Back at the end of 2020 (remember then!), we met Jacob Nathan, the CEO of a small UK-based company. He and his cofounders had identified an enzyme that could turn mixed recycled plastic into virgin plastic feedstock, eliminating the need for highly energy and carbon-intensive ethylene cracking to produce new plastic.
It was clear from our first meeting that Jacob was a brilliant and ambitious leader. He told us that fixing the massive global problem of plastic pollution was only the first step and that he and his team were in fact building a platform that could find and develop proteins top tackle many of the big challenges in current industrial processes.
We were fortunate enough to have the chance to make a pre-seed investment in this new company at the time, but as with all things Jacob wanted to be really thoughtful about how he presented the company to the world and so remained 'in stealth' after the round. So we were really excited that last week Epoch BioDesign finally said hi to the world and announced their $11m seed round (in which we also participated).
Industrial processes are a key part of the decarbonisation puzzle, emitting greenhouse gasses through high energy use and high process emissions. If the last century has been one of making industrial products through applying large amounts of heat, we feel sure that the next century will be about obtaining those same products through the smart application of low temperature biology. Exploring and mapping the biological landscape for these solutions is going to be really important.
The whole team at Epoch is amazing and they are building something incredibly cool and incredibly important. We're so happy to be part of the family. BTW - if you think this sounds awesome, they are hiring!