Startup C16 Biosciences Receives $20M From Bill Gates Led Energy Venture

C16 Biosciences, a NewYork-based palm oil startup, has lifted $20 million from Energy Ventures led by Bill Gates. With this investment, C16 is aiming to multiply its team size and bring in new technology. 

C16 Biosciences was founded by David Heller, Harry McNamara, and Shara Ticku in 2017. It is a palm oil startup that uses a dynamic innovation to make palm oil from waste food and industrial products.

The interest of palm oil manufacturers has shifted to its alternatives as the conventional way of producing this oil involves a lot of environmental threats. Most of the palm oil is manufactured in tropical countries where companies get rid of carbon-rich forests to build their plants. Moreover, the worst part is setting the forest and agricultural lands on fire as a cheap process to destroy the forest. 

Today, sustainable Palm oils are available in many places, but the production of palm oil is less,  and therefore it is very expensive. Considering this scenario, C16 Biosciences came into the palm oil sector to experiment with something different.

Chief Executive of C16, Shara Ticku said that the use of waste products makes sure that the raw material will come at a less price and give a chance to synthetic alternatives to lower the cost.

Nowadays, the palm oil sector is increasing rapidly, and it's worth will be around $93 billion by the end of next year. As research has proved that vegetable oils are not good for health, therefore, many food brands are turning towards palm oil, which is not harmful. Moreover, palm oil is found in more than 50 percent of products, according to Palm Oil Investigations.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is only focusing on companies that have the ability to cut the emission of million metric tons every year. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, and Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP are its major investors.