#Raw Materials

2024-10-24

AMSilk announces successful partnership negotiation with Ajinomoto for industrial fermentation

AMSilk GmbH (“AMSilk/the Company”), a frontrunner in advanced biomaterials made from spider silk-based proteins, today announces that the Company and Ajinomoto Foods Europe (AFE), a company with over 50 years of experience in industrial fermentation, and the affiliate of the globally established Ajinomoto group, have expressed mutual interest to step into a long-term partnership to biomanufacture silk proteins at Ajinomoto Foods Europe’s manufacturing facility in Nesle, France.

AMSilk is forming a strategic collaboration with Ajinomoto, leveraging Ajinomoto’s extensive industrial expertise in precision fermentation and its strategically located site in France. The facility, in the vicinity of AMSilk’s key customers in the premium textile and consumer goods industries, is backwardly integrated with local raw materials and renewable energy, aligning perfectly with AMSilk’s commitment to sustainable business practices.

This partnership marks a significant step for AMSilk as it rapidly progresses towards becoming a commercial supplier of spider silk-based proteins. By harnessing Ajinomotos’s global fabrication capabilities and state-of-the-art facilities, AMSilk is well-positioned to achieve its commercial milestones and further its mission of delivering high-performance biotech materials on a large scale.

Hiroshi Kaneko, President Ajinomoto Foods Europe: “We are thrilled to partner with AMSilk and are committed to accelerating the market development of their innovative products by supporting their large-scale biomanufacturing efforts. Together, we aspire to create a substantial economic and social impact while driving global innovation forward.”

Ulrich Scherbel, Chief Executive Officer at AMSilk comments: “As a global player with longstanding expertise, Ajinomoto is an ideal production partner for us. Their premier fermentation capabilities in France enable us to meet the demands of our European customers by providing nearshored, high-quality materials.”

AMSilk provides disruptive material solutions to enable the world’s leading brands to address their carbon footprint. Its protein formulations do not contain any substances of animal origin or fossil-based raw materials and leave no microplastics behind. At the end of their life, they are verifiably biodegradable or recyclable. Being biofabricated, these materials can be tailored at a molecular level to specific markets or product requirements.

Evonik and AMSilk extend partnership for sustainable biotech silk materials

Evonik and AMSilk, a global leader in advanced biomaterials based on silk proteins, have deepened their collaboration with a long-term agreement to produce sustainable silk proteins at industrial scale. Building on their initial manufacturing agreement from 2023, the companies have commissioned a manufacturing line at Evonik’s Slovakian site for AMSilk’s high-performance silk. This innovative biomaterial is produced with minimal environmental impact and is designed for use in premium fashion and highly demanding automotive interiors.

AMSilk secures EUR 52M strategic financing to accelerate commercial growth

AMSilk GmbH (“AMSilk”), a frontrunner in advanced biomaterials made from silk-based proteins, today announced it has successfully secured EUR 52 million financing led by existing investor ATHOS (AT Newtec), along with strong participation from fellow existing investors MIG Capital and Novo Holdings. The financing combines EUR 30 million in equity, and EUR 22 million in convertible bonds. This reflects strong investor confidence and long-term commitment in AMSilk’s technology and market potential.

Textile Exchange publishes cotton Life Cycle Assessment study to strengthen impact data

Textile Exchange has published the first in a series of seven Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies designed to improve the quality and robustness of environmental impact data for raw material production across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. The first LCA study focuses on cotton and addresses critical data gaps and methodology variability through new high-quality data across key producing countries. The study includes organic, regenerative, recycled, and country averages for conventional cotton production systems, providing a clearer picture of the associated environmental impact.

Fashion for Good mobilises industry to adopt mass balance attribution and accelerate decarbonisation

Fashion for Good launches today the Mass Balance Demonstrator project, a collaborative industry initiative to implement and scale the mass balance attribution (MBA) chain-of-custody model for biomass-attributed PET in textile applications. The project represents a concrete step toward accelerating brand-driven decarbonisation across the apparel value chain.

Covestro to exhibit solutions for a more sustainable and productive textile industry at Techtextil 2026

Covestro will present a broad portfolio of material innovations for textile coatings, adhesive films and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) at Techtextil 2026 (Hall 11.0, Booth C79). The exhibits will demonstrate how advanced solutions can enhance durability, recyclability and manufacturing efficiency across applications such as automotive, infrastructure, protective apparel and sportswear. A particular focus will be on more sustainable coating technologies, including antimicrobial systems based on INSQIN® in combination with AGXX from Heraeus Precious Metals, as well as the integration of Pontacol® thermoplastic adhesive films into Covestro’s offering.

New Gravimax MMX-R X-ray sensor platform opens up new application fields

The demands placed on quality control in web-based production processes are increasing: materials are becoming more complex, basis weights are varying more widely, and at the same time, pressure is growing to make processes more efficient and transparent. Precise measurement data across the entire web width has therefore become a key factor in ensuring stable production processes. With its new Gravimax MMX-R sensor platform, Mahlo introduces a radiometric measurement solution designed to set new standards in determining basis weight and material composition. The platform combines advanced X-ray technology with newly developed signal processing, enabling measurement tasks that previously often required multiple sensor technologies.

Modernizing Needling – DiloGroup at Techtextil & INDEX 2026

With the theme “Modernizing Needling”, the DiloGroup presents a comprehensively enhanced portfolio for needling technology. The objective is to further increase the performance and application range of needlefelt production lines in terms of productivity, flexibility, and the development of new products, thereby meeting the growing demands of modern technical textiles.