Page 18 - CEMS News Winter 2021

ALUMNI NEWS
Investment ensures growth at Sironix
Christoph Krumm (PhD ChE ’16), CEO and co-founder of Sironix Renewables, scales production of new, sustainable technologies.
Sironix Renewables, a Seattle-based startup company co-founded by Christoph Krumm (PhD ChE ’16), developing non-toxic, sustainably-sourced ingredients for the cleaning products and personal care industries, recently announced the close of an over-subscribed seed funding round. The round of $645,000 included funding from the University of Minnesota Discovery Capital Investment program and from angel investors. Additionally, Sironix also announced it has been awarded a $1.15 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office.
Sironix will use this new funding to scale production at its Seattle facility of its Eosix® technology that delivers enhanced performance, reduces petroleum use and solves regulatory and possible health concerns faced by traditional surfactant ingredients.
The company’s plant-based products replace petroleum- based ingredients in shampoos, detergents and cleaners and have additional applications ranging from personal care and cosmetics to agriculture, paints, inks and
other coatings. The products also offer a safe option for avoiding the likely carcinogenic contaminant called 1,4-dioxane found in some cleaners and personal care products that has faced recent regulatory restrictions in New York and California. Sironix surfactants not only deliver improved performance over the affected ingredients but are also 100 percent free from 1,4-dioxane.
“Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainability and safety from the products they purchase, but don’t want to sacrifice on performance or pay a premium. Our Eosix® technology checks the box on all of these requirements,” said CEO Christoph Krumm. “The continued support of our funding sources, including the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Energy, is a testament to the incredible work that the Sironix team and its many partners have accomplished over the past four years as well as the confidence they have in our team’s ability to achieve our vision.”
CEMS alumnus Christoph Krumm is leading Sironix Renewables to new levels of growth as the start-up company receives investments to scale sustainably-sourced ingredients for cleaning products.
Excerpt from news release written by John Williams, Scoville PR for Sironix.
18 www.cems.umn.edu