This is yourBloom's Biorenewables Spring newsletter!
We would like our newsletter to be a two-way street: If you read something that you enjoy and get's you thinking, hit reply and let us know.
COMPANY
On our mission to support our customers to use carbon-negative materials, we have recently teamed up with Barry Callebaut Group, to turn side streams from chocolate manufacturing processes into ingredients such as vanillin - a step forward in #innovation and #ForeverChocolate journey towards the group ambition to become carbon positive by 2025.
FUNDRAISING
Bloom closed its Seed round which was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a Bill Gates-led fund helping to scale clean energy solutions. Other investors in the round include the Berlin-based Beyond Black Venture Capital fund and several Angel Investors, that will provide strategic support for upcoming growth. This new investment confirms the potential of the company to act as a leader in sustainability and accelerates the market entry of its bio-based solutions. For more details please follow the link.
Furthermore, our scientist Monique Bernardes Figueirêdo was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship for the LIGFLOW project. A great recognition that will contribute to accelerating the industrialisation of our lignin valorisation technologies.
AWARDS
Bloom wins Swiss Technology Award 2020 in the Inventors category! This prize is the most important distinction for innovation and technology transfer in Switzerland.
Bloom also received 10'000 CHF as AIT India runner's up and is one of the 8 Prix Strategies finalists. Furthermore, Bloom is featured in the 50 to watch list from Cleantech Group and selected by the Net-Zero Compatibility Initiative and is now featured among their 1000 innovative solutions!
TEAM
Philip Scholten joins our team as a lead scientist for bio-based polymers development, following a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liège and a post-doc focusing on degradable commodity plastics at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI). Mariella Vieli also joins the team in the frame of her Master Thesis on bio-materials.
Bloom is looking for a talentedscientist in the field of biomass valorisation processes scale-up.
Bloom collaboration with VITO demonstrating the high potential of our lignin products for phenol replacement in polyurethane has been published in ACS Biomacromolecules. Bloom progress to date within the IDEALFUEL project has been summarised in a video.
MEDIA
Some headlines which you may want to check-out from our news feed
Swissinfo: Swiss start-up plans promising alternatives to plastic
Confectionary News: Closing the loop in chocolate: Barry Callebaut collaborates on ‘ground-breaking’ process to turn hazelnut shells into vanillin
Le Temps : Spin-off de l’EPFL soutenue par Bill Gates, Bloom Biorenewables dessine un monde sans pétrole
Business Insider DE : Energiefonds von Bill Gates und Beyond Black investieren in Schweizer Startup
Startup Kicker: Bill Gates’ investment fund invests in Bloom Biorenewables