Solazyme and Unilever Partner to Bring Algal Renewable Oil to Personal Care Products
March 9, 2010
For Immediate Release
Research and development agreement to develop renewable, natural and sustainable oils from algae for use in soaps and other personal care products
SOUTH SAN FRANSISCO, California (March 9, 2010) —Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil and bioproducts company, has signed a research and development agreement with Unilever to develop oil derived from algae for use in soaps and other personal care products. The agreement follows the culmination of a yearlong collaboration between Solazyme and Unilever, in which Solazyme's renewable algal oils were tested successfully in Unilever product formulations.
"Algal oil provides important benefits in personal care applications," explained Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme. "Solazyme's algal oils can help meet the growing demand for completely renewable, natural and sustainable personal care products. Unilever is an acknowledged world leader in sustainability and we are honored to be working with them to develop this new renewable source of natural oils for their world class consumer products."
Solazyme and Unilever are working to demonstrate a process to incorporate targeted algal oils into personal care products at a commercially relevant scale. The work will further develop Solazyme's technology platform, which allows algae to produce oil and biomaterials in standard fermentation facilities quickly, efficiently and at large scale.
Among other sustainability initiatives, Unilever is vigorously exploring various next-generation sources of renewable oil for use in its products. Unilever's collaboration with Solazyme represents a substantial step in the company's exploration of algae as a source of renewable oil.
"Unilever is committed to the highest sustainability and environmental practices and is working to drive industry change and set new standards," said Peter Gallagher, VP of Global Skin R&D, of Unilever. "Exploring sources of alternative natural oils, is one of the most important aspects of our greater sustainable sourcing strategy and working with Solazyme's algal oils is an excellent fit."
For more information, please visit www.solazyme.com.
About Solazyme
Solazyme, Inc. is a renewable oil company and a leader in industrial biotechnology. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in South San Francisco, Solazyme’s proprietary technology transforms a range of low-cost plant-based sugars into high-value oils. Our renewable products can replace or enhance oils derived from the world’s three existing sources—petroleum, plant and animal fats. We tailor the composition of our oils to address specific customer requirements, offering superior performance characteristics at a competitive cost to conventional oils. Solazyme's oils and fuels provide compelling solutions to increasingly complex issues of fuel scarcity, energy security and environmental impact while fitting into the pre-existing multi-trillion dollar fuel infrastructure. Solazyme's investors, among others, include Braemar Energy Ventures, Harris & Harris Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, The Roda Group, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and Zygote Ventures. For more information, please visit www.solazyme.com.
For more information
- Genet Garamendi
- VP, Corporate Communications
- (650) 963-5228
- press@solazyme.com
About Braemar Energy Ventures
Founded in 2003, Braemar Energy Ventures is a leading venture capital firm focused on investing in transformative energy-tech and related companies contributing to global sustainability and combating climate change. Using sector expertise and experience, Braemar aims to be an engaged partner with its portfolio companies to best help them navigate the path to creating significant global impact. For more information, visit braemarenergy.com.