30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials

Renewable chemicals developer Genomatica took the No. 1 spot in the Biofuels Digest 2011-12 "30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials" rankings. This is the first annual poll focused on renewable chemicals.

Solazyme was No. 2 and Amyris, Gevo, LS9, Dupont, Codexis, Genencor, Novozymes and ZeaChem round out the top 10. The top 30 list is shown below.

The rankings, which recognize innovation and achievement in renewable chemicals and materials development, are based 33 percent on votes from a 58-member panel of invited international selectors, 33 percent on votes from members of the Biofuels Digest online community, and 33 percent from Biofuels Digest subscribers.

Amyris ranked No. 1 in the international selector poll, Genomatica ranked No. 1 in the Digest online community poll, and Solazyme ranked No. 1 in the subscriber poll. Overall, more than 120 companies received votes in the polling.

Seven companies that have completed or filed IPOs in the past 18 months appeared in the rankings, dominating the voting overall: Solazyme (No. 2), Amyris (No. 3), Gevo (No. 4), Codexis (No. 7), Ceres (No. 14), Myriant (No. 21) and KiOR (No. 24). The high rankings achieved by Genomatica and LS9 are sure to renew speculation about the timing of IPOs for those companies.

Among the Hot 30, seven companies are specializing in renewable chemicals and materials, nine companies represented industry suppliers and strategic investors, and 14 represent integrated biorefineries making chemicals, materials and fuels. Twenty-five were primarily US-based companies and five were from other countries. Twenty-three companies also are ranked in the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2010-11.

Among the pure-plays in renewable chemicals and materials are Genomatica (No. 1), Elevance Renewable Sciences (No. 15), OPX Biotechnologies (No. 19), Myriant (No. 21), and Metabolix (No. 29).

New to Digest rankings with this poll are: Genomatica, Elevance, Dupont, OPX Biotechnologies, Myriant, Braskem, Metabolix, Dow Chemical and DSM.

Among companies that ranked in the top 30 for at least one, but not the combined poll, were: HCL Cleantech, Qteros, Joule Unlimited, BlueFire Renewables, Verenium, Chemtex, Petrobras and Chevron.

“The readers, community members and invited selectors have spoken,” said Digest editor Jim Lane, which inaugurated the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy rankings in 2008. “The voting always creates a lively conversation about deserving companies that missed out. As we have seen in the Hot 50 polls, the heavy voting for well-known brands suggests that, in the final analysis, companies have to achieve visibility as well as credibility to win voter support.”