PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Renmatix, the
leader in affordable cellulosic sugars, today announced a $14M investment, led by Bill Gates.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160913/407416-INFO
Industry demand for competitive alternatives to petro-derived molecules is gaining traction, despite recent market pressures.
In the interest of expanding that supply, the Plantrose® process provides an enabling technology for profitable biorefineries.
This investment in commercializing Plantrose will help drive towards the first wave of Renmatix licensees building
Plantrose-enabled biorefineries in diverse global markets like Canada, India, Malaysia, the U.S. and elsewhere. In parallel, that activity will
facilitate further market development in downstream bioproduct applications.
According to Gates, "To effectively address climate change, we need to develop an energy infrastructure that doesn't emit
greenhouse gas and is cost competitive. A critical component in this effort must be to decarbonize the industrial sector. Another
is the possibility of cost competitive biofuels. Renmatix provides an innovative process that is an exciting pathway to
pursue."
Gates is joined in the round by Total (NYSE: TOT), the global energy major which, after an initial investment in 2015, has
expanded its investment and has additionally signed a licensing agreement with Renmatix for 1M tons of annual cellulosic sugar
production capacity, at Total's discretion to build corresponding facilities. The license represents significant revenue
potential for Renmatix, extending over the lifetime of the agreement.
"At Total, our ambition is to become the responsible energy major. We want to make low-carbon businesses a profitable growth
driver accounting for 20% of our portfolio in 20 years' time. Meeting these goals is what has led to setting-up and expanding our
collaboration with Renmatix," said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total.
The patented Plantrose process uses supercritical water to reduce costs in conversion of biomass to cellulosic sugars, the
critical intermediary for second-generation biochemicals and biofuels. With faster reactions and virtually no associated
consumable-expenses, Renmatix's supercritical hydrolysis economically enables a multitude of renewable process technologies to
access the market for 'high volume, low cost, broadly sourced' cellulosic sugars that is compounding today. From this well
established foundation in industrial sugars, the company continues to expand its product portfolio by valorizing additional bio
building block intermediates, including Omno® polymers and crystalline cellulose.
"This continued progress marks the pronounced acceleration of a new, sugar based, chemistry regime. One that can go beyond
conventional oil based products for cleaner, more sustainable solutions," said Renmatix CEO, Mike
Hamilton. "While we're working with partners to capitalize on the vast opportunity for biobased transformation in markets
as diverse as the U.S. and India, this investment from Gates and Total together – shows
recognition of our technological achievements, and magnifies our commercial momentum. That acknowledgment and Total's signing of
the million-ton license, are compelling indicators of our Plantrose technology's maturation towards biorefinery scale."
About Renmatix
Renmatix is the leading technology licensor for the conversion of biomass into cellulosic sugar, an enabling feedstock for
petroleum alternatives used in the global biochemical and biofuels markets. The company's proprietary Plantrose process
challenges conventional sugar economics by cheaply converting cellulosic biomass – from wood waste to agricultural residue – into
useful, cost-effective Plantro® sugars and additional bio building blocks. Plantrose supercritical hydrolysis technology
deconstructs non-food biomass an order of magnitude faster than other processes, and enhances its cost advantage by using no
significant consumables. Renmatix is privately held, with a world-class technical center in Pennsylvania, a Feedstock Processing Facility (FPF) in New York, and
production operations at the Integrated Plantrose Complex (IPC) in Georgia. renmatix.com
Contact
Duncan Cross
Vice President, Corporate Development
Renmatix
renmatix@missionc2.com