Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Raises $3.5 Million C16 BiosciencesThe Y Combinator-backed company fermenting alternatives to the environmentally destructive palm oil business. Gates’ grant comes with a $1 million check from Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit accelerator that supports climate technology “with profound community impact.”
You can find palm oil almost everywhere — in soaps and biofuels, as well as chocolates and instant ramen. While of the industry he gave himself something of a makeover Recently, the deforestation associated with palm oil production is once again on the rise.
Using yeast and agricultural raw materials, C16 is already making an alternative to seed oil for use in beauty products, called No palm. With the new funds, the startup will develop new oil recipes for use in food, using both “waste stream raw materials and non-agricultural raw materials,” C16 co-founder and CEO Shara Ticku told TechCrunch. “To expand on the latter,” the co-founder added in an interesting hypothetical, “this might involve using raw materials that come directly from carbon sequestration.”
Deforestation is a climate problem. ONE study 2020 found that climate pollution from palm oil plantations alone is equivalent to about half of the total aviation industry. Widerdeforestation is responsible for nearly a third of all carbon dioxide emissions since 1850, according to MIT ecologist Jerry Melillo.
In addition to the Gates Foundation and Elemental, C16’s previous investors include Breakthrough Energy and Bill Gates’ DCVC. C16 tells TechCrunch it has raised $36.3 million in equity funding to date, as well as $2 million in grants through the Department of Energy and Agile BioFoundry.
