GFBiochemicals expands in the United States and puts itself in a position of world leadership in the levulinic acid production from biomass. The Italian company, co-founded in 2008 by the young Italian entrepreneur Pasquale Granata and Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini, bought the production facilities and intellectual property rights of Segetis, which is based in Minnesota, according to a statement. Terms weren’t disclosed.
“Climate change is the biggest issue of our time and now more than ever urgent action is required,” Flamini said in the statement. “We founded GFBiochemicals with an ambition to find sustainable alternatives to oil-based products.”
Last July, GFBiochemicals started commercial production at its 10,000 MT/a capacity levulinic acid plant in Caserta, Italy. The company has offices in Milan, Italy, and Geleen, the Netherlands. It uses breakthrough technology to commercialize levulinic acid – a valuable biobased building block for specialty chemicals and materials.
GFBiochemicals leased the Caserta plant in 2009 to demonstrate these breakthrough technologies in partnership with the University of Pisa and the Polytechnic University of Milan.
Segetis is a technology-enabled green chemistry company producing versatile chemical building blocks. This platform harnesses the power and reliability for renewable agricultural and forestry resources. The technology is powered by its Javelin™ Technology, this portfolio of biobased products are backed by a strong intellectual asset portfolio built on filed composition of matter patents.
Segetis is a company with the aim of creating a sustainable world in harmony with our planet via combining easy derivable molecules from biomass to multifunctional biochemical products.
The biochemicals are enabled by the Javelin™ Technology, which converts biomass derived building blocks to safe multifunctional biomolecules. The technology is harnessed by a strong intellectual asset portfolio built on unique technology and filed composition of matter patents, including over 50 patents and over 200 pending patent applications worldwide.
The U.S. company has a focus on performance first and is transforming the chemical industry by offering unique material properties, cost effective economics and dramatically improved products’ healthiness and environmental footprint. Solvents and Plasticizers are the first commercial products. It has attracted tens of millions of dollars of investment since it was founded in 2007, including cash from Saudi Basic Industries Corp., Khosla Ventures LLC, Malaysia-based Permodalan Nasional Bhd., and Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund LP.
“The company will continue on a development path based on both organic growth via the creation of high-value partnership with major companies, as well as the potential for further acquisitions of levulinic acid’s derivative technologies,” said Marcel van Berkel, chief commercial officer of GFBiochemicals.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 