The pretension to Jen Keane’s glory is that she cultivated a shoe using bacteria, cajole microbes to deposit their nanocellulosic materials in the shape of a sneaker. But it is a little more.
“I have the impression that this kind is missing the point,” she told Techcrunch. “The fiber produced by bacteria – like it is not a new thing.”
This does not mean that its new startup does not use these same fibers – it does it – but it takes a different approach, the one that is more similar to the way the fabric is manufactured and used today.
His startup, Modern synthesisAlways use bacteria to cultivate fibers of nanocellulose, but it harvests and treats them to create a range of different materials. The new approach is more like cotton weaving in denim for jeans. His sneakers experience, on the other hand, was a bit like persuading a cotton plant to deposit his fibers in the shape of a pants. Cool, but not so easily scalable.
The fibers of modern synthesis can be manipulated in a way that simple vegetable fibers cannot. They can be distributed in a slim and wind -resistant or textured film to imitate high quality leather, said Keane, CEO of Modern Synthesis. In this way, they are more like synthetic materials such as polyester and polyurethane.
The difference, however, is that the materials of nanocellulose of modern synthesis are ultimately biodegradable.
“You want your materials to last a whole life or maybe two, like 100 years. You don’t want them to stay thousands, which most synthetic materials will do, “said Keane.
Because the basic building building block of the startup is cellulose, what remains after decomposed is similar to what is on forest soil. “He should behave in the same way as other cellulosical materials,” she said. “Cotton is an excellent example.”
One of the breakthroughs that encouraged Keane to found modern synthesis with Ben Reeve, the company’s technology chief, was the ability to create equipment only using nanocellulose. Other biomaterials can imitate leather, for example, but some synthetic materials may have to be added to the mixture to succeed with success, she said.
Modern synthesis buys its nanocellulose from existing producers, which already do things in large quantities for a range of applications, from Food additives has medical implants. Starting then treats nanocellulose to create different materials. In 2023, for example, he did artificial leather for the Danish fashion brand Ganni, who used it to make a handbag which did not contain petrochemicals.
Keane said that the company was working in the production of fivefold in its pilot factory. Modern synthesis recently closed a $ 5.5 million financing cycle, said the company exclusively in Techcrunch. The round was headed by Extantia Capital with the participation of Artésian and Collaborative Fund.
Although sneakers, clothing and handbags are probably applications for modern synthesis materials, Keane also plans more science fiction uses such as intelligent textiles with integrated electronics and more prosaic dashboards like car dashboards.
“Cellulosic materials do not melt like synthetics,” she said. “If you think of car dashboards, how it starts to melt when you sit in the sun for too long. Our materials will not do that.