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Japan biotech firm Spiber nabs $310M to offer protein polymers to apparel brand

SCORE 1,016 The Bridge The Bridge
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Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 24.4 billion yen (about $218 million) in funding from investors including Carlyle, Fidelity International, Baillie Gifford, and the Japanese Government-backed Cool Japan Fund plus 10 billion yen (about $91 million) utilizing a value securitization structure. The structure was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from unnamed initial lender(s) and investor(s). For the startup, this follows their $240 million funding announced in January which was arranged by the same securities company with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor. Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to date secured an estimated total amount of over 70 billion yen (about $6.4 million) in past rounds, and is reportedly valued at 133 billion yen ($1.2 billion). Initially focused on spider silk which is said to be the strongest material on earth, the company had been developing a man-made synthetic fiber material called Qmonos. However, although the protein fibroin in…

Brewed Protein
Image credit: Spiber

Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 24.4 billion yen (about $218 million) in funding from investors including Carlyle, Fidelity International, Baillie Gifford, and the Japanese Government-backed Cool Japan Fund plus 10 billion yen (about $91 million) utilizing a value securitization structure.

The structure was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from unnamed initial lender(s) and investor(s). For the startup, this follows their $240 million funding announced in January which was arranged by the same securities company with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor.

Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to date secured an estimated total amount of over 70 billion yen (about $6.4 million) in past rounds, and is reportedly valued at 133 billion yen ($1.2 billion).

Initially focused on spider silk which is said to be the strongest material on earth, the company had been developing a man-made synthetic fiber material called Qmonos. However, although the protein fibroin in spider silk is strong, it causes super shrinkage when wet, making it difficult to maintain the dimensional stability of products made from the material. Subsequently the startup succeeded to develop a protein fiber with high dimensional stability by removing the amino acid sequence features causing shrinkage from the fibroin gene, and rebranded Qmonos into Brewed Protein.

The new material is produced by microbial fermentation from plant-based sugars such as glucose and sucrose, which does not require any petroleum-derived material at all. It attracts huge attention because of many use cases: a microplastic-free and non-animal-derived material in the apparel industry, contributing to weight reduction in the logistics industry, a next-generation core material for artificial hair in the medical industry.

The biotech firm is currently working on a joint project with an undisclosed global apparel brand using Brewed Protein. In order to meet the brand’s demand, the firm is planning to launch its first mass-production plant in Rayong, Thailand by the end of this year, followed promptly by another plant in the U.S.

via PR Times

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Japan’s biotech firm Spiber secures $240M to build polymer production facility in US

SCORE 2,533 Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 25 billion yen (about $240 million) utilizing a value securitization structure. This funding round uses the company’s tangible and intangible assets as collateral to solicit funds from a wide range of investors, which allows them to get funds without making choices like debt financing or third-party allocation of shares which is likely to take time to negotiate with lenders or cause equity dilution. This round was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor while the names of the other investors participating have not been disclosed. Spiber signed a collaboration agreement with US-based grain producing major Archer-Daniels Linseed Company (NYSE:ADM) in September. The funds will be used to build a mass production system for brewed protein in the US in addition to research and development of new materials scheduled to launch in several years. Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to…

Brewed Protein
Image credit: Spiber

Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 25 billion yen (about $240 million) utilizing a value securitization structure. This funding round uses the company’s tangible and intangible assets as collateral to solicit funds from a wide range of investors, which allows them to get funds without making choices like debt financing or third-party allocation of shares which is likely to take time to negotiate with lenders or cause equity dilution.

This round was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor while the names of the other investors participating have not been disclosed. Spiber signed a collaboration agreement with US-based grain producing major Archer-Daniels Linseed Company (NYSE:ADM) in September. The funds will be used to build a mass production system for brewed protein in the US in addition to research and development of new materials scheduled to launch in several years.

Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to date secured an estimated amount of over 35 billion yen (about $340 million). In April of 2019, the company secured 5 billion yen ($48.4 million) in syndicated loans from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Yamagata Bank, Shonai Bank, and Tsuruoka Shinkin Bank to develop a huge world-class plant for protein fermentation and purification operations in eastern Thailand (Rayong Province). The company is reportedly valued at over 111.5 yen ($1.08 billion).

Initially focused on spider silk which is said to be the strongest material on earth, the company had been developing a man-made synthetic fiber material called Qmonos. However, although the protein fibroin in spider silk is strong, it causes super shrinkage when wet, making it difficult to maintain the dimensional stability of products made from the material. Subsequently the startup succeeded to develop a protein fiber with high dimensional stability by removing the amino acid sequence features causing shrinkage from the fibroin gene, and rebranded Qmonos into Brewed Protein.

The new material is produced by microbial fermentation from plant-based sugars such as glucose and sucrose, which does not require any petroleum-derived material at all. It attracts huge attention because of many use cases: a microplastic-free and non-animal-derived material in the apparel industry, contributing to weight reduction in the logistics industry, a next-generation core material for artificial hair in the medical industry.

