The big news for San Diego life sciences companies over the past week fell into two categories, raising money and winning regulatory approval. Either way, it’s all good news.

—Genomatica, which genetically engineers microorganisms to produce industrial chemicals from renewable raw materials, has applied to raise $100 million through an IPO. The proceeds would be used for research and development, capital projects and other purposes. Genomatica plans to produce commercial quantities of butanediol, used to make spandex and resilient plastics, by the end of 2012. The company also disclosed plans to make butadiene, one of the seven basic chemicals at the core of the chemical industry, and an important ingredient used to make products such as tires, engineering polymers and latex products.

—Tandem Diabetes Care has raised $12 million of a financing round that could eventually total nearly $13.7 million. Tandem Diabetes is waiting for the FDA to respond to its application to market its wearable insulin pump in the United States.

—Zogenix (NASDAQ: ZGNX) plans to raise roughly $50 million from a secondary offering of nearly 13.8 million new shares of its common stock. The company, which has developed a needle-free injection device, plans to use the proceeds as it seeks regulatory approval to sell its second therapeutic drug, an extended-release painkiller, and to begin clinical trials of its third drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

—Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) said Canadian regulators approved a medical device license for a new molecular diagnostic device that tests whether a biopsy for prostate cancer is warranted. The company said it also won approval in Canada for another molecular diagnostic system that tests urine for the presence of chlamydia and gonorrhea.

—Apricus Biosciences (NASDAQ: APRI) said the FDA has cleared it to sell two reformulated over-the-counter drugs for topical treatments. The first was for Tolnaftate-D, a topical treatment for foot fungus that combines the tolnaftate used in existing products such as Tinactin and Lamisil with a proprietary compound that helps to increase absorption through the skin. The company also won FDA approval for Hydrocortisone-D, a reformulation of the over-the-counter anti-itch compound.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

San Diego’s Genomatica, the industrial biotechnology startup, says it has agreed to establish a joint venture with Novamont, the Italian bio-plastic producer, to develop the first industrial plant in Europe to produce butanediol (BDO) from renewable feedstocks. Novamont plans to use the estimated 40 million pounds per year output to meet the increasing demand for its products. Genomatica will retain an option for a portion of the BDO production.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

On this St. Patrick’s Day, it seems only appropriate to lead our roundup of biotech news with an item from San Diego’s Sapphire Energy, the algal biofuels startup using biotech tools to develop emerald-green crude. We’ve got the rest of the life sciences news too, as well as a hearty “Top o’ the morning” to you.

—San Diego biofuels startup Sapphire Energy signed a strategic partnership with Monsanto, the agricultural chemical specialist based in St. Louis, MO. Sapphire Energy said it is already in the business of identifying valuable traits for the use of algae in commercial agriculture, and plans to share information with Monsanto on stress tolerance, yield enhancement, and other traits.

—Genomatica, the San Diego sustainable chemicals company, forged a strategic partnership with the U.K.’s Tate & Lyle. Genomatica plans to use a Tate & Lyle high-fructose corn syrup plant in Decatur, IL, to make commercial-scale quantities of “Bio BDO,” an intermediate chemical also known as 1,4-butanediol that is used to make spandex, running shoes, automotive plastics, and other consumer products.

—San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical of Japan said they suspended a mid-stage clinical trial of an obesity drug candidate that combines two synthetic hormones. The drug companies said they want to investigate new antibody-related laboratory findings from a previous obesity trial involving metreleptin, one of the synthetic hormones.

—I talked with James Fowler, a professor of medical genetics and political science at UC San Diego about his research into social networks and Connected, the book he wrote with co-author Nicholas Christakis of Harvard. Since the book was published, Fowler said he’s done some work for 23andMe, the personal genomics company based in Mountain View, CA. “They realized that in order to provide information about genetics that you need to know something about the social environment as well,” Fowler said.

