University spin-out biotech company Holiferm has secured a £400,000 grant from a fund set up by Mersey Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to set up a Liverpool city region base. Tony McDonough reports
Biotech company Holiferm in setting up a base in Liverpool city region and plans to create up to 25 jobs.
Holiferm is an award-winning University of Manchester spin out biotech company. It has developed a way of producing biosurfactants – used in detergents and toiletries – using an environmentally-friendly process.
It has secured a £400,000 grant from the Liverpool City Region Inward Investment Facilitation Fund (I2F2). It is part of the £75m Business Growth Package introduced by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram
The firm already operates from a base in Manchester with a successful prototype version of the proposed plant. The project will scale up the activity with a larger pilot plant at Sci-Tech Daresbury followed by a fully commercial plant in Wirral, potentially creating 25 jobs.
Surfactants are a key ingredient in the manufacture of detergents and personal care products, but current mainstream products use primarily hydrocarbon or tropical oil-based surfactants.
Today environmentally-friendly products use a costly yeast-based batch fermentation process. Holiferm has developed an approach which allows this yeast-based approach to be carried out as a semi-continuous process.
Ben Dolman, founder and chief executive of Holiferm, said: “The intersection of world class talent, excellent raw material supply logistics, global players in the household and personal care markets, combined with both financial and operational support from the local region makes the Liverpool city region the best possible location for Holiferm to take its’ next steps.
“We are extremely grateful for the financial support and future thinking from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority which is enabling Holiferm to progress much more rapidly towards commercialisation of our biomanufacturing technology.”
I2F2 was set up to help improve the city region’s competitiveness in attracting inward investment from SMEs in projects boosting employment and productivity. Steve Rotheram added: “These are tough times for the country and our region, but we are doing everything we can to protect people’s jobs and businesses, while trying to attract and create new ones.
“Retaining as many businesses, jobs and investment as possible, while attracting new ones will be really important in helping our region recover from the economic effects of this pandemic, but we’re already making a start.”