Bolt Threads Raises $123 Million For Its Innovative Spider Silk Material

8 years ago The Beam 0 Comments
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Led by British venture capital company Bailie Clifford, innovative startup Bolt Threads has secured a whopping $123 million in a Series D funding round. The company is focused on producing spider silk on a large scale, and using this material for clothing and other applications. Spider silk is of key interest because of the amazing natural properties it possesses. It’s incredibly strong and durable, yet also soft and elastic.

Bolt Threads is one of a number of companies that are developing new and innovative materials for the fashion industry, often with the intention of increasing sustainability. Where Bolt Threads has a step up is in having already successfully brought a product to market. In 2017 it produced the BoltSpun tie, which became the first ever biofabricated consumer product to use spider silk.

Launched in 2009, Bolt Threads had its first funding round in 2014. This Series D round of funding is the largest total for a funding round that the company has received to date. Its Series C funding total was $50 million in May 2016, Series B reached over $32 million in June of 2015, and the Series A round reached $7.7 million, which now seems small in comparison. When you add all of the rounds together, the total level of investment is an impressive $213 million.

The company is planning to use the investment to further research and develop its material, and to increase the commercialization of its products. Last year Bolt Threads collaborated with fashion designer and strong sustainability advocate Stella McCartney. If this is the direction that it continues to push in, then we can expect to see new designs and new applications in the coming year.

Fashion has a very large footprint, and innovation that could potentially reduce this footprint is important.

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The Beam

The Beam Magazine is an independent climate solutions and climate action magazine. It tells about the most exciting solutions, makes a concrete contribution to eliminating climate injustices and preserving this planet for all of us in its diversity and beauty. Our cross-country team of editors works with a network of 150 local journalists in 50 countries talking to change makers and communities. THE BEAM is published in Berlin and distributed in nearly 1,000 publicly accessible locations, to companies, organizations and individuals in 40 countries across the world powered by FairPlanet.

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