Lexington, KY - The renewable chemicals company Allylix Inc. will create 14 full-time jobs with the addition of 3,700 square feet of laboratory space at the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research Campus. The expansion represents an investment of more than $1.6 million.
Allylix develops products for the flavor and fragrance, food ingredient, cosmetic chemicals, insect repellent and biofuel markets.
The company controls intellectual property with 62 issued patents and multiple U.S. and foreign applications. Allylix’s platform technology allows it to engineer yeast strains that, through proprietary fermentation processes, produce a wide range of specialty chemical products.
Allylix has scaled its manufacturing processes to full industrial scale and is producing its first two products, nootkatone, a long-lasting citrus flavor and fragrance used in the food, beverage, and personal care industries and valencene, a sought after orange flavor and fragrance used in similar industries. Until now these terpenes were available only in limited quantities and at high prices. Allylix' technology will allow customers to dramatically expand the use of nootkatone and valencene in both new and existing applications.
The Allylix platform is also applicable to a wide range of industries beyond flavors and fragrances, including food ingredients, fine chemicals, pesticides and crop protection products and biofuels.
“Kentucky has been a terrific place to grow a company,” said Carolyn Fritz, CEO of Allylix. “In Lexington, we have had access to a highly educated workforce, top-notch facilities and funding; all in a region with a great quality of life for our employees.”
To encourage the investment and job growth in Lexington, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $300,000 through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
Since 2005, Allylix has secured a total of $33.5 million which has funded the company’s product development and commercialization efforts, including significant advances in its mature pipeline. The company’s initial funding of almost $3 million was led by the Bluegrass Angels. In 2007, Allylix secured a second round of funding in the form of a convertible note worth $3.4 million backed by Tate and Lyle Ventures and Tech Coast Angels. The company secured an additional $9 million in funding in early 2010, backed by Cultivian Ventures, Avrio Ventures and Tate & Lyle Ventures. In March 2012 – BASF Venture Capital GmbH has invested $13.5 million in Allylix Inc., a U.S.-based renewable chemicals company. The BASF subsidiary led a $18.2 million financing round, joined by existing investors Tate & Lyle Ventures, Avrio Ventures and Cultivian Ventures.
For more information on Allylix, visit www.allylix.com.