The Climate Changer String Bio is uniquely positioned to leverage its unique technology platform to enable sustainable solutions that are also significantly performance differentiated, for diverse sectors
By Punita Sabharwal •
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Post her graduate work in the US, Ezhil went on to play key roles in biobased product innovation at different startups/early-stage companies in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Ezhil was part of early technology development at three companies, Gevo, Codexis and Intrexon, in the biobased sector - All three companies have had successful IPOs.
Ezhil's experience over the last 20 years helps her bring first-hand knowledge of solutions that work as well as bottlenecks that plague biobased product commercialization and market growth. Ezhil's driver is to leverage the technology prowess of the west and the manufacturing capabilities of the east to develop innovations that can have global impact.
The first few years of the company's growth was focused on core technology development. The high-risk work was supported by grants from BIRAC and Government of Karnataka and completed through incubation at state-of-the-art facilities in Bangalore, such as IBAB, Bangalore BioInnovation center and C-CAMP. "String also stood to benefit a lot from the mentorship and guidance of the leaders in the biotech ecosystem in India and US. With closing of our first round of external funding, we had key investors and strategic partners come into the String family as well," shares Dr. Ezhil Subbian, Co-Founder & CEO, String Bio.
String Bio is uniquely positioned to leverage its unique technology platform to enable sustainable solutions that are also significantly performance differentiated, for diverse sectors. With its patented technology platform, String has enabled alternative proteins, crop inputs, cosmetic ingredients etc, through its unique manufacturing process - While PRO-DG®, String's alternative protein product for animal nutrition, increases FCR by 26% in shrimp, Impakt®String's crop input, increases crop yield by up to 40% under conditions of abiotic stress.
String is a global player with key partners from outside of India. "The biggest impact of Covid 19 was the inability to travel to meet with strategic partners and investors. This impacted our commercialization activities. With travel opening up, we have since been able to pick up pace on these," mentions Subbian.
String is working to scale up manufacturing demand to meet the established market demand for products in various sectors. "We are working with partners, both national and international, to drive market adoption and scale the business," adds Subbain.
The startup has a strong team of women, particularly women from STEM training. "We have ~30% of women on the workforce," claims Subbain.