—The San Diego-based Polaris Group said it is expanding its leadership in conjunction with the advance of the company’s lead cancer drug candidate into late-stage clinical trials. Polaris named former Arena Pharmaceuticals CFO Robert E. Hoffman as its chief financial officer as it moves forward into trials of ADI-PEG 20, a drug developed to treat hepatocellular carcinoma.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

The past couple of months have been busy for San Diego’s Genomatica, which is announcing a strategic partnership today with Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE), a London-based food and industrial products manufacturer with extensive U.S. operations.

Just two weeks ago, Genomatica revealed it had raised $45 million in venture capital, bringing the company’s total financing to $84 million since inception. One of the key points of the recent round is that Genomatica brought in a couple of strategic investors: Bright Capital is the venture arm of RU-COM group, a diversified Russian business group with investments in industrial engineering and construction management in agriculture and other industries; and Waste Management (NYSE: WM), a leading provider of garbage management services in North America. The round also included a new venture investor, VantagePoint Venture Partners of San Bruno, CA, and existing investors Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and TPG Biotech.

In early February, Genomatica also disclosed a strategic partnership with Waste Management to develop ways of making basic and intermediate industrial chemicals from syngas produced from municipal solid waste.

Now, with the Tate & Lyle strategic partnership, the full scope of Genomatica’s strategy is coming into view. Genomatica CEO Christophe Schilling, said in a recent interview that Tate & Lyle has extensive experience in building and operating “corn wet mills” that are used to make high fructose corn syrup and related industrial starches.

“They have a proven track record in scaling up fermentation processes,” Schilling said. “They also have some direct experience with chemicals that are related to BDO, using a facility in Decatur, IL.”

BDO, the industry shorthand for 1,4-butanediol, is an intermediate industrial chemical used to make spandex, automotive plastics, running shoes, and other products. Major chemical companies use petroleum-based feedstocks to make BDO. But Genomatica showed last year it can make “Bio-BDO,” using genetically engineered microbes and dextrose (from corn syrup) and sucrose (from sugar cane) in 3,000-liter fermentation tanks.

So the strategic partnership with Tate & Lyle represents the … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

The news was short and sweet out of San Diego’s life sciences sector over the past week, but it was still news you can use. My wrap-up is here.

—I profiled Entra Health Systems, a San Diego-based mobile health technology startup founded in 2007. In the company’s first two years, co-founders Richard Strobridge, John Hendel, and Larry Mahar developed the software and prototype for a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose meter, and won regulatory approval to market the medical device for diabetes patients in both Europe and the United States.

—In his first BioBeat column, Xconomy’s Luke Timmerman gave his take on criticism that Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella leveled at pharmaceutical companies surrounding their acquisition tactics. The story caught the attention of Derek Lowe and other bloggers, and has been generating chatter all over the web.

—Cambridge, MA-based enzymes developer Verenium (NASDAQ: VRNM) is relocating its operations in San Diego, with a new CEO—former Executive VP and CFO James Levine. After shedding its cellulosic biofuels business to BP last summer, Verenium appears to be focusing its business on identifying and developing enzymes for biofuels and other industries.

—Genomatica, a San Diego company focused on using biotechnology to create industrial chemicals, raised $45 million in a Series C round of venture funding. The company plans to use the funding to demonstrate its sustainable, “green” chemistry technology can work on a commercial-scale.

—San Diego’s Santarus (NASDAQ: SNTS) said the FDA rejected its application to sell a treatment for hereditary angioedema, a rare genetic condition that can cause a potentially fatal swelling of the throat. U.S. regulators said they want to see more results from the clinical trial of the drug Rhucin, which will take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

San Diego-based Genomatica has raised $45 million in a Series C round of venture funding that will allow the company to scale up production of its sustainable chemical technology to 15,000 liters a day, according to an item today in VentureWire.

Genomatica said last summer it had successfully scaled up technology that uses genetically engineered microbes to make 1,4-butanediol (BDO)-an industrial chemical used to make spandex, automotive plastics, and running shoes. At that time, Genomatica said it had successfully demonstrated a fermentation process that used a 3,000-liter broth of genetically engineered bacteria, sugar, and air to produce BDO—which is usually made from petroleum-based raw materials.

