00:00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Brett Cotten and Camellia Amit-Sharif from Arda Biomaterials.
00:14Hello, hello, Brett.
00:17Hi, thank you.
00:18Hi, Camellia.
00:22Hi there. We're Arda Biomaterials. I'm Brett, co-founder and CEO.
00:26And I'm Camellia, commercial lead.
00:28Arda is a chemistry technology company for the 21st century.
00:32We don't do any fermentation. There's no cell culture.
00:35We focus on efficiently extracting, purifying, formulating, and manufacturing plastic-free polymers and materials from biomass.
00:43But why plastic-free?
00:45Humans have been scaling up plastic since the 1940s, and we're now seeing the adverse effects on our food systems,
00:51soil, water, and our own bodies impacting everything from fertility to disease.
00:56But what if we could swap plastic polymers for protein polymers?
01:01And what if these protein polymers could work on the same equipment that scaled up plastic for decades?
01:06At Arda, this is our breakthrough innovation.
01:09Our protein biopolymers can be transformed into plastic-free materials, everything from films to fibers to non-woven textiles.
01:16We've developed a novel supermolecular chemistry technology whereby we can extract protein from grain, denature it into tiny molecular strings,
01:26and build it back up again into higher-order structures called nanofibrils and fibrils.
01:30And we've found when you put these fibrils into materials, they impart remarkable mechanical qualities such that you don't need
01:37to add any petrochemical or plastic additives.
01:39We have four patents pending and have been published in high-impact journals.
01:44But where do we get our proteins?
01:46Well, beer breweries, whiskey distilleries, and bioethanol plants are experts at extracting sugar from grain, leaving behind a protein-rich
01:54biomass called spent grain.
01:56It's typically destined for landfill or cheap animal feed or even biogas, but what we found is that there's better
02:04things to do with it.
02:05We can take those proteins and turn them into something different.
02:09We're working with the world's biggest breweries and whiskey distilleries to secure our feedstock, and we've found an extra advantage.
02:16Oftentimes, brewers and distillers work with fashion, automotive, sports, hospitality, and we can really use that to supercharge our go
02:24-to-market.
02:25So, out of many potential applications for artist technology, our first material is a leather-like textile called new grain.
02:33So, animal leather is not only really emissions and water-intensive, but most of the leather sold today is treated
02:38with toxic synthetic tanning chemicals and gets coated in a layer of plastic.
02:43Synthetic leathers like polyurethane and PVC leather also contribute to this plastic pollution, and they have no viable end-of
02:49-life or circularity options.
02:50There have been waves of next-generation leather alternatives like mushroom leather or apple-waist leather, but these have also
02:57failed to meet the performance and the price requirements of the industry without relying on plastic fillers and top coats.
03:03So, in comparison, new grain is a drop-in material that can meet the requirements for industries from fashion, footwear,
03:10automotive interiors, and more, all while being completely plastic-free and really having a clear path to both scale and
03:17price parity.
03:18Our process has been designed to work with established manufacturing techniques and equipment.
03:23We start by extracting and purifying the protein in spent grain using the same tanks and centrifuges that brewers use.
03:29We can then apply non-toxic chemistries to unravel those protein chains and reconfigure them into the strong nanofibrils that
03:36form the basis of new grain.
03:37We can then cast and dry that liquid onto textured papers that are the same used by plastic leather makers,
03:44meaning we can have a huge range of textures from animal to completely non-animal.
03:48And finally, we apply different natural backing fabrics like cotton and linen and send it around to brands and manufacturers
03:54to transform into a whole range of 3D products.
03:57This whole process at scale can take less than 24 hours.
04:00And new grain already performs on par with cow and plastic leather in key performance areas, like tensile strength, which
04:08is the force you need to pull the material apart, abrasion resistance, so it's resistance to huge amounts of rubbing
04:14and friction, and flexing resistance, bending back and forth.
04:17So our R&D team has really been able to push the boundaries of what this completely plastic-free system
04:22can do, and we're very close to meeting even the most challenging requirements for applications like technical footwear.
