Belgian biosurfactants developer AmphiStar has been awarded €12.5m following the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) latest funding round.
The funds, which take the form of a €2.5m grant and €10m equity investment, will enable AmphiStar to speed up the production of sustainable microbial biosurfactants, upcycled from a bio-based waste feedstock, and ultimately bring them to market.
The latest funding follows €12m previously raised through CBE-JU projects (Waste2Func, SurfsUP), regional grants (VLAIO) and the early and disruptive support of the German SPRIN-D and Ghent based Biotope in addition to a pre-series A funding round closed in 2024 by three experienced VC funds (ECBF, Qbic, PMV).
AmphiStar COO Sophie Roelants said: “This funding success enables us to take the next steps in AmphiStar’s journey to commercialisation.
“We now look forward not only to further scaling production of our commercially available products (AmphiCare and AmphiClean), but also to bringing a first novel biosurfactant from our biosurfactant platform technology to market while expanding our range of products beyond our current personal care and home care offerings.”
AmphiStar’s synthetic biology platform is designed to enable the creation of molecules tailored to meet the performance and behaviour requirements of specific applications.
By upcycling bio-based waste and side streams as feedstocks for its fermentation process, AmphiStar offers a cleaner alternative to common synthetic surfactants.
It also avoids the use of virgin crops such as palm oil or sugar as feedstock, whose cultivation is associated with deforestation and habitat loss while requiring extensive inputs of land, chemicals and fossil resources.
AmphiStar recently signed a strategic agreement with Illinois-based surfactant manufacturer Kensing to bring its biosurfactants and production technology to the North American market and is finalising agreements with European counterparts.