Now the company plans to go from 3,000-liter batches to 15,000 liters, although Genomatica has not yet publicly disclosed where it plans to establish its pilot plant.

Last month, Genomatica revealed a strategic partnership with Houston’s Waste Management to develop ways of making other useful chemicals from syngas, a gas mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide used to make a variety of intermediate chemicals like ammonia and methanol.

New investors in the latest round include VantagePoint, Waste Management, and Bright Capital, according to VentureWire. Existing investors Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and TPG Biotech also participated.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

There was good news and bad news from San Diego’s life sciences community over the past week. Here’s our recap for you.

—San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) said it shipped a record number of DNA mapping systems during the fourth quarter that ended Jan. 2. With demand for its genetic equipment soaring, Illumina said its profit was three times the same quarter last year. Illumina also disclosed plans to relocate its 1,100 San Diego employees to the San Diego campus of Biogen Idec, the Cambridge, MA-based company that is pulling up stakes in San Diego.

—IntegenX of Pleasanton, CA, acquired Carlsbad, CA-based GenVault for an undisclosed amount, and raised $15.6 million in new capital in a round led by existing investor Domain Associates. IntegenX makes automated sample preparation systems for genetics laboratories. GenVault produces bio-sample storage systems that do not depend on refrigeration.

—Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OREX) eliminated 23 jobs, or about 40 percent of its workforce, after the FDA rejected the company’s request to sell the obesity drug Contrave in the United States. Orexigen said it expects the cuts will save $5 million a year.

—San Diego-based Leading Ventures‘ co-founder and senior managing director John Rodenrys took me to the living tissue laboratory of UC San Diego bioengineering professor Geert Schmid-Schönbein to better explain the firm’s venture funding strategy. Leading Ventures is providing funding for two startups based on technologies developed in Schmid-Schönbein’s lab.

—San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OPTR) disclosed a deal with Japan’s Astellas Pharma that gives Astellas exclusive rights to market its treatment for C. difficile infections in Europe, and certain countries in the Middle East, Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Optimer filed for FDA approval of the drug fidaxomicin in late November.

—Physio-Control of Redmond, WA, and BeneChill of San Diego formed a strategic partnership to sell a portable system that BeneChill developed for use by emergency medical technicians that chills the brains of people who have suffered a stroke, heart attack, or traumatic brain injury. The new partners plan to start marketing the RhinoChill System in Europe this quarter.

—San Diego-based Altair Therapeutics shut down after the startup’s lone drug candidate for asthma failed in a mid-stage clinical trial. Altair was a spinoff from Carlsbad, CA-based Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS), which has re-acquired Altair’s assets, blocked further clinical development, and dissolved Altair.

—San Diego’s Genomatica, which is developing sustainable chemicals technology, signed a strategic agreement with Houston’s Waste Management to develop ways of making basic chemicals from landfill gas and other sources.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

San Diego-based Genomatica, which has been developing technology to produce basic chemicals from renewable feedstocks, has signed a strategic agreement with Houston’s Waste Management to develop ways of making basic chemicals from landfill gas and other sources. Genomatica says it will create proprietary organisms and manufacturing processes that use syngas as the raw material for making certain industrial chemicals. Waste Management will provide the syngas, which is produced chiefly through anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

San Diego-based Genomatica, which has been developing “green” ways of using microbes to produce an industrial chemical called 1, 4 butanediol (BDO), said Tuesday the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted it two foundational patents for another key industrial chemical— adipic acid.

Adipic acid is used to make nylon, and it has existing market estimated at more than $5.2 billion. BDO is a chemical used to make automotive plastics, running shoes, and Spandex fibers, with an estimated $3 billion market. Both are known as “intermediate chemicals” that are valuable because they are precursor chemicals needed to make other products—and until now they have both been made only in petrochemical refineries from crude oil or natural gas.

