romans often were inspired by, appropriated, imitated, or embraced Greek culture which was looked upon highly. Much of their success can be attributed to their ability to integrate many cultures and meld them into a diverse Roman culture.
I wish these were shorter but I guess I have to breakout my notepad again
On the other, there is no way for joe schmoes like me to invest in a great company like this. :(
Guys! Can you suggest an easy way to convert PET plastic to PETG? Can we make bioengineered bacteria for this process.
I make 3d printing filament from plastic waste (currently using abs) and I can find lots of cheap PET plastic but it's not good for printing but PETG is.
Anyone else think it's suspicious that they paid $3M for a plant to the cofounder's father?
The possibility of an unfair advantage is how you get investors to close.
He should be compensated for that, it would be fun for it to be suspicious if we knew the cost of the other places they looked at, and if this was much more than those costs, but the mere convenience of a large transaction to the father doesn't elevate that at all. Just reminds me of the resources I would like my family and network to have to make our good ideas become more viable.
> A half hour later, he was touring a decommissioned chemical manufacturing plant that had been used to turn oil into plastics, with Chakrabarti’s father, Gopendu, a chemical engineer and entrepreneur. The hulking factory, on a 5-acre site, still had intact piping and tanks, and even boasted a 1-acre apple and pear orchard, planted by the previous owner as a carbon offset. The elder Chakrabarti swore they’d never find a better space. After touring 20 more sites over the next month, Hunt finally agreed. Solugen paid nearly $3 million for the plant.
They toured the plant with him, taking advantage of free advice from a knowledgeable, skilled person. They didn't pay him.
Genetics are not like code so unless you are copying previous work expect a very long road
verification _can_ be tricky, but you can also send off your sample for sequencing fairly cheaply and quickly these days.
so, go for it!