Amyris

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Amyris, Inc.

Type	Public (NASDAQ: AMRS)
Industry	Renewable Fuels, Anti-Malaria, Renewable Chemicals, Renewable Products
Founded	2003
Headquarters	Emeryville, California, USA
Key people	John Melo: CEO
Revenue	None
Employees	300 - 350
Website	Amyris.com

Amyris is an integrated renewable products company providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules, flexible building blocks which can be used in a wide range range of products. Amyris is commercializing these products both as renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors, fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as renewable diesel and jet fuels. Amyris Brasil S.A., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris’s production in Brazil. Amyris also has fuel distribution capabilities in the United States through its subsidiary, Amyris Fuels LLC. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Emeryville, Ca, Amyris has raised over $120 million in equity funding to-date, including investments from Total S.A., Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TPG Biotech, and DAG Ventures. The company successfully went public on NASDAQ in October 2010 (AMRS).

Renewable Fuels

Amyris' technology platform, branded "No Compromise," is focused on providing high performance petroleum-alternatives, using sustainable feedstock such as sugarcane.

Amyris is establishing the partnerships and capabilities needed to bring the renewable diesel fuel to market. A few of these actions include:

• distributing ethanol through a US subsidiary, Amyris Fuels, based in Chicago IL.
• building a large scale production facility at Sao Martino, one of Brazil's largest ethanol producers
• joint venture with Cosan, one of Brazil's largest ethanol distributors and marketers

Artemisinin

Artemisinin is a compound naturally found in the Chinese Sweet Wormwood plant effective in the treatment of malaria. Its production is hampered by difficult climate and agricultural conditions. Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Institute for OneWorld Health, Amyris Biotechnologies and UC Berkeley have been working together on the Artemisinin Project since 2004 to help create a non-seasonal, high-quality, affordable artemisinin supply. The goal is to reduce the production cycle to 14 days, in contrast to the months or years it can take to extract naturally occurring artemisinin.

In the first quarter of 2008, Amyris announced that it is transferring its technology to the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-aventis for large-scale development. Their claim is it will ultimately enable the treatment of more than 500 million estimated individuals who contract malaria, with a goal of market availability by 2011–2012.

Media coverage

• A Better Biofuel on MIT Technology Review (April 2007)
• Bets on Biotech on US News (November 2006)

External links

• Official website