Genomatica’s patent claims could prove vexatious to other companies that also have been developing sustainable methods for manufacturing adipic acid, including Carlsbad, CA-based Veredezyne and Menlo Park, CA-based Rennovia.

Genomatica, which describes itself as a leader in the sustainable chemicals revolution, says the two breakthroughs demonstrate how to use make one of the most useful materials known, using green processes.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Genomatica says its patent number 7,799,545, titled “Microorganisms for the production of adipic acid and other compounds,” describes how to produce a “green” version of key intermediate chemicals used to produce nylon.

Genomatica’s patent number 7,803,589, called “Methods and organisms for utilizing synthesis gas or other gaseous carbon sources and methanol,” describes how to engineer an organism to use syngas as a feedstock to make green, sustainably produced versions of major chemical products. In its statement, the company explains, “this is significant because syngas is generally less expensive than other renewable feedstocks, and can be sourced from a wide variety of raw materials including biomass or municipal solid waste—garbage.

As a result, Genomatica says its now-proprietary technology provides a platform for creating numerous other major high-value chemicals at a lower cost.

Comments (1) | Reprints | Share:          

Back on May 28th, Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE) said it had agreed to pay approximately $47 million in cash to acquire a 74 percent stake in Geneart, a German company that specializes in making synthetic genes.

Less than a week later, Life announced that it had made an undisclosed investment (which later turned out to be $10 million) in Synthetic Genomics, the San Diego startup working to develop gasoline and other biofuels from genetically engineered algae.

A couple of other announcements followed in August and September. First, Life Technologies and SG Biofuels of Encinitas, CA, announced that they had completed sequencing the genome of the Jatropha curcas plant, which produces a walnut-size oil seed that can be used to make biofuels. And then, a few weeks later, SG Biofuels revealed that it had raised $9.4 million in a Series A round of venture funding that included Life Technologies.

Connecting the dots, it’s apparent that Life Technologies has decided to make some inroads in the emerging business of synthetic biology and algae-based biofuels. It’s also unlikely that a company that generated $3.3 billion in sales last year would make such a move lightly. So I arranged an interview with Nathan Wood, a vice president of genomics who is part of the company’s Molecular Biology Systems division.

In a nutshell, Wood says Life Technologies wants to do the same thing for synthetic biology that it has done for genomics—Life Technologies has become a global biotech by supplying the laboratory instruments, services, and supplies that scientists need to analyze the genetic code of any organism. Wood explained that the company near San Diego now wants to supply the tools that scientists need to assemble snippets of genetic code to create new organisms “so researchers won’t have to go somewhere else to get the tools they need.”

To accomplish this goal, Wood says Life decided in 2008 to undertake a $100 million initiative focused on synthetic biology. In 2009, the company began … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Of all the tech news we had last week, I thought the most interesting was what our Xconomists had to say about Qualcomm, past and future. We’ve got the wrap on that, along with the rest of what happened in San Diego.

—San Diego’s EvoNexus, the free tech incubator created last year by the CommNexus telecom industry group, is graduating two companies in the next month or two. IO Semiconductor, a chip design startup that recently raised $8 million in capital, is now able to exist on its own; and EcoATM, which is automating the cell phone trade-in and buy-back process, is leasing its own office space after raising about $4 million.

—I profiled Encinitas, CA-based Oceanhouse Media, founded in 2009 by Michel Kripalani of Presto Studios, the now defunct San Diego-based computer video game developer. After landing a licensing agreement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Oceanhouse has been producing digital versions of 44 Dr. Seuss children’s books for the iPad and other Apple devices. Kripalani told me, “We’re helping old school publishing companies move to the digital age, and in the process we’re creating a new publishing house.”

