Tate & Lyle Ventures Invests in Allylix Inc. 

29/11/07 Tate & Lyle Ventures has said that it will invest 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 forms part of a consortium which has invested third-round funding of $3.35 million. 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. Allylix’s technology 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.

“Allylix has developed promising proprietary technology and a solid business model for its commercial terpene product line, which is what initially attracted us to the company,” says Stephen Block, lead investor for the Tech Coast Angels. “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.”

Initially, Allylix will focus on a class of terpenes called sesquiterpenes. Sesquiterpenes are part of the $1.9 billion aroma chemical segment of the flavour and fragrance market. However, current prices for sesquiterpenes tend to be very high due to the limited supply of quality starting materials and the high cost of extraction and purification throughout the industry. Allylix has identified a number of sesquiterpene flavours and fragrances whose markets would expand substantially if there were a low cost alternative.

Simon Barnes, Managing Partner of Tate & Lyle Ventures said, “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.” “With research and development nearing completion, we will use the substantial capital raised from these renowned angel investors and venture capitalists, to launch our initial product line for the flavour and fragrance market,” said Carolyn Fritz, chief executive officer of Allylix.

With business offices in San Diego CA and research and development laboratories in Lexington, KY, Allylix, Inc. develops fine chemicals and valuable production platforms for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural and flavour & fragrance markets. Allylix's technology can produce high-value chemicals identical to those found in nature but in greater quantities, of higher quality and purity and at lower production costs than traditional sources that rely on extracting the chemicals from rare biological sources or costly and low yielding chemical synthesis. Allylix's technology is based on research developed at the University of Kentucky and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.