LanzaTech holds lead in Hot 50 in last week of voting; Novozymes, Amyris, DuPont, DSM, REG, BASF, POET, Algenol and Genomatica in the hunt. 

In Florida, early voting rankings were released today for 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy, representing roughly 90% of the overall subscriber vote expected. Subscriber voting ends Friday, January 15 at 5pm ET. The Hot 50 rankings will be announced live at ABLC 2016 in Washington DC at 6pm on February 17, 2016.

Below, we’ve highlighted the top 150 companies in (to-date) subscriber voting. For those who have not yet voted, time to get that ballot in.

Voting Trends

The Digest noted some voting trends.

1. These are early results — not finals — not yet including the 50% of votes from the invited international selectors, PhotoVotes, and the final days of balloting in the Hot 50. While Photo Votes can follow the general trend of voting, the invited Selectors often have radically different ideas based on their in-depth industry knowledge — in many cases, behind the NDA wall.

2. Big changes from last year. Last year’s #2, GranBio, has dropped to #24 in the subscriber ballots so far, and last year’s #3, Algenol, has slipped to #10, while (last year’s #5) Solazyme is lagging back at #13, while Beta Renewables had eased back from #8 last year to #14.  Suprisingly, Abengoa is holding up at #17 despite a bankruptcy filing and plant shut-downs — some of that owing to early voting that predated the news.

3. Who’s surging this year? The biggest changes are Genomatica and BioAmber, who generally in the past competed in the old Hot 30 — but in the “big leagues” have been doing extremely well at #7 and #12 respectively. Among others? Amyris has risen from #11 to #3, REG is up from #13 to #4, BASF has moved up from #15 to #10, and POET and DSM both moved up.

4. Flight to brand leaders.  In early voting, bigger companies have surged this year. Novozymes, DSM, DuPont, BASF, POET, and REG in the top 10. However, we’ve seen some softening in the middle of the ballot, with Coca-Cola and ADM fading to the mid-20s. However, companies like Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Corbion, Boeing, Clariant, Syngenta, Honeywell, Bunge, Raizen, Braskem, Shell and Evonik making strong runs — in some cases, heading towards a first-time appearance in the Hot 50.

5. We’re starting to see a drop-off in cellulosic ethanol —  technologies such as POET-DSM, Enerkem, Beta Renewables, GranBio, and Abengoa are all down this year, and companies such as Iogen and INEOS Bio are stading outside the Hot 50 at the moment.

6. Butanol is having a good early season — Gevo at 16, Green Biologics at 20 and Butamax at 27.

7. Scale increasingly matters. Only LanzaTech, Algenol and Green Biologics in the top 20 don’t have a commercial-scale plant running, and LanzaTech and Green Biologics are on the verge. Early stagers have generally migrated to the Hot 40.

8. All around the world. In the top 20, companies developing or owning projects in China, Brazil, Canada, India, Spain, the US, Italy, and Malaysia are on the list. Plus, global giants such as ADM, Cargill, BASF are in the elite.

9. Shock omissions. Where’s ethanol? We see Green Plains (#88), Aemetis (#79) and Pacific Ethanol (#70) way down the list from where their scale of operations and investments in advanced technology would be expected to place them.

10. Where’s algae?  Algenol and Solazyme are both down substantially from last year. Sapphire Energy, Cellana, Heliae and BioProcess Algae are well below their historic voting levels— just to name a few.

11. Chemicals – the mainstay of the old Hot 30, are doing well. Amyris, DSM, Genomatica, BioAmber, Solazyme, Verdezyne, Green Biologics, Corbion, and NatureWorks have all cracked the top 30 of the  “big ballot”.

12. Jet fuel is struggling. Despite big pending success stories, Joule (#29), Virent (#32), Fulcrum (#56) are lagging behind historic vote levels, while prodcution leader AltAIr is outside the top 150.

