Top 10 Digest Stories of 2021

#1 50 Hottest Companies for 2021

It’s no surprise that our most popular top story was the “50 Hottest Companies” series, as voted by invited international Selectors and subscribers of The Digest, the world’s most widely-read bioeconomy daily.

The Hot 50 winners were voted on in 3 separate categories, with the most popular one being “50 Hottest Companies in Renewable Fuels, Chemicals & Biomaterials” which you can view here.

One theme that stood out was deployment at commercial-scale. 9 of the top 10 had reached full commercial-scale, and 38 of the overall Hot 50 have reached commercial-scale or were supporting commercial-scale projects with services. Another theme for 2021 was undoubtedly international expansion — 23 of the Hot 50 this year and 6 of the top 10 are based outside of the United States or have significant international operations and plants.
More on the story, here.

The second most popular Hot 50 list was “The 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy — Agriculture and Nutrition, 2021” which you can view here.

One theme that stood out was fresh faces and young companies — only 7 of the Hot 50 had been founded prior to the establishment of the Hot 50 rankings in 2008. 17 of the companies were exclusively focused on advanced foods — particularly vegan protein. Another theme for 2021 was a confirmation that the United States remains a hotbed for company formation in ag tech and nutrition — 44 of the Hot 50 this year are US-founded companies.
More on the story, here.

The third most popular Hot 50 list was “The 50 Hottest Companies in Biodesign & Engineering” which you can view here.

One theme that stood out was support for innovative public and privately-owned research labs, which were eligible this year for this new Hot 50 category. Six US National Labs (and Australia’s CSIRO) made the list this year, plus four Bioenergy Research Centers, and the Agile BioFoundry and ABPDU supported by the US Department of Energy. Axens, a subsidiary iof the IFP Energies Nouvelle organization in France, made a different Hot 50 list this year (#18, Fuels & Chemicals), as well.

The US was dominant in this year’s rankings but not overwhelmingly so, despite US spending on research & development. 11 of the Hot 50 were founded or operated outside of the United States, including South Asia, Australia, and especially Europe. The voters showed different levels of support for public research institutes — placing one in the Top 10, three in the second ten, three in the third ten, three in the fourth ten and two in the firth ten, while leaving several high-profile national labs outside the Hot 50. The voters also had relatively low interest in DNA-related services, a hot category amongst investors, preferring strain and process engineers.
More on the story, here.