This article examines 10 new sustainable chemical companies offering technologies across various sectors. These organizations are innovating in sustainable manufacturing processes and advancing enzyme engineering to enhance chemical reactions. They also develop solutions for converting plastics to fuels, biomanufacturing, and more. These efforts reduce waste and dependency on traditional fossil resources. This way, each company contributes to the reshaping of the chemical industry. Together, they underscore the growing influence and necessity of sustainable practices within the chemical sector.
Continue reading to gain up-to-date and data-driven insights on:
- Profiles of 10 Emerging Sustainable Chemical Companies
- How to Scout New Sustainable Chemical Companies Easily
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Key Takeaways
Drawing insights from the Big Data & AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform that provides data on over 4.7+ million emerging companies globally, we explore the evolving landscape of the sustainable chemical industry. This sector is marked by key trends and a substantial workforce, shaping its future. This report was last revised 5 days ago. See a missing piece? Your input can help — contact us. Here are some key insights at a glance:
- Current Sustainable Chemical Trends: Some of the major trends impacting the sustainable chemical manufacturing industry are bioenergy, plastic biodegradation technologies, novel recycling methods, and green plastics.
- Sustainable Chemical Industry Statistics: The sector comprises 18.5K+ organizations worldwide. On average, it employs about 12 people in 1K+ new companies founded in the last five years, witnessing 2020 as the average founding year. Moreover, the average funding received by the sustainable chemical industry per round in the same span is USD 9.6 million.
- 10 New Sustainable Chemical Companies to Watch:
- General Biological – Sustainable Bioproduction
- PhycoWorks – Algae-based Sustainable Manufacturing
- Anodyne Chemistries – Sustainable Chemicals & Fuels
- Zenfold Sustainable Technologies – Specialty Chemicals
- Imperagen – Enzyme Engineering
- Again – CO2 to Carbon Negative Chemicals
- Polymer-X – Plastics to Fuels
- DUDE CHEM – Green Chemistry
- Oxylum – Sustainable Chemical Production
- Cascade Biocatalysts – Eco-friendly Chemical Biomanufacturing
Meet 10 out of 1K+ New Sustainable Chemical Companies
The 10 new sustainable chemical companies featured below leverage specialty chemicals, enzyme engineering, and more to create innovative solutions. For instance, one company converts CO2 into carbon-negative substances while another one repurposes plastics into fuels. Through such efforts, these companies address critical environmental challenges.
Note on Signal Strength
One of the unique metrics we feature for each company is Signal Strength, a proprietary data point generated by our Discovery Platform. It gauges the extent to which a company’s influence has permeated the global ecosystem of startups, scaleups, and emerging companies. This proprietary metric serves as a valuable guidepost for understanding a company’s standing in the broader market landscape.
1. General Biological
- Founding Year: 2023
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Medium
- What they do: General Biological offers whole-cell catalyst technology-based continuous manufacturing. It enhances molecule production rates compared to traditional methods. The process also replaces petrochemical processes with enzymes to convert renewable carbon sources like sugar into valuable products while capturing CO2. This method achieves high yields at low costs with zero emissions. In addition, the company scales new molecules to industrial volumes using custom-built bioreactors. This reduces the time and financial outlay for industries like performance materials, electronics, industrial water, and building materials.
2. PhycoWorks
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: UK
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: PhycoWorks uses algae to develop sustainable chemicals. The company combines synthetic biology, AI, IoT, sensors, satellite data, and analytical tools, to improve operational efficiency and control in algal bioproduction. This data aggregation facilitates precise, real-time decision-making and significantly increases productivity. This ensures consistent quality across production cycles. The company also develops functional biopolymers for the pharmaceutical, biomedical, personal care, food and beverage, and packaging industries.
3. Anodyne Chemistries
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Canada
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Anodyne Chemistries combines advanced enzyme engineering with electrochemistry to manufacture sustainable chemicals. It uses a proprietary enzymatic electrolysis process that operates at room temperature to support renewable feedstocks without generating toxic byproducts. The company also leverages the immobilized enzyme complex (IEC) process that integrates enzyme immobilization with electron transfer techniques for improved industrial catalysis. This process, in turn, ensures a higher yield than traditional petrochemical methods while enabling better efficiency and environmental safety. Anodyne produces low-carbon fuels, chemicals, and pharmaceutical ingredients while reducing overall carbon footprints.
4. Zenfold Sustainable Technologies
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 51-100
- Location: India
- Signal Strength: Weak
- What they do: Zenfold Sustainable Technologies manufactures complex chemical molecules for the pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and veterinary medicine industries. The company uses novel catalysis, high-throughput screening, and biocatalysis optimization to enhance the atom economy and environmental impact. Zenfold Sustainable Technologies’s process enables manufacturers to utilize high-performance ingredients. Lastly, the company employs zero-discharge infrastructure and a significant emphasis on solvent replacement and effluent reduction for sustainable chemical manufacturing.
