What If Chemicals Were Made Out of Corn Instead of Carbon?

The answer, at its most maximalist expression, a significant reduction in the 30% of greenhouse gasses released through the production of heavy industry. The people making that hypothesis a reality? Meet Sean and G, founders of Solugen.

The chemical industry is a multi-billion dollar dynamo that most consumers rarely, if ever, confront in their day to day lives. We don't spend much time digging into how our treatment plants work, what goes into the manufacturing of plastic, or any of the other countless industrial processes which use chemicals. However, the chemicals used to facilitate the production of the stuff we buy, use, and experience every day, are a massive contributor to our global greenhouse gas emissions and use of petro-chemicals in manufacturing. 

Solugen has developed a means of using an enzymatic reaction to create cost-competitive chemical substitutes from corn syrup instead of synthetics. They've built something less expensive, safer, and better for the planet. No surprise they're hurtling their way to unicorn status- by the time you're reading this they'll likely have announced the close of their series C round vaulting them to past the billion-dollar valuation into the unicorn stratosphere. 

In this episode we talk about the business, how it is and will continue to infuse sustainable practices into a notoriously intransigent business segment, and also the journey they went on from sleeping on warehouse floors to maximizing the time value of their terrestrial existence. For those brands out there considering a better, more sustainable alternative, reach out at info @ solugentech dot com. 

And for those wondering, that picture on the show cover, that's their original sketch of how this good work. If you were wondering what a billion dollar cocktail looked like, now you know.