DSM Venturing, the corporate venturing unit of Royal DSM has participated in a $20 million financing round with Tianjin Green Bio-Science (TGBS), China. The proceeds will be used to build China's largest manufacturing plant for Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA).
The plant's construction will commence in second quarter of 2008, and is expected to start production in early 2009. It will have an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of PHA.
The investment is in line with DSM's ambitions to develop bio-based performance materials to meet customers' growing needs for improved performance and environmental benefits at competitive costs. PHA offers, in response to the growing market need for eco-friendly solutions, a new biorenewable polymer platform for a broad range of applications from automotive to biomedical and electronics.
In parallel with the venture investment, DSM and TGBS intend to work together to create new business in bio-based performance materials.