ZymoChem Secures $21M Series A Funding Round Led by Breakout Ventures with New Investments from lululemon and Toyota Ventures
Harshal Chokhawala, Co-Founder and CEO
SAN LEANDRO, CA, Jan. 16, 2024
ZymoChem, creators of the world’s most carbon-efficient bio-manufacturing platform, closed a $21 million Series A round of funding. The investment is led by Breakout Ventures with participation from new investors including lululemon athletica, inc. and Toyota Ventures, and existing investors including GS Futures, KdT Ventures, and Cavallo Ventures.
By pairing this financing with existing revenues from commercial partnerships and funding from the Department of Energy, ZymoChem will launch its first high-performance material and advance its first partnered product to commercial scale.
To help address the climate crisis, ZymoChem rethinks how everyday products, from personal hygiene items to textiles, are produced. ZymoChem is redesigning manufacturing with products that do not come from fossil fuels, require carbon-intensive production, or persist for hundreds of years.
Improving sustainability within manufacturing via ZymoChem's patented technology is what interested Toyota Ventures. ZymoChem's approach also aligns well with lululemon's goal of improving sustainability within its product portfolio.
“We’re upending the materials industry,” said Harshal Chokhawala, Co-Founder and CEO. “Our technology delivers sustainability without compromising performance, scale, and importantly economics. This unlock has already catalyzed multiple partnerships with world-leading companies and we’re thrilled to expand our impact with our key stakeholders.”
ZymoChem accelerates the real-zero economy by relieving carbon emissions in product development, use, and end of life via:
Platform Approach: Converting renewable feedstocks into a variety of high-performance, bio-based, biodegradable polymers.
Patented, Carbon-Efficient Bio-manufacturing: Creating materials with near-zero CO2 emissions via a proprietary fermentation process.
Superior Economics: Improving yields by up to 50% versus alternative processes creating a dramatic cost advantage.
Visionary Partnerships: Promoting benefits of bio-based manufacturing by partnering with stakeholders across the value chain with drop-in solutions for their existing infrastructure.
“ZymoChem has the most compelling technology we've seen to scale bio-based chemicals and materials while remaining cost competitive to petroleum-derived products,” said Lindy Fishburne, Managing Partner at Breakout Ventures.
In addition to the aforementioned investors, ZymoChem is excited to have the following key partner groups included in this funding round as well: ACCELR8, Alexandria Venture Investments, Bricks Fund Tokyo, Dudley Fund, Fashion for Good, Litani Ventures, SOSV Investments, and Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET).
To read the full press release online, please visit PRNewsWire (click here).
About ZymoChem
ZymoChem is breakthrough science for a fossil-free future. Headquartered in San Leandro, CA with a satellite division in Burlington, VT, ZymoChem envisions a world in which everyday goods are bio-manufactured from 100% renewable materials and designed for a sustainable economy. Through its multi-generational, multi-product patents, ZymoChem’s proprietary Carbon Conserving (C2) microbes convert renewable feedstocks into bio-based materials without compromising price, performance, scale, or sustainability, while radically minimizing CO2 loss during production.