5. Imperagen
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: UK
- Signal Strength: Strong
- What they do: Imperagen develops a platform for ultra-fast enzyme engineering. It combines enzyme simulation, AI, synthetic biology, and automation to optimize enzyme engineering. These enzymes serve as bio-catalysts that synthesize chemicals and materials while reducing waste and energy consumption. This makes chemical manufacturing a sustainable industry by reducing reliance on hazardous chemicals and scarce metallic catalysts. Imperagen’s customizable platform allows manufacturers to produce various chemicals, from raw materials to medicines.
6. Again
- Founding Year: 2020
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Denmark
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Again utilizes a bioreactor to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into carbon-negative chemicals. This process leverages a bacteria to ferment CO2 at the point of emission. This provides dual benefit – assisting emitters in achieving carbon zero targets and enabling manufacturers to transition to carbon-negative chemicals. The company’s solution thus benefits industries emitting CO2 like oil & gas, energy and power generation, agriculture, and chemical manufacturers.
7. Polymer-X
- Founding Year: 2023
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Medium
- What they do: Polymer-X is a climate technology company that converts plastic waste into chemicals and fuels like jet fuel, diesel, and hydrogen. It utilizes an electrified heating method to enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions during the synthesis process. The company also offers an electrified reactor and utilizes machine learning to optimize these processes and optimize production outcomes. This makes the chemical industry sustainable and energy-efficient, benefiting the fuel production sector, chemical manufacturing, and waste management, particularly in plastic recycling and upcycling by providing greener alternatives and cost-effective production methods.
8. DUDE CHEM
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Germany
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: DUDE CHEM ensures sustainable production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and their intermediates. It uses advanced computational chemistry and digitization to reduce hazardous substances in manufacturing. The company also offers services like green route of synthesis (RoS) development and cGMP manufacturing to ensure resource efficiency and cost savings in API production. Moreover, the process recovers and reuses expensive catalysts while optimizing chemical processes to reduce CO2 emissions. Pharmaceutical companies and generic drug manufacturers use this process for greener, cost-effective, and high-control manufacturing solutions.
9. Oxylum
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Belgium
- Signal Strength: Strong
- What they do: Oxylum develops a CO₂ conversion technology to produce sustainable chemicals. It utilizes novel electrochemicals and renewable energy to transform CO₂ and water into valuable products such as formic acid and ethylene. The company’s technology features catalysts and reactors that create the building blocks for plastics and fuels without consuming fossil feedstocks. Moreover, Oxylum uses cradle-to-cradle processes to achieve carbon neutrality.
10. Cascade Biocatalysts
- Founding Year: 2022
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Cascade Biocatalysts leverages enzymes for sustainable chemical production. It organizes enzymes into modular assembly lines to simplify and scale up cascades of enzymatic reactions. The company also analyzes and optimizes millions of enzyme structures to enhance their compatibility with resins. This significantly boosts their stability and longevity, producing long-lasting biocatalysts that reduce the need for frequent enzyme replacement. Consequently, the company’s process lowers the cost of biomolecules. The company, in this way, addresses the chemical industry’s reliance on nonrenewable petroleum feedstocks and energy-intensive processes.
Quick Tip to Find New Sustainable Chemical Companies
Utilizing a SaaS platform like the Discovery Platform for identifying new sustainable chemical companies provides significant benefits compared to traditional scouting methods:
- Streamlined Efficiency: The Discovery Platform offers advanced tools that streamline the scouting process. It replaces your hours of conventional desk research, saving time and resources in identifying sustainable chemical innovations.
- Access to Real-time Insights: Gain a competitive edge with up-to-date information on the latest trends in the sustainable chemical industry. The platform keeps you informed with near real-time updates on emerging sustainable chemical companies and news, enabling you to make swift and informed decisions.
- Tailored Exploration: Customize your search to focus on specific niches within the sustainable chemical sector, such as sustainable fuels, specialty chemicals, enzyme engineering, or plastic-to-fuels conversion. The platform’s diverse filtering options allow you to target your scouting efforts precisely, ensuring that you find the most relevant and groundbreaking companies in the field.
Explore All New Sustainable Chemical Companies!
We’ve explored the dynamic landscape of the sustainable chemical industry, examining the latest trends and spotlighting exceptional companies driving innovation. To dive deeper, download our free Chemical Trends Report or schedule a demo of the Discovery Platform for a customized exploration of these groundbreaking developments. We’re keen to partner with subject matter experts to enrich our coverage. Think you can help? Let us know.
