Allylix has developed proprietary technology that allows it to produce a group of natural products called terpenes at low cost.

Tate & Lyle Ventures announced Thursday that it is investing in US-based Allylix Inc, a developer of fine chemicals and related products for the flavour and fragrance, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and agricultural markets.

Tate & Lyle Ventures is a £25 million venture capital fund focused on investing in high growth companies in the fields of renewable ingredients, food technologies, biomaterials and industrial processing technologies.

The consortium comprises a number of prominent angel investment groups including the Tech Coast Angels, who focus on investing in early stage companies in Southern California and are leading the investment.
Allylix’s technology platform allows terpenes, the class of natural products that gives plants their characteristic flavours and fragrances, to be produced via fermentation in yeast. It replaces the costly and laborious extraction of terpenes from plants and enables the cost effective production of flavours and fragrances for perfumes, personal care, food and household markets.
 
Stephen Block, lead investor for the Tech Coast Angels, said: “The market growth and revenue potential for Allylix’s products are enormous. Allylix’s low-cost process reduces the costs of producing terpenes to as little as 10% of what to date have been the very high costs of traditional processes, thereby making these valuable compounds available to a wide variety of new market applications.”
 
Simon Barnes, Managing Partner of Tate & Lyle Ventures added: “This is a significant development for the fragrance and flavour market. Not only can Allylix produce fragrances and flavours via a cost-effective route but the technology is also there to create entirely novel fragrances and flavours. Allylix’s fermentation technology is an excellent fit with our fund’s focus on renewable ingredients and bio-technology.”

By Natasha Piscitelli