LG Technology Ventures Invests $5M in Lygos to Advance Bio-Based Specialty Chemicals for Electronics and Beyond

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that on January 23, Lygos, a U.S.-based synthetic biology startup, announced that LG Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group, had invested $5 million in the company.

Previously, Lygos had completed three rounds of financing.

In November 2015, Lygos raised $120,000 in seed funding, led by Y Combinator, with participation from FundersClub, Fifty Years, Brainchild Holdings, and 10x Group.

In December 2016, Lygos secured $13 million in Series A financing, co-led by OS Fund and IA Ventures, with participation from First Round Capital, Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Fifty Years, Vast Ventures, and other angel investors.

In July 2018, Lygos secured $15.5 million in Series B financing, co-led by IA Ventures and First Round Capital, with participation from OS Fund and Y Combinator’s Fifty Years.

Lygos, founded in 2010 and headquartered in California, is dedicated to providing biotechnology solutions to some of the challenges currently facing renewable chemistry. Jay Keasling, Eric Steen, and Jay Keasling are its co-founders.

A wave of biotechnology startups has emerged in the field of chemical production and manufacturing. Lygos stands out by pioneering a technology that leverages microorganisms to produce specialty chemicals, rather than relying on petroleum-based petrochemicals commonly used in industrial processes. Lygos engineers utilize proprietary microbial strains to manufacture chemicals, combining the power of software and biochemical technologies to achieve scalable production of these raw materials.

In 2015, Lygos successfully achieved large-scale production of malonic acid using biomass-derived sugars as feedstock at the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) facility of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The product has found applications in pharmaceuticals, flavorings, fragrances, and specialty basic materials. This new technology for producing malonic acid offers lower costs, reduced energy consumption, and decreased carbon dioxide emissions compared to existing industrial processes.

Lygos introduced a new technology in 2016 for producing malic acid, an essential component required in the mass production of electronic devices.

“Investment from LG Technology Ventures further expands our global reach and validates our potential to transform large-scale industries such as consumer electronics, which currently rely entirely on unsustainable, toxic, and costly petroleum-based manufacturing processes,” said Dr. Eric Steen, CEO of Lygos. “We look forward to collaborating with the LG Technology Ventures team to replace these harmful manufacturing processes with more sustainable, specialized bio-based solutions, thereby making consumer electronics better, safer, and more affordable.”

LG Technology Ventures, established in 2018, is the venture capital subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group. The LG Technology Ventures team comprises seasoned investors, entrepreneurs, technology experts, and industry specialists. Currently, LG Technology Ventures manages over $400 million in funds, primarily investing in early-stage companies in the fields of information technology, automotive, manufacturing, life sciences, energy, and advanced materials.

Berkeley Lab, a national laboratory established in 1931, has consistently tackled cutting-edge scientific challenges in sustainable energy, human health, advanced materials, and the origins of the universe. Researchers at the laboratory have been awarded a total of 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California is contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage and operate Berkeley Lab.