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Japan’s biotech firm Spiber raises $44M to set up synthetic spider silk plant in Thailand

SCORE 1,232 Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Considering that the spider’s silk is the toughest biological material ever studied, Japanese startup Spiber has researched and succeeded in developing synthesis spider thread for multiple purposes. At the press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, the company announced it has secured about 5 billion yen (about $44 million US) in the latest round led by government-backed Cool Japan fund. Cool Japan revealed it has invested 2 billion yen ($17.6 million US) in this round while other participating investors have not been disclosed. Founded back in 2007, Spiber is a spin-off from Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, and headquartered in Yamagata, three hours north of Tokyo by bullet train. Prior to this round, the company had reportedly raised over $210 million US. It is said that this round brings their total equity funding to date to over $260 million US. See also: With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can The fund will be used to establish a mass-production facility while the spiber company is now in transition from the research and technology development phase to the mass-production…

Spiber director Kazuhide Sekiyama (left) shakes hands with Cool Japan COO/CIO Yuji Kato
before the Moon Parka hooded sweatshirt
Imge credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Considering that the spider’s silk is the toughest biological material ever studied, Japanese startup Spiber has researched and succeeded in developing synthesis spider thread for multiple purposes. At the press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, the company announced it has secured about 5 billion yen (about $44 million US) in the latest round led by government-backed Cool Japan fund. Cool Japan revealed it has invested 2 billion yen ($17.6 million US) in this round while other participating investors have not been disclosed.

Founded back in 2007, Spiber is a spin-off from Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, and headquartered in Yamagata, three hours north of Tokyo by bullet train. Prior to this round, the company had reportedly raised over $210 million US. It is said that this round brings their total equity funding to date to over $260 million US.

See also:

With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can
The fund will be used to establish a mass-production facility while the spiber company is now in transition from the research and technology development phase to the mass-production phase. The company plans to develop a huge world-class plant for protein fermentation and purification operations in eastern Thailand (Rayong Province), planning to produce structural protein products for apparel and automobile industries.

The area of the new plant in Thailand will be about 100 times that of the pilot plant located within their headquarters in Yamagata. The new plant  construction will start in mid-2019, with launch of commercial production targeted during 2021. After the new plant starts operating, structural proteins will be fermented / purified in Thailand and then carried to Japan for textile production (including yarn twisting and fabric processing). Production volume varies depending on the targeted kind of proteins but is expected to be several million tons on an annual basis.

Kazuhide Sekiyama, Director and Representative Executive Officer of Spiber, says they chose Thailand as a base for the new plant because the country is highly ranked in producing and exporting sugar, proving it can provide abundant biomass resources for protein fermentation.

Aerial view of Spiber’s headquarters and plant, located adjacent to Institute for Advanced Biosciences,
Keio University in Tsuruoka, Yamagata

Since 2015, Spiber has been developing a hooded sweatshirt using their synthetic spider silk-based garment called Qmonos in partnership with leading Japanese sports apparel manufacturer Goldwin. The new prototype (ver. 2.75) of the Moon Parka sweatshirt was introduced at the press conference.

This is the 31st investment case for the Cool Japan fund since its foundation. After Naoki Kitagawa (former CEO of Sony Music Entertainment) and Yuji Kato (CEO of East Investment Capital) were appointed as new CEO and COO/CIO respectively in July, the firm invested in US video production startup Tastemade prior to this investment.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can

SCORE 1,125 Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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This beautiful blue dress is no ordinary dress. You’d never guess just by looking at it, but it’s made of synthetic spider silk. A Japanese biotechnology startup called Spiber recently announced that it has succesfully developed the technology to mass-produce spider silk, which they call Qmonos (‘kumonosu’ means ‘spider web’ in Japanese). According to the company, Qmonos is four times tougher than steel (of the same dimensions), and more elastic than nylon. The material is also heat resistant, up to 300 degrees celcius. The company says that there are many research groups all over the world working to commercialize synthetic spider silk, but they are the first to accomplish this goal. After through research on the gene sequencing of spider silk, the company implanted altered spider genes into microorganisms. Compared to their first successful production, they can now produce 2,500 times more spider silk than before. Spiber hopes to implement Qmonos technology into everything from clothing to cars. Kazuhide Sekiyama, the CEO of Spiber (and also a graduate student at Keio University), recently gave a speech at TEDxTokyo where he talks about how he and his teammates first came up with the idea while they were out drinking. He notes:…

Qmonos-spiber

This beautiful blue dress is no ordinary dress. You’d never guess just by looking at it, but it’s made of synthetic spider silk. A Japanese biotechnology startup called Spiber recently announced that it has succesfully developed the technology to mass-produce spider silk, which they call Qmonos (‘kumonosu’ means ‘spider web’ in Japanese).

According to the company, Qmonos is four times tougher than steel (of the same dimensions), and more elastic than nylon. The material is also heat resistant, up to 300 degrees celcius. The company says that there are many research groups all over the world working to commercialize synthetic spider silk, but they are the first to accomplish this goal.

After through research on the gene sequencing of spider silk, the company implanted altered spider genes into microorganisms. Compared to their first successful production, they can now produce 2,500 times more spider silk than before. Spiber hopes to implement Qmonos technology into everything from clothing to cars.

Kazuhide Sekiyama, the CEO of Spiber (and also a graduate student at Keio University), recently gave a speech at TEDxTokyo where he talks about how he and his teammates first came up with the idea while they were out drinking. He notes:

Chemical fiber is used in almost everything that surrounds us and it supports our lives. But what if our oil supply was used up one day and we lose the resources to create fiber? We thought that It would be a true innovation if we could invent spider silk with as much as or even better capability than chemical fiber. Such spider silk could be implemented in many products and would change the world.

Spiber has taken the first step towards making this a reality. The company will launch a pilot research plant sometime this year in cooperation with auto-parts manufacturer Kojima Industries. The goal is to produce over 100 kilograms of Qmonos spider silk a month.

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