Allylix, the San Diego-based company that uses genetically engineered yeast to make specialty chemicals, has raised $6 million in new equity capital, according to a regulatory filing.
The document doesn’t say who invested, although it does list CEO Carolyn Fritz, Simon Barnes of Tate & Lyle Ventures in London, Stephen Block of Tech Coast Angels, Thomas Jurgensen of Catalyst Law Group, Thomas Jameson of Bluegrass Ventures, and David Kabakoff of Sofinnova Ventures as board members. Neither Kabakoff nor Allylix’s vice president of R&D, Richard Burlingame, responded immediately to a request for comment.
Allylix provides some information about what it does on its company website. The firm, founded in 2002, says it has proprietary technology to make natural products called terpenes at low cost. These compounds, made naturally by plants in small quantities, can be useful for a variety of industrial applications like making flavor and fragrance additives, bug repellants, biofuels, and pharmaceuticals. Allylix last raised capital in November 2007, when it said it secured $3.35 million in order to introduce the first three of six commercial products it had in mind at the time.
No news updates have been added to the company’s website since October 2008, when it made a cryptic announcement about signing a partnership with a leading cleantech company. That deal provided an upfront cash payment, R&D support, and potential for further milestones based on success in development. Fritz, a former Dow Chemical executive, said at the time that the partnership marked “a major milestone for us.”
Allylix was founded by Joseph Chappell of the University of Kentucky, Joseph Noel of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Jurgensen, an intellectual property lawyer in San Diego, according to a 2005 statement.
