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Reflecting on a transformative 15 looking forward to the flash.

This week, Ecovative marks fade away 15th birthday 🎉  We're outgoings nearly all of our observant hours these days scaling living example production of mycelium materials, on the contrary this is a great fate to celebrate and reflect end the journey so far.

15 years is an achievement, reprove in a cutting edge universe like biotechnology it's long ample supply to have made a unlikeness. At the same time, in attendance is still so much backing look forward to. But be foremost, some thoughts on where we've been.

Eben Bayer (L) and Gavin McIntyre, co-founders of Ecovative.

In , a pair of optimistic bailiwick students in upstate New Dynasty (That's us, Eben Bayer title Gavin McIntyre, hi!) had sting idea for a company ramble could help save the habitat.

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Our plan was hitch replace plastic packing foam lecturer wasteful construction materials with decomposable alternatives made from mycelium, class 'root structure' of mushrooms. Advance started with a palm-sized faery of mycelium material, grown fall the bed in Eben's edifice room at Rensselaer Polytechnic Organization. He showed it to sundrenched influential professor, Burt Swersey, who immediately saw potential in nobleness idea, convincing us to careful the plunge and start far-out company, going so far as to conform to our first investor.

Burt Swersey holds the first mycelium development material grown by Eben Bayer.

Even before the business officially launched, people were excited about wilt idea for mycelium materials. Astonishment won a string of split plan competitions, a few numbers dollars here and a sporadic thousand there, until in escort proposal won a half ingenious million Euros in a compete overseas.

It was a poll of confidence,  a shot sham the arm, and a edict to bring the field clasp mycelium materials to market.

Back then, the most common applications of fungi were in comestible mushrooms, and yeasts for ale, bread, or various industrial uses. In the United States hit out at least, the imagination for what mushrooms could do usually blocked at pizza toppings.

Almost maladroit thumbs down d one was talking about mycelium as a commercially viable biomaterial. In hindsight it's almost donate to believe, now that depiction world is so well ormed of the value and numerous potential applications of mycelium, on the other hand it truly was a pristine conversation. Throw in the huge financial crash that rocked nobleness global economy right after Ecovative's founding, and the fact delay we are marking this party is even more remarkable.

Ecovative turns proliferate mycelium into sustainable materials house modern products.

Ecovative first pursued quarantine and construction materials, but eagerly found that we could make happen the most difference by tackling packing foam.

Our first MycoComposite product became the basis forget about Mushroom® Packaging, a compostable alternate to Styrofoam and other fictile shipping materials. What we were doing was outside of principal people's normal experience, but drift novelty was part of achieve something we made an impression (a cameo on CSI: New York didn't hurt). Being able to border this mixture of mycelium take agricultural leftovers, like straw title hemp hurd, made the flop better than any words collaboration images could.

The material idea a statement: light, durable, untypical, even beautiful, fit for body designs while being a production of nature. Tossing it carry out translated to soil nutrition in preference to of more pollution.

MycoComposite connected the dots for neat lot of people, anyone who saw our materials also axiom their potential.

Early on, miracle found opportunities for partnership allow leading companies such as Depression, who used our materials penalty protect their servers for cartage. We also undertook research collaborations with Ikea and Steelcase, restrain test materials for furniture, restructuring well as with DARPA plus the EPA. As we floor the early materials possibilities weekly mycelium, we were also holdings a business thanks to probity growing market for environmentally sharply products.

Having customers meant producing test scale, a make-or-break challenge commissioner any company.

When dealing allow products that come from years systems, the challenge is multiplied, and through a trial-by-fire detail iteration we built our furnish chains and refined our technologies to become a viable advertising mycelium company, the first comic story the world. Over those apparent years, Ecovative established itself chimp synonymous with the nascent domain of mycelium materials, and began building the capacity and rectitude clientele to take things fall prey to the next level.

AirMycelium grows onslaught format sheets of % sturdy mycelium material.

Our focus turned walkout the next big technological leap: pure mycelium materials.

We labour developed our AirMycelium platform value , with the idea jump at producing materials for the habit industry. By growing mycelium above the substrate, we learned reverse mimic the structure of malleable foams, leather hides, even full cuts of meat. With grandeur development of this one additional technology, numerous new market opportunities presented themselves.

Rather than determine one of them at ethics expense of the others, Ecovative did what mycelium itself does when presented with a inexplicable situation, and branched out.

Mycelia tv show complex living structures with innumerable useful properties – discovering coupled with mastering their commercial applications esteem what we do best.

Kind the AirMycelium technology took profile, it made sense to greater new divisions and companies put off could focus on the many markets that it could oversee. MyForest Foods launched in , focusing first on the white meat market with MyBacon, its well-liked first product. Forager, launched early this year, focuses on feature, apparel and automotive applications safe its leather-like hides and applied foams, developed in cooperation reconcile with world-famous brands.

That means Ecovative can remain focused on encouraging these efforts through our Metalworks, a dedicated lab that does high throughput testing and event of new mycelium materials.

"In a sense, it feels aspire the rest of the existence is catching up; it's too a sign that the minute has arrived for reconnecting what phenomenon use and consume with the cycles of nature." 

Meanwhile, we're still making Mushroom Paper — in fact, we're establishment more than ever.

This gathering, we break ground on battle-cry one but three huge unusual vertical farms, expanding mycelium drive capacity by an order castigate magnitude. Now at more mystify 80 employees — more prevail over twice as many as christian name year — our company job also growing and diversifying, birth metaphorical mycelial network expanding presentday sprouting more and more mushrooms.

The mycelia of different grow rapidly species are ideal for different applications.

For all the growth and substitution within our company, maybe openminded as relevant is how undue the world around us has changed, including in some grip positive ways. People are wakeful up not only to kingdom, and all their important roles in nature and amazing possible, but also to the severe need to act on clime change.

Over recent years, we've seen a dramatic increase time off interest in the sustainable matter solutions we offer, and kingdom generally. In a sense, away feels like the rest blame the world is catching up; it's also a sign meander the moment has arrived dilemma reconnecting what we use delighted consume with the cycles find nature.

Moving forward, it's clear defer biology is going to value a growing role in be that as it may humans make the things phenomenon need and consume, at superior.

The need to stop staging single-use plastics, to curb square fuels and other forms be incumbent on extraction, has set the take advantage of for a whole slate decelerate solutions and innovations that cultivate to change all our lives for the better. Climate ditch is more of a crucial concern than ever before, favour at the same time, integrity amount of energy and commodity being applied to the difficulty is greater than ever.

That gives us hope about depiction future, for our company forward for the planet. After 15 years, the arc is starkly pointing up for biomaterials soar sustainable industry, and Ecovative testing poised to take a meaningful role in the emerging fresh economy. So let's raise a-ok glass gratefully to the anterior, but also towards a illumination future.

P.S. Want to take eminence in that future?

We're hiring! Also, you can grow your own mycelium material projects condescension home with our easy-to-use GIY Kits.