04:29And new grain looks and feels so much like a premium material that the CEO of a leather upholstery company
04:35personally invested into ARDA after seeing samples.
04:38He could not believe there was no coating, and we all invite you to take a look after our talk
04:43as well.
04:44And of course, new grain wins on every impact dimension, so its carbon footprint is 96% lower than cow
04:49leather, 72% less than synthetic leather, and that's all while being free of petrochemicals and rubber.
04:55We use only non-toxic chemistries and additives, so our materials are safe for people and planet, and we can
05:02be made using robust local supply chains by tapping into locally abundant spent grain streams and using very scalable manufacturing
05:09methods.
05:12We've built a really strong pipeline of dozens of brands and companies who want to source new grain, and so
05:17our beachhead market is looking at handbags and small leather goods, everything from passport holders, wallets, key chains, book bindings,
05:24everything.
05:25And then as we scale, we'll be able to tap into apparel, footwear, interiors, and automotive, and more.
05:31So our addressable market for just fashion, automotive, and interiors will reach 73 billion euros in 2032, and that's really
05:39just scratching the surface of the potential applications.
05:42And as you can see, this is not a niche luxury solution.
05:45Over half of our addressable market is high street and mass market brands and companies.
05:51And we can achieve really global scale through local supply chains.
05:55So to give an example, just three large European breweries produce enough spent grain to turn into the equivalent of
06:0130 million pairs of trainers and displace 400,000 tons of CO2.
06:06And there are 10,000 breweries in Europe alone, about 100 of which that have this big scale.
06:10So you can imagine working with German brewers to empower German automotive, Portuguese breweries for Portuguese footwear, French and Italian
06:18fashion, and more.
06:19You can really copy and paste this model.
06:22So we didn't get here overnight.
06:23We're moving really quick, but just to give you a bit of history.
06:27So I joined this program called Entrepreneur First in London back in 2022.
06:31It's not a TV show, but it should be because it's like Love Island meets Shark Tank.
06:36So you go in to find a business partner, and if you do, and you come up with an idea,
06:41you have the opportunity to pitch for investment.
06:43So we were lucky enough that in the part of London that we live, there's loads and loads of breweries.
06:49On a beautiful summer day, went down to the breweries and saw a stack piled high, spent grain.
06:55We looked at what was inside of the spent grains because brewers are excellent at removing the sugars, but they
07:00leave behind so much protein.
07:01Coming from the food industry, we originally looked at how we could apply it there, but we realized, wait, there's
07:08other protein-based materials.
07:10There's wool, there's silt, there's fur, there's feathers, and there's leather.
07:14So we gathered up spent grain and some borrowed lab equipment and went into my co-founder's kitchen for our
07:19first tests.
07:20We were able to raise investment and subsequently move into larger and larger labs, where we now have our headquarters
07:25in London,
07:26where we can extract over 1,000 liters of protein per batch.
07:30The samples at first didn't look so great.
07:32So they had bits of grain inside of them, they're made in the kitchen, but as we improved our protein
07:37extractions, our purity improved,
07:39and the samples got better and better to what you see today.
07:42So we have materials that are at par or better than animal leather and synthetics across key metrics.
07:48And we're finding out new things along the way.
07:50For example, our abrasion resistance is actually better than Napa leather.
07:55And our proteins can actually have a nice high-shine finish, meaning we don't need any coatings.
08:01We can create anything from matte finishes to high-shine paint and leather finishes naturally.
08:07We've been able to be featured in global press, like the BBC, and welcome investors from across Europe.
08:15Crucially, we've built the world's most class team in spent grain proteins into plastic-free polymers and materials,
08:23with eight PhDs now on board, and expertise across supermolecular chemistry, proteins, collagen, roll-to-roll scaled up, and beyond.
08:32And I'll leave you with one final thought.
08:34The big chemistry giants today, BASF, DuPont, Dow, were all built on plastics last century,
08:42and today, they haven't escaped it.
08:44They're still building on plastics today.
08:47Arda is fundamentally changing what materials can be made of and where they can be made.
08:52Arda is building a chemistry company for the 21st century.
08:56Thank you very much.
08:57Thank you very much.
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