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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.”

We (Breakout Ventures) have just invested in Checkerspot, a company using biological foundries to produce new materials sustainably.