21. Jul 2015
Sofinnova Partners, the top renewable chemistry venture capital firm, has announced that Glucan Biorenewables is the winner of the prestigious Renewable Chemistry Start-Up Award.
Following a public vote with almost 8,000 votes cast, the Top-5 companies were shortlisted. These companies then presented yesterday to a jury of industry experts at the BIO World Congress in Montreal.
The Top-5 shortlisted companies (in alphabetical order):
• Eggplant reuses wastewater as raw material to produce eco-friendly products such as high-performance bioplastics (PHA) through a zero waste process
• As announced at the BIO World Congress yesterday, GFBiochemicals is now the first company to produce levulinic acid at commercial scale directly from biomass by using a proprietary technology in their commercial-scale plant in Caserta, Italy
• Glucan Biorenewables is producing furan derivatives from biomass. The furfural platform will be used to launch other value-added co-products: 5-hydroxyl-methyl furfural (HMF) and downstream derivatives
• Leaf Resources Ltd. has developed a new pretreatment technology that enables plant biomass to be converted efficiently and economically into highly usable cellulose products
• Syngulon is developing original genetic technologies to improve the efficiency of microorganisms involved in industrial bio production
Denis Lucquin, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners said “Sofinnova Partners is delighted to have launched this award and by the response received as we are constantly seeking ways to support cutting-edge renewable chemistry start-ups.”
This award was supported by Sustainability Consult, a bioeconomy communications and public relations agency committed to building the biobased industries through credible communications, media outreach and stakeholder engagement.(KL)
Image: Larry Clarke, CEO Glucan Biorenewables, accepts award. Photo taken by Doris de Guzman.