Capra Biosciences nets US$1.8M for advancing environmentally sustainable petrochemical alternatives

07 Jun 2022 --- Capra Biosciences has raised US$1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round to be channeled into expanding its patented bioreactor technology for making petrochemical replacements. The technology creates chemicals using “natural processes” and consumes waste from other products to transform them.

Capra’s first product, retinol – an anti-aging cosmetic ingredient – is close to naturally occurring retinol as it is not industrially synthesized from petrochemicals. The company uses biology instead of fossil fuels for production, creating a 100% petroleum-free retinol. 

“We make products that create a positive impact while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions,” says Dr. Elizabeth Onderko, co-founder at Capra Biosciences. 

“Our production scale reactor empowers us to place samples of retinol into customer’s hands for evaluation – our first step to decarbonizing the chemical industry. Next up, we’re developing sustainable, high-performance lubricants and many other chemical products – allowing us to start reducing the more than three gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions from chemical manufacturing.”

Cleaner production
Ingredients in beauty products often contain petrochemical-derived ingredients. Capra says it is disrupting the link to fossil fuels for a cleaner production. 

The company creates renewable products using carbon sources that “do not disrupt or compete with food sources nor push undeveloped lands toward agricultural production”. 

“Reaching this funding milestone is important because our production-scale reactor is modular,” adds Dr. Andrew Magyar, co-founder and chief technology officer at Capra Biosciences.Onderko invented the bioreactor technology as a postdoctoral associate at the US Naval Research Laboratory with her advisor Dr. Sarah Glaven, Dr. Matthew Yates and Dr. Magyar.

“Our platform’s ability to produce chemicals at scale grows with each bioreactor we add. This enables us to avoid many scale-up challenges experienced in traditional bioreactors. The funding allows us to move quickly into our production scale bioreactor.”

Capra supplies to the cosmetics, detergents, pigments, adhesives and lubricants markets. 

Potential for cosmetics machines
Some of Capra’s notable pre-seed investors include Prithvi Ventures; the E14 Fund; GS Futures; Antimo’s president – Wes Osbourn; Savantus Ventures; Asymmetry Ventures; the Decarbonization Consortium; and SOSV.

“Even most climate-focused venture capital’s haven’t thought about the massive, US$150 billion lubricants market. But they should,” says Po Bronson, managing director at IndieBio and general partner at SOSV. 

“Twenty percent of the world’s energy is spent overcoming friction. All motors and moving parts need lubricants – from robots to spacecraft, to machines and elevators.”

“The secret is that biology can make sophisticated compounds that petroleum chemistry cannot, enabling performance characteristics that make machines last longer,” he continues. 

In other beauty sector developments toward a “post-petroleum future”, Checkerspot and DIC Corporation recently partnered to scale sustainable microalgae skincare.

Among other highlights, US researchers challenged petroleum-based packaging with food-grade bioplastic alternatives. The chemical technology uses a combination of fermentation and chemical refining to produce petroleum-like liquids from renewable plant sources, which can then be turned into plastic products.

Edited by Venya Patel 

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