BASF invests in Bota Bio’s industrial biotech platform as it eyes “dynamic Asian markets”

16 Mar 2021 --- BASF is “exploring possible synergies” with industrial synthetic biotech company Bota Biosciences following BASF Venture Capital (BVC)’s investment of an undisclosed sum. 

Bota Bio is based in China and is developing a biotechnology platform to produce high-value products sustainably and economically. These products include industrial applications, such as vitamins, sweeteners and personal care.

“With a partnership, Bota Bio and BASF can profit from exciting synergies,” Markus Solibieda, BVC’s managing director, tells NutritionInsight.

He emphasizes that Bota Bio’s platform has the potential to shape progress for the future of the chemical industry. 

“With our investment in this promising young company, we are strengthening BASF’s activities related to sustainability and enhancing the group’s potential for innovation in the dynamic Asian markets,” he says.

Filling the gaps
Meanwhile, Bota Bio will use this investment to expand its development and production capabilities. The company boasts an experienced founding team and has already launched several products. 

“Bota Bio is able to apply a biology and chemistry strategy to fill the gap between biomanufacturing and chemical manufacturing. This offers the chance to explore the vast potential for innovation and boosting market growth,” adds Solibieda.

In addition to acting as a strategic investor, BVC also supports Bota Bio in many different areas. These include co-research into bio-based products and processes, downstream product developments and carbon footprint reduction for the chemical industry.Bota Bio’s interdisciplinary team includes biologists, chemists, engineers and industry veterans.

How it works
Bota Bio’s platform revolves around industrial biotechnology – also known as white biotechnology – which uses living cells and enzymes to develop and manufacture products efficiently.

Industrial biotechnology can also upgrade cells, enzymes and processes easily, allowing capacity and volume to be adjusted in line with market demands. 

According to BVC, it also expands market opportunities for products not accessible using conventional manufacturing processes.

Bota Bio’s bio-foundry also uses computation to build and evolve enzyme, strain and process pipelines. It quickly identifies and characterizes suitable microbial hosts, shuffles and combines desired phenotypes to create new industrial strains. It furthermore develops and improves manufacturing processes starting from green raw materials, such as sugar.

BASF also uses fermentation and biocatalysis to manufacture products such as vitamins and enzymes. It is now working on processes that use white biotechnology for the production of chemical building blocks from renewable raw materials such as sugar and plant oils.

Last month, the company released its full-year 2020 financial results, which projected overall growth for 2021 despite a dip in Nutrition & Care sales. 

By Katherine Durrell