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Lipids are fatty , waxy or oily compound that typically descend in the course of fats and oils . As a result , they are heavily used in the production of beauty Cartesian product , as well as in fashion and nutrient industries . Right now , most lipid come from environmentally tough petrochemicals . But Modern summons imply it ’s potential to make lipide from organic materials .
That ’s the idea of German startupInsempra , which plans to turn fossil oil yeast in lipide on an industrial scale of measurement using barm zymolysis manufacturing plant . It ’s now raised a $ 20 million Series A funding rung led by EQT Ventures . Also participating was BlueYard Capital , Possible Ventures , Taavet Sten and Acequia Capital . Notably , new investors include the venture arm of FMCG ( tight - moving consumer goods ) giant Henkel , Henkel dx Ventures , Bayern Kapital and Alante Capital .
The Series A follow an initial $ 15 million source troll that was conduct in 2021 .
Lipids are used for decorative and solid food software , but Insempra is also developing technology that offer a bio - base alternative to everyday textile such as polymers and textiles . It plans to process on generating constituent used in antioxidants , preservative , flavors and scent as well .
Founder Jens Klein was formerly CEO of AMSilk GmbH , an industrial supplier of vegan silk polymer .
Over a call he told me : “ Lipids typically are either pull out from nature — you harvest the flora — or you may produce them petrochemically . We use so - call petroleum barm . And these oil yeasts are put under sealed conditions in our steel vessels under certain metabolic situation . Then they produce lipide petroleum , which we can extract later on , and which we can betray into the cosmetic and into the food industry . ”
He said Insempra ’s main competitors are specialty ingredients companies , for the most part petrochemical companies : “ I do n’t know any other company with an approach like ours . ”
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Insempra will also produce fiber for enjoyment in the fashion industriousness . “ There is a spinoff we ’ve done together with Imperial College , ” he said . “ It ’s located in London . It ’s call Salina , and we do the Salina fibers there . These are protein fibers , which are spun as normal . ”
In a statement , Ted Persson , spouse at EQT Ventures , added : “ newfangled engineering science platform such as Insempra ’s have the potential to dramatically change the manufacturing processes of multiple multibillion - dollar industries , developing customize ingredients to meet grocery store demand . ”
