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TheBill and Melinda Gates Foundationis pump $ 3.5 million intoC16 Biosciences , theY Combinator - back company ferment alternative to the environmentally destructive thenar oil business . The Gates grant comes alongside a $ 1 million stay fromElemental Excelerator , a nonprofit accelerator that backs climate tech “ with deep community shock . ”
you could find palm oil pretty much everywhere — in grievous bodily harm and biofuels as well as burnt umber and instant ramen . While the industry’sgiven itself something of a makeoverlately , disforestation unite to thenar fossil oil production isonce again on the rise .
Using yeast and agriculturally derived feedstocks , C16 already brew an alternative to the semen fossil oil for use in looker ware , under the namePalmless .
With the Modern store , the inauguration will evolve fresh oil formula for use in food , utilise both “ wastefulness stream feedstocks and non - agriculturally derived feedstocks , ” C16 co - beginner and CEO Shara Ticku told TechCrunch . “ To expand on the latter , ” the co - founder impart in an intriguing hypothetical , “ this may include utilise feedstocks derived directly from carbon seizure . ”
disforestation is a mood problem . A2020 studyfound that climate pollution from palm oil plantations alone liken toabout one-half that of the whole airmanship industry . More broadly , disforestation is responsible for for nearly a third of all carbon dioxide emissions since 1850 , accord toMIT ecologist Jerry Melillo .
In add-on to the Gates Foundation and Elemental , C16 ’s premature investors include Bill Gates’Breakthrough EnergyandDCVC . C16 tells TechCrunch that it ’s raised $ 36.3 million in equity financial backing to date , as well as $ 2 million in assignment funding via the Department of Energy andAgile BioFoundry .