—Xconomy invited some local wireless experts and a few of our top editorial advisors, or Xconomists, to discuss the factors that helped Qualcomm reach its 25th anniversary, an achievement the San Diego wireless giant has been observing all year. As Boston Xconomist Mark Lowenstein put it, “Qualcomm is to wireless what Intel is to the PC Industry.“

—A campaign to create an Entrepreneurial Walk of Fame in Kendall Square, which is a center of technology in Cambridge, MA, prompted Connect CEO Duane Roth to send an e-mail about the San Diego nonprofit’s own Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame. Roth says Connect has inducted nine Hall of Famers since 2005 for achieving “distinction over the years for founding, leading or advancing a San Diego life sciences or technology-based business organization. Such entrepreneurs have contributed to our region individually and, through their organizations, to the business sectors that shape our local economy and improve our quality of life.”

—San Diego’s Finistere Ventures, which has maintained a low profile since it was founded five years ago, is laying the groundwork to raise another venture fund next year. The VC firm invests in industrial and agricultural biotech as well as in medical devices. How big will the new fund be? Managing Director Bruce J. “Jay” Brumfield wouldn’t tell me, but he says it will exceed the $35 million that Finistere raised in two pools from its investors in New Zealand and the Chicago area.

—San Diego’s EMN8 has raised $3.1 million in a combination of equity, debt, and options convertible to EMN8 stock. The startup company, which makes automated kiosks that make it easier to order fast food, movie tickets, and other merchandise, raised more than $14.4 million in March.

—Xconomy’s Thea Chard profiled ValueAppeal, a Seattle startup that’s giving San Diego-based EasyTaxFix some competition by offering an easy way for homeowners to evaluate their property tax assessment online—and to file an electronic property tax appeal that could save them money. I profiled EasyTaxFix in 2008.

Comments (1) | Reprints | Share:          

Whatever happened to the lazy “dog days of summer?” The past week was busy with life science news, with a lot of deals and other developments. Here’s our summary:

—Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE), in a bid to gain a competitive advantage in the market for fast and cheap gene sequencing, acquired Ion Torrent Streams of Guilford, CT, and South San Francisco, CA, for $375 million in cash and stock. Ion Torrent could get another $350 million in cash and stock if it can meet certain technical milestones through 2012. Game on!

—San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: CYPB) disclosed in a regulatory filing that one of its independent directors, Jean-Pierre Millon, has resigned. The director’s departure comes while Cypress Bio has been trying to hold off Ramius Value and Opportunity Advisors, which made an unsolicited $160 million buyout offer that Cypress has repeatedly rejected.

—Weston, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) landed a deal with Knopp Neurosciences to develop an experimental drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Biogen, which has significant operations in San Diego, provided $20 million in an upfront payment to Pittsburgh-based Knopp, and purchased $60 million in Knopp stock. Knopp also could get another $265 million in Biogen payments tied to drug development goals.

—San Diego-based Allylix, which raised $9 million in venture funding in April, has launched its first terpene product—called nootkatone. It’s a flavor-fragrance that could be described as essence of grapefruit. As Allylix introduces new products to market, it’s gaining visibility as the latest of a new kind of startup that is using biotechnology to make “renewable chemicals” that take the “petro” out of petro-chemicals.

—I profiled San Diego’s Zogenix, which has raised $199 million since it was founded four years ago, and won FDA approval for its combined migraine drug and needle-free delivery system in mid-2009. Zogenix says its DosePro device is a faster and simpler method for subcutaneous injections than existing hypodermic needles and other devices.

—San Diego’s Prometheus Laboratories has amended the IPO registration it has had on file with government regulators since 2007. The specialty pharma and diagnostics company has not priced its shares, but is expected to raise somewhere between $100 million and $150 million.

—I talked with Ken Widder, the San Diego-based partner in San Francisco’s Latterell Venture Partners. He told me the firm doesn’t usually take management positions in the companies it helps create. But Widder said the partners have extensive operating experience and bring lots of practical talent to the startup boards they sit on. Widder, for example, has founded seven life science companies, holds 30 patents or patent filings, and has authored or co-authored 25 scientific papers.

—San Diego’s Reva Medical, which has been developing bioabsorbable medical stents, has filed for a $63 million IPO on the Australian Stock Exchange.

