Insempra to Invest in protein innovator Solena Materials

Insempra, a Munich-based team of biologists, scientists, and entrepreneurs working on novel regenerative materials, has made a strategic investment in Solena Materials, an Imperial College London spin-out developing synthetic proteins for high-performance clothing fibers.

The investment will enable Insempra, formerly Origin.Bio, to accelerate its goal of using new technology to enhance biological manufacturing processes, resulting in naturally better goods that will power the regenerative revolution. Solena will play an important role in Insempra’s platform for delivering high-performance, fundamentally sustainable ingredients to a wide range of sectors.

Solena is using computational design to create new classes of synthetic proteins that can absorb enormous quantities of kinetic energy in garments. Insempra will speed the research and industrial manufacturing of these synthetic proteins, providing superior, biobased alternatives to petrochemically generated, non-biodegradable materials or fibers taken from nature or animals such as silk. Other environmental concerns reduced by the method include microplastics in water bodies from washing petrochemically derived textiles.

Jens Klein, founder and CEO of Insempra and CEO of Solena Materials, said that they’re hugely excited by this investment in Solena, which will help expedite their market-first strategy to developing outstanding, fundamentally sustainable ingredients. They’re excited to accelerate Solena’s development and manufacturing of its unique synthetic proteins in order to build customized, high-performance fibers for a wide range of applications.

Professor Paul Freemont of Imperial College London, said that Insempra’s investment recognizes the potential of their technology to revolutionize high-performance textiles and associated supply chains. By combining their synthetic biology skills, they can create, synthesize, and manufacture a new class of superior, more sustainable fibers.