“This is an example of how we are innovating performance materials designed for specific applications with use cases across a range of industries.”
Sterbenz helped launch WNDR Alpine after nearly 20 years running 4FRNT Skis, a first mover in the independent ski movement. He founded 4FRNT in the Lake Tahoe area in 2002 and later moved the company to Utah.
This winter, you can carve the fresh powder of the backcountry on a pair of high-performance, eco-friendly skis designed by world-famous athletes and made from a material produced by microscopic algae. Yes, algae.
The skis, made by a rather unconventional Bay Area biotech company, are a new addition to the long list of products currently being made from chemicals and compounds produced by specially engineered microbes – a field known as biomanufacturing.
What if sustainably derived materials can not only compete with traditional, petroleum-based materials, but actually beat them out?
That was the first question Checkerspot founders asked themselves. Once the Berkeley, California-based biotech startup answered the question resoundingly in the affirmative, it set its sights on new pursuits: among them, building skis.
We spoke with Scott Franklin, Co-Founder and CSO at Checkerspot. Checkerspot is a synthetic biology company biomanufacturing high quality renewable materials for consumer goods. Scott’s deep technical expertise coupled with his diverse experiences commercializing bio-based products has led him to believe that marketing is often overlooked as a critical factor to a biotech company’s success.
W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced a collaboration with Checkerspot, bringing together Checkerspot’s expertise in bio-based polymers and biotechnology with Gore’s decades of experience in high performance apparel. Together, they will explore innovative performance materials development with the goal of delivering high performance textile coatings with improved environmental profiles.
Silicon Valley-based Gore Innovation Center announces collaboration with materials startup Checkerspot
Imagine having a car that runs on carbon emissions – one of the main drivers in climate change. Imagine that your car seat is made with leather from fungi and the fabrics and carpets in your car are stain-repellent and made with algae.
In Florida, The Digest recognized the NEXT 50, “the 50 Next Companies to Disrupt the World”, bioeconomy companies that are on the journey to commercial scale with an emerging technology.
Checkerspot, a start-up materials company, is using biotechnology to harness the power of nature, fermenting algae to produce novel bio-based oils for use in materials in the outdoor recreational sector and an expanding number of other applications.
My eyes light up, as do his, highlighting his new vision of ski production. For the past year, Sterbenz has been the General Manager for Wintersports of Checkerspot—a biotech company based out of Berkeley, California. The task at hand: re-imagine the construction of skis using a new material derived from algae oil.
Could a Bay Area biotechnology company reinvent what’s in our ski gear
“The outdoor industry is ripe for technological advancements at this level,” Sterbenz continues. “This opportunity is something that could be widely disruptive. And necessary, I think, in the industry.”
“Checkerspot is differentiated in its approach by focusing on more rapidly bringing to market high value materials with unique properties presently unavailable with traditional manufacturing processes. At Builders we partner with companies that are developing real solutions to modernize antiquated industries. Checkerspot’s approach of integrating biotechnology and materials science, then demonstrating the value of rapid prototyping and applications development, is exactly that,” said Jim Kim of Builders VC. He continued, “We fully expect that Checkerspot’s platform development and expansion into a wide range of industries will usher in a new way of thinking for how product designers apply and source performance materials.”