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

“Fluorinated coatings are used in a lot of products – apparel, cookware, yoga pants – but they can often be toxic and lose performance over time as they shed into the environment. We are developing bio-based hydrophobic coatings that do not contain fluorine and are comparable or have better properties than the leading standards.” – Scott Franklin, CSO, Checkerspot

Checkerspot was awarded a spot in fifth batch of Fashion for Good Plug and Play Accelerator. “The ten entrepreneurs that will compose the fifth accelerator batch, have been carefully selected from hundreds of applicants. While each innovator has a unique value-proposition, this batch has a focus on innovative data management, new materials, dyeing technology, and end of use solutions.”

“…we are thinking about how we can create materials that perform better and aren’t simply swap-in, swap-out replacements,” Charles Dimmler says.

“Looking forward to working with a great team of scientists that are developing new molecules for specific performance materials and applying them in breakthrough product designs. I’ve been in the game for a long time, and I’m done working with the same old materials. I love the idea of designing with intention – creating new materials from the ground up, controlling the process every step of the way, starting with molecules to integrating them into new materials and products. Speaking as a designer and creator, this is a whole new frontier … ” – Matt Sterbenz

“We see triglycerides as molecular scaffolds. Our technology platform leverages an understanding of biology, chemistry, materials science and fabrication, and through it we believe we can imbue these molecules with properties that dramatically enhance the performance of Checkerspot’s materials. As we grow, we’ll continue to innovate around this platform, further developing its precision to allow us to penetrate into more and more applications areas,” said Scott Franklin CSO Checkerspot.

“We want to be much more intentional about the design of materials and product development,” Charles says, “an important part of that is knowing what end-users will want, even if they cannot readily articulate it.”

“This is the right time,” McClary told The Digest. “The novel tool sets and data sets, all colliding with computation. The tools create the data sets, and the computation allows you to move at the speed that’s right. And these are new business plans and models, and now we have entries into the high value materials space.

DIC Corporation and Checkerspot, Inc. entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to create a new class of novel, high performance polyols.

Checkerspot named one of ten showcase winners to present at the GC3 Conference.