===========================================================
Synonym Biotechnologies, a company founded by Edward Shenderovich and Joshua Lachter in January 2022, has received a significant boost with the closing of its pre-seed round worth $6.3 million. This investment is aimed at developing and financing commercial-scale bio-manufacturing facilities for non-pharmaceutical applications.
Development Phase for Bio-Manufacturing Facilities
Synonym Biotechnologies plans to utilize this funding to establish its product in the market, build an exceptional launch team, and accelerate facility development efforts. The company aims to provide synthetic biology producers with flexible production capacity while creating a new carbon-negative bio-manufacturing asset class.
Underwriting Standards for Financing
To facilitate easy utilization of these facilities by companies, Synonym Biotechnologies is developing standardized designs and underwriting standards for financing its fermentation farms. This will enable companies to produce better quality bioproducts at lower costs than existing options.
Investor Focus on ESG Opportunities
On the investor side, the company is building an underwriting model to provide ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investment opportunities. This aligns with the U.S. government’s recent executive order on bio-manufacturing, which aims to accelerate innovation in this area to meet climate and energy goals.
Challenges Ahead
However, Synonym Biotechnologies’ co-founders emphasize that bioproducts need to reach cost parity with legacy products for widespread adoption. Currently, the infrastructure to properly scale does not exist today, preventing companies from meeting future demand.
Existing Infrastructure Limitations
According to Shenderovich, costs will be the driving factor for adoption. Companies either have to build their own facilities, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, or rely on contract manufacturing organizations. These limitations prevent companies from entering supply chains due to high production costs.
Synonym’s Core Insight
Shenderovich and Lachter highlight that Synonym’s core insight is that industrial infrastructure development precedes financialization, which in turn precedes mass adoption. They believe that productization must come before financialization to enable widespread use of bio-manufacturing facilities.
Venture-Backed Startups
The global contract bio-manufacturing organization market was estimated to be $22.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to more than double by 2030. Companies like Planetary and Culture Biosciences are working on closing the capacity gap in fermentation, but Synonym’s approach differs.
Productization vs. Traditional CMO Model
Lachter notes that Planetary is indeed trying to close the capacity gap in fermentation but with a focus on a more traditional CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) model. In contrast, Synonym Biotechnologies focuses on productizing and financializing facilities rather than adopting a traditional CMO approach.
Milestones Ahead
The company is still in its early stages, with the co-founders highlighting the launch of the development of its first facility as their most significant milestone to date. This includes site selection and initial design, which will be followed by further announcements on construction, architecture, and other aspects of the project.
Next Steps for Synonym Biotechnologies
As Synonym Biotechnologies moves forward with its ambitious plans, it is essential to address existing infrastructure limitations and focus on productization and financialization. By doing so, the company can provide synthetic biology producers with flexible production capacity while creating a new carbon-negative bio-manufacturing asset class.
Conclusion
Synonym Biotechnologies’ successful pre-seed round of $6.3 million represents a significant step towards developing commercial-scale bio-manufacturing facilities for non-pharmaceutical applications. The company’s innovative approach to productization and financialization holds promise, but addressing existing infrastructure limitations is crucial to its success.