—San Diego’s Biocept, which has been adopting micro-fluidic technology to the field of cancer diagnostics, has raised $2.3 million of a planned $7.1 million round of equity funding.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

In the six years since Allylix was founded, the San Diego startup has been developing ways of getting yeast to produce complex hydrocarbon molecules called terpenes for use initially as flavor and fragrance enhancers. In April, Allylix raised $9 million in a C Series round of venture capital to fund its commercialization plans, which call for launching the first eight of its terpene products through 2012.

The company already has launched its first product, a terpene with a keen grapefruit taste and smell called nootkatone, which was previously extracted from grapefruit peels through a costly process. In fact, Allylix says the market for nootkatone has been limited due to its high price. Now the startup intends to put the squeeze on the existing nootkatone market, and use its proprietary yeast-based fermentation technology to open new markets in food and beverage industries by making the grapefruit-scented molecule in bulk quantities at low cost.

Allylix is an example of a new kind of startup in San Diego that is using the tools of biotechnology to make hydrocarbon-based molecules as “renewable chemicals.” The company’s strategy, in a nutshell, is to repeat what it’s doing with nookatone with related terpene compounds—next in the lineup is a juicy orange flavor and fragrance called valentene— focusing initially on the $1.9 billion “aroma chemical” segment of the flavor and fragrance market.  Allylix is targeting perfumers with other terpenes.

It turns out plants produce … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Genomatica says it has successfully scaled up technology that uses genetically engineered microbes to make 1,4-butanediol (BDO)—a solvent and industrial chemical usually made from crude oil or natural gas.

The San Diego company, which touts itself as a leader in the “sustainable chemicals revolution,” worked with an industrial biotechnology partner in Lansing, MI, to make multiple batches of BDO—a chemical used to make automotive plastics, running shoes, and Spandex fibers.

The venture-backed company founded in 2000 is using biotechnology and renewable raw materials to eliminate energy-intensive industrial processes and petrochemicals in making the key intermediate chemical. The fermentation process also reduces production of greenhouse gases. In validating its technology, Genomatica says it is catalyzing a revolution in the petrochemical industry as it expands its development process to include other “high-value” chemicals with large existing markets.

Fermentation Tanks at MBI

Genomatica estimates the global market for BDO at $3 billion, with about half of BDO used in an acid-catalyzed process to make a precursor used in the production of Spandex.

The pilot-scale work shows “the magnificence of our technology platform,” Genomatica’s Chief Technology Officer Mark Burk told me in a recent telephone interview. “We have validated the process—the overall process that uses our platform technology to determine a path for genetically engineering an organism to produce BDO, as well as the industrial process for recovering, separating, and purifying BDO,” said Burk.

The pilot plant testing was done at MBI, a facility that operates as a non-profit subsidiary of the Michigan State University Foundation, and which … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Startup companies have been busy raising capital over the past few weeks, which include some time when I was out of the country. In a bid to catch up, I’ve collected these recent deals to help you catch up as well.

—Ambit Biosciences disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has raised $12 million out of a targeted $13.4 million financing that includes warrants to purchase as many as 284,584 preferred Series D shares or an undetermined number of preferred stock. The San Diego biotech has focused its technology on developing anti-cancer drug treatments from an emerging class of compounds that block the cellular activities of certain enzymes known as kinases. Ambit has moved to develop its own anti-cancer compounds after developing technology to screen large numbers of kinases for the best candidate compounds to block them.

—San Diego’s Allylix says it has closed its Series C round of funding by raising a total of $9 million, which includes $6 million the company disclosed in a regulatory filing in January. The company has been developing ways of using genetically engineered yeast to make specialty chemicals known as terpenes, a basic building block for both synthetic and naturally occurring fragrances, flavors, and other products. The company received additional investment from new investor Middleland Capital as well as existing investors Blue Grass Angels, Life Science Angels, Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels and Tate & Lyle Ventures.

