We are thrilled to announce our investment in BluumBio, a San Francisco-based startup, alongside Day One Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, Pareta Ventures, Hawktail, Olive Tree, and Ethan Perlstein. Bluumbio provides bio-based technologies that rapidly clean soil, air, and water.

The Bio-Revolution has Begun

Electric utilities, oil refineries, and chemical plants produce an estimated 7.6 billions of gallons of wastewater each year, threatening human and ecosystem health. In the agriculture industry, toxic levels of contaminants from fertilizers pollute groundwater. Finding technologies capable of cleaning up contaminated water and soil wastewater is difficult, and the few technologies that already exist are expensive. BluumBio’s enzyme platform involves bioengineering bacteria and plants to degrade toxic chemicals using enzyme discovery, enzyme optimization and end-host engineering. Their enzymes are able to break down five industry-heavy contaminants to date: Petroleum hydrocarbons, PCBs, PFAs, Heavy Metals and Microplastics and are less costly and resource-intensive, quicker and more environmentally friendly.

The Team Behind BluumBio

As an avid environmentalist, Katherine French combined her passion for sustainability with her commitment for bioinnovation to establish BluumBio. She completed her PhD in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2016 and two postdocs at UC Berkeley, during which time she published over a dozen scientific papers and received grants from governmental, charitable, and industrial sources to support her research. She has also received a number of awards recognizing her research, including the prestigious British Marshall Scholarship.

She is joined by other experts in the field such as Drew Hendrickson, Azion White and Jordan Baker.

The Investment

With numerous market drivers, an esteemed team, and a uniquely diverse contaminant portfolio, Bluumbio is well positioned to scale in the coming years.

We are participating in Bluumbio’s Pre-Seed Round at a valuation of $12M post-money. Plug and Play Ventures is thrilled to support Katherine and the rest of the Bluumbio team in their mission to save our planet by eliminating persistent contaminants from the environment. Welcome to the Plug and Play Family!