Advertorial feature
difficulties associated with scaling
production having dampened
widespread uptake, despite the
technology’s obvious promise. Recent
Scottish Mortgage investment,
Carbon, a Silicon Valley-based 3D
manufacturing company, may change
that. It has pioneered an alternative
means of 3D printing which uses
light and oxygen to rapidly produce
products from a pool of resin. Carbon’s
technology significantly increases
the speed of producing printed parts,
improves their quality and range
and reduces printing costs. These
improvements make it possible to use
3D printing for scale manufacturing
for the first time. Founded in 2013
by polymer chemist and professor
Joseph DeSimone, Carbon has an
impressive list of strategic partners,
including Adidas, Johnson & Johnson
and BMW. We believe that, with its
internet-connected machines and
innovative technology, Carbon has the
opportunity to disrupt the $12 trillion
manufacturing industry.
Industrial biotech has come to
prominence in recent years as the
desire to move away from hydrocarbon-
related to more ecologically sustainable
clothing materials gathers pace.
Bolt Threads is an apparel company at
the forefront of this upheaval. Its range
of protein-based high-performance
TRUSTNET
18 / 19
[ BAILLIE GIFFORD ]
Industrial biotech has come
to prominence in recent
years as the desire to move
away from hydrocarbon-
related to more ecologically
sustainable clothing
materials gathers pace
materials are based on synthesised
forms of naturally occurring fibres,
with spider’s silk its first commercially-
available material. It is now also
working on a mushroom protein-based
replacement for leather. The company
can genetically modify the protein
structures it recreates to enhance
certain desirable properties, such
as softness, strength and durability.
The management team is targeting
the much larger apparel market
rather than niche applications. Early
on it established a partnership with
Stella McCartney to explore how far
synthetically produced spider silk could
go in the higher reaches of ethically-
focused fashion.
The potential to produce synthetic
materials which act and feel like their
natural counterparts, but which can
be engineered to be stronger, more
durable and versatile is intuitively
attractive. Because Bolt Thread’s
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