—San Diego-based TweetPhoto, a real-time platform for sharing Twitter and other social web media, says it has secured $2.6 million in a Series A financing led by Canaan Partners, with additional investment from Anthem Venture Partners and angel investors. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate development of its core technology, a platform of open application program interfaces, or APIs, and mobile software development kits for real-time media sharing across the social web. The funding also allows the company to expand its developer relations program and to introduce new products that further strengthen its position as the preferred way for leading application developers to incorporate real-time media sharing into their applications.

—Sotera Wireless, a San Diego startup previously known as Triage Wireless, says it has raised $10.7 million as part … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

We’ve been waiting for this one since last summer.

San Diego-based Genomatica is announcing today it has raised $15 million in a Series C venture round led by a new investor, TPG Biotech, to build a demonstration plant to make a common industrial chemical through a renewable technique, and to develop a bigger pipeline of other petrochemical alternatives.

Genomatica’s existing investors, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Alloy Ventures, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, joined in the round with TPG Biotech, which is affiliated with TPG, the global $45 billion investment firm. The company has raised a total of $38.5 million since it was founded in 2000, according to CEO and co-founder Christophe Schilling.

Genomatica, which describes itself as a sustainable chemicals company, uses a fermentation tank filled with sugar and genetically engineered microbes to produce mass quantities of 1, 4 butanediol. Also known as BDO, the hydrocarbon is an intermediate chemical widely used by the petrochemical industry to make plastics, solvents, pharmaceuticals, textiles and automotive components.

When Genomatica said last June it had succeeded in making commercial-grade batches of BDO, Schilling told me that achievement had cleared the way for construction of a small-scale industrial BDO demonstration plant. Now, after nine months, the company has secured the necessary funding to move ahead with those plans. Schilling says the demo plant will be big enough to produce about a ton of BDO a day, although he adds that the company has not yet disclosed where it plans to build the plant. Such a facility would require a 30,000-liter fermentation vessel (about 7,925 gallons) housed in a facility that could be as big as 20,000 square feet.

In a statement released by Genomatica, TPG Biotech principal Patrick McCroskey says, “After careful and rigorous scrutiny of this competitive field, no company is better suited to drive low-cost petro-alternatives into the chemical industry. In short order and through … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

San Diego’s Genomatica says it has checked off another technical accomplishment in its quest to take the “petroleum” out of the petrochemical industry.

After showing last year that it had engineered bacteria to make butanediol, a key industrial chemical also known as BDO, Genomatica says it now can make BDO in commercial grade batches. In an announcement today, Genomatica says its latest technical feat clears the way for construction of a small-scale industrial demonstration facility. The startup got $20 million in venture funding two years ago from Silicon Valley’s Mohr Davidow Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Alloy Ventures, so Genomatica may require another venture round before it embarks on construction.

Christophe Schilling

“The recent achievement allows us to know that every step in our process works” and “fully validates” the technology, Genomatica’s Christophe Schilling told me last week. He estimates that construction of a BDO demonstration plant could begin early next year and would cost between $10 million and $15 million. Schilling, who co-founded the company in 2000, was named as Genomatica’s CEO last month, replacing former CEO Chris Gann.

Like most hydrocarbon products, BDO is currently produced from crude oil under tremendous heat and pressure in oil refinery “cracking” units. So Genomatica’s approach represents a potential revolution for the chemical industry, one that would replace an industrial process based on fossil fuel with a biotech-based process that uses sustainable technology.

Another amazing factoid in this is that BDO is normally toxic to E coli. Yet Genomatica has engineered the bacteria’s genes to churn out BDO while consuming sugar, oxygen, and other nutrients in fermentation tanks.

The global petrochemical industry makes about 3 billion pounds of BDO a year for a worldwide market estimated at almost $3 trillion a year.

The colorless, viscous liquid is what Schilling calls an “intermediate chemical.” As I reported in October, the pharmaceutical industry uses BDO to make … Next Page »

Comments | Reprints | Share: