Materials innovation company Checkerspot recently announced that the company has completed a B round of 36 million US dollars in financing. The main purpose of the proceeds will be for business development and the expansion of the company's products and innovation platform. The financing was led by Viking Global Investors, and other existing investors (including Builders VC and Breakout Ventures) also participated. Cavallo Ventures of Wilbur Ellis is also a new strategic investor in Checkerspot and participated in the conference. Including the Series B financing, Checkerspot has raised more than $50 million.
"Understanding the genomics of microalgae allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to custom materials and high-performance consumer products." said Scott Franklin, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Checkerspot.
In many consumer and industrial supply chains, product developers are looking for unique high-performance materials to help drive revenue growth and product differentiation. This financing has laid a solid foundation for Checkerspot to meet its demand for today's commercial materials and for Checkerspot, an innovative platform that can create new materials and products in multiple industries. Checkerspot's innovative platform enables it to respond to these markets more sustainably than traditional companies that rely on petroleum and palm and soybeans.
Checkerspot’s innovative platform uses advanced genomics, biotechnology and biomanufacturing processes to study a large number of undeveloped molecular building blocks in nature, such as fatty acids and triglycerides. These compounds have been ignored, so they have not been available on a large scale until now. Checkerspot works with these building blocks to develop and mass-produce microalgae oils with unique structures, and then use chemistry and materials science to quickly iterate through specific applications to develop materials with target characteristics and performance attributes. Through its first attempt in the outdoor leisure market, Checkerspot demonstrated how the company can innovate through a new set of tools.
Checkerspot, established in 2016, currently has three materials on the market. These products include lightweight polyurethane-based composites (Algal Core) and cast polyurethane (Algal Wall), both of which are launched in outdoor skiing applications through the outdoor recreation brand WNDR®Alpine. Algal Core is a vertical laminate composite material made of bio-based polyurethane foam with a carbon content greater than 40% (ASTM D6866). Algal Wal cast polyurethane sidewalls are made of Checkerspot's patented bio-based polyurethane and are designed for application-specific physical properties, including higher bond line strength, Shore hardness, tensile strength, and improved damping properties. Algal Wal (ASTM D6866), with a bio-based carbon content of 60%, also uses a novel manufacturing technology that transfers waste from landfills better than traditional technologies that rely on ABS plastic sidewalls. Through a collaboration with Beyond Surface Technologies (BST), Checkerspot also commercialized MiDori® BioWick, a wick fabric facing BST, which is made of algae oil.
"We look forward to announcing more business developments, including more strategic partnerships, to complement our existing co-development portfolio with WLGore, DIC and Beyond Surface Technologies. This financing milestone reflects Checkerspot’s achievements to date The achievement of the whole team is excited about the next phase and this opportunity to deepen our partnership with Viking."
"We are focused on promoting the scale and performance of material production to meet demand. Our approach to developing new materials always starts with the performance problem we want to solve." Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder Scott Franklin said, "Understanding microalgae Genomics allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to customized materials and high-performance consumer products. Through rapid formulation, manufacturing and prototyping, we are able to improve the material properties of our products in just 72 hours. These materials we focus on are in There is broad application potential in a range of industries, and this new funding will enable us to expand our platform and expand our influence in these markets."