Andreessen Horowitz backs Synonym’s bio-manufacturing services • TechCrunch

Armed with $6.3 million in new pre-seed capital, Synonym Biotechnologies has begun the event part for its first productized bio-manufacturing services for non-pharmaceutical purposes.

Edward Shenderovich and Joshua Lachter began the corporate in January 2022 to develop, finance and construct commercial-scale bio-manufacturing services to supply artificial biology producers of all measurement with versatile manufacturing capability whereas additionally giving infrastructure traders entry to a brand new, carbon-negative bio-manufacturing asset class they’re calling “fermentation farms.”

Andreessen Horowitz, Large Ventures, Blue Horizon, Thia Ventures and different enterprise funds energetic in decarbonization have been a part of the funding.

Shenderovich and Lachter closed on the funding this month and informed TechCrunch by way of electronic mail that the pre-seed spherical “has allowed us to construct an distinctive and well-rounded launch group and set up our product available in the market.”

“We plan to make use of the capital to catalyze our facility growth efforts,” CEO Shenderovich stated. “This implies specializing in hiring throughout our design, engineering and finance groups to put the foundations for our first facility break-ground and speed up our outreach for strategic partnerships throughout the worth chain.”

Synonym is creating each the standardized designs and underwriting requirements for financing its fermentation farms in order that firms will be capable of simply make the most of them to provide higher high quality bioproducts at decrease prices than current choices. On the investor aspect, the corporate stated it’s constructing an underwriting mannequin to supply ESG funding alternatives.

The corporate can also be channeling the U.S. authorities’s latest govt order on bio-manufacturing that desires to speed up innovation on this space to fulfill targets round local weather and vitality targets, meals safety and sustainability and provide chains.

Nevertheless, Shenderovich and Lachter say this can solely be potential if bioproducts, for instance, dairy protein, polymers and resins, attain value parity to legacy merchandise.

And proper now, the infrastructure to correctly scale “doesn’t exist right now” in a manner that allows firms to make the amount on the sort of high quality that may meet future demand. They both need to construct their very own facility — which prices a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} — or depend on contract manufacturing organizations to provide merchandise on their behalf.

“Prices would be the driving issue to adoption and manufacturing prices have prevented them from already coming into provide chains,” Shenderovich stated. “The technique of manufacturing for these merchandise will subsequently be essential, and Synonym’s core perception is that in relation to industrial infrastructure, productization precedes financialization which precedes mass adoption.”

The worldwide contract bio-manufacturing group market, which venture-backed startups like Planetary and Tradition Biosciences are doing, was estimated to be $22.2 billion in 2021 and is predicted to greater than double by 2030.

Lachter stated what Planetary is doing is “certainly attempting to shut the capability hole in fermentation,” however the place Synonym varies is its method to “focusing extra on productization and financialization of services relatively than a extra conventional CMO mannequin.”

The corporate remains to be very a lot within the early phases, with the co-founders saying their most vital milestone was the launch of the event of its first facility that features website choice and preliminary design. They count on to interrupt floor on the ability within the third quarter of 2023.

This might be adopted up in coming months by additional bulletins on building, structure and different growth companions.