hen John Melo decided to leave BP 14 years ago to join synthetic biology company Amyris, it was set to be the next big thing in biofuels. But the idea only made sense with oil at $100 a barrel, and when those prices fell it didn’t pan out as he thought. “I had no grays, I had no scars, I was a bit naive,” recalls Melo, who was recruited to the CEO spot by venture capitalist John Doerr.
of $173 million, up 13% from the previous year, though it has continued to lose money, with an adjusted net loss of $151 million. Amyris has said it expects 2021 revenue of around $400 million. “We have been moving to the consumer very, very rapidly,” Melo says. In 2019, less than 20% of the business was in consumer brands; this year, by contrast, Melo says that more than half of revenue will come from them. “We expect our consumer business to keep doubling every year for the foreseeable future,” he says. “The consumer side will be somewhere around $130 million this year. That’s off last year being $52 million. It’s a fun place to be.
Amyris is interesting because it’s building a portfolio of different brands that rely on its bioengineering, and because it can use the income it gets from molecules to invest in its own brands, which, as Melo notes, offer higher profit margins than selling ingredients. “I think of the science platform as the golden goose,” he says. “We are going to keep monetizing those molecules and using it to fund the brands.
this is terrible news