13. Agriculture is doing well, especially with the bigger brands. Dow AgroSciences and Bayer CropSciences are making a first bid for the Hot 50, while POET Biomass is right up there. Genrally, companies like PacificAg and Genera will be expected to dominate in the Hot 35 Supply Chain companies — a ranking coming up early next year.

14. Didn’t get the memo. Dyadic is at #40 despite exiting industrial biotech, and companies in bankruptcy or dissolved include Abengoa (#17), Blue Sun (#117), and Coskata (#101).

The Rankings to Date

1 LanzaTech

2 Novozymes

3 Amyris

4 Renewable Energy Group

5 DuPont Industrial Biosciences

6 DSM

7 Genomatica

8 POET

9 Algenol

10 BASF

11 POET-DSM

12 BioAmber

13 Solazyme

14 Beta Renewables / Chemtex

15 Cargill

16 Gevo

17 Abengoa Bioenergy

18 POET Biomass

19 Enerkem

20 Green Biologics

21 Verdezyne

22 ADM

23 Coca-Cola

24 GranBio

25 Boeing

26 Raizen

27 Butamax

28 Neste Oil

29 Joule Unlimited

30 Corbion

31 Ensyn

32 Virent

33 Reverdia

34 Sweetwater Energy

35 Avantium

36 Shell

37 Dow AgroSciences

38 Renmatix

39 NatureWorks

40 Dyadic

41 Clariant

42 Bayer CropSciences

43 Elevance Renewable Sciences

44 Evonik

45 Honeywell’s UOP

46 Braskem

47 American Process

48 Syngenta

49 Rivertop Renewables

50 ICM

51 AkzoNobel

52 Iogen

53 Valero

54 Audi

55 INEOS Bio

56 Fulcrum BioEnergy

57 Praj Industries

58 BP Biofuels

59 Deinove

60 Bunge

61 Liquid Light

62 Zymergen

63 NexSteppe

64 CoolPlanet Energy Systems

65 Stora Enso Biomaterials

66 UPM

67 Evolva

68 Cosan

69 Novvi

70 Pacific Ethanol

71 ZeaChem

72 Sapphire Energy

73 Myriant

74 Inbicon

75 Waste Management

76 Global Bioenergies

77 John Deere

78 United Airlines

79 Aemetis

80 EdeniQ

81 Leaf Resources

82 Cathay Pacific

83 Solvay

84 Propel Fuels

85 Anellotech

86 Novamont

87 General Motors

88 Green Plains

89 Rennovia

90 Intrexon

91 Mitsubishi Chemical

92 Fiberight

93 GF Biochemicals

94 Succinity

95 Genera Energy

96 Ceres

97 KLM

98 Cellana

99 Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies

100 Oberon Fuels

101 Coskata

102 Pacific Ag

103 Mango Materials

104 BioProcess Algae

105 Lygos

106 Axens IFP

107 Haldor Topsoe

108 Reliance Industries

109 Chromatin

110 Benefuel

111 Holland & Knight

112 xF Technologies

113 Heliae

114 Industrial Microbes

115 Yulex

116 Biosynthetic Technologies

117 Byogy Renewables

118 Blue Sun Biodiesel

119 Bluefire Renewables

120 Comet Biorefining

121 Koch FHR

122 Stern Brothers

123 METabolic EXplorer

124 Louis Dreyfus

125 Algaeventure Systems

126 Vermeer

127 Taurus Energy

128 Corinne Young, LLC

129 Micromidas

130 Direvo

131 Midori Renewables

132 EcoEngineers

133 GeoSynFuels

134 FENC

135 Newlight Technologies

136 Kilpatrick Townsend

137 Arizona Chemical

138 ALS Bioenergy

139 Applied Research Associates (ARA)

140 American Science and Technology Corporation

141 BioBlend Renewable Resources

142 Novomer

143 Tesoro

144 Ethanol Europe Renewables

145 Emerging Fuels Technology

146 ThermoChem Recovery International

147 Darling International

148 Harvest Power

149 Hydro-Thermal Corporation

150 New Energy Farms