Skip to main content
UploadLanguage (EN)Support
BusinessMobileSocial MediaMarketingTechnologyArt & PhotosCareerDesignEducationPresentations & Public SpeakingGovernment & NonprofitHealthcareInternetLawLeadership & ManagementAutomotiveEngineeringSoftwareRecruiting & HRRetailSalesServicesScienceSmall Business & EntrepreneurshipFoodEnvironmentEconomy & FinanceData & AnalyticsInvestor RelationsSportsSpiritualNews & PoliticsTravelSelf ImprovementReal EstateEntertainment & HumorHealth & MedicineDevices & HardwareLifestyle
Uploaded byHajeJanKamps
PDF, PPTX6,403 views

Pitch Deck Teardown - Aether

Aether is building a future of molecular manufacturing by designing molecular assemblers using proteins. Their proprietary platform can empirically test millions of protein-reaction combinations to build searchable indexes, enabling the identification of new reaction types. Aether has already identified protein leads for defluorination, antiviral manufacturing, and aramid polymerization. Their goal is to use these molecular assemblers to create novel product lines that address challenges like toxic forever chemicals in drinking water, developing new high-performance materials, and increasing domestic production of strategic metals. Aether is raising $49 million to deploy their first three product lines applying defluorination proteins, novel polymerases, and metal-binding proteins.

Business◦
Related topics:
Pitch Deck Insights• Sample Pitch Deck• Pitch Deck Teardown•
Download as PDF, PPTX
Confidential 2023 Aether
Confidential Imagine a future where anything can be built atom by atom 2
Confidential Aether is building this future by designing molecular assemblers 3 Modern molecular manufacturing is limited in the products that can be built Traditional scale-up is capex intensive, slow to scale and damaging to the environment Fixing this requires moving from brute force chemistry to precisely assembling products at the atomic scale
Confidential Biology gave us a start, but we need to push beyond what nature invented proteins are nanoscale machines that manufacture molecules from simple building blocks Current protein technologies are limited to catalyzing natural-like reactions This limits the use of proteins to applications where the final product or reaction is similar to what already exists in nature Natural molecules Current protein application space High value molecules Aether protein application space 4
Confidential We have to build searchable indexes of proteins 5 Every protein can catalyze thousands of diverse non-natural reactions However existing technologies test protein designs against only a few reactions at a time Building searchable indexes requires empirically testing millions of protein - reaction combinations
Confidential Aether is building these indexes with proprietary technology 6 Aether’s platform runs miniaturized enzymatic experiments on high density 1536 micro-plates to reduce per sample cost Acoustic and piezoelectric printers rapidly print thousands of different molecules in order to empirically test proteins at scale Reactions are spotted onto metal chips and ionized with UV lasers to maximize data rate per chip
Confidential Enabling our platform to generate datasets of unprecedented size and diversity 7 Ultra-High Throughput: >20,000 samples/day per laser, 20X faster than state of the art Hypothesis Free Data: Proprietary screening technology can detect over 10,000 different reactions per screen Scalability: Up to 10X lower per sample cost through miniaturization and at 50X lower CapEx than comparable tech
Confidential These indexes help Aether build molecular product lines with unique properties 8 Detoxifying our drinking water supply from harmful forever chemicals Synthesizing completely new materials with extraordinary strength to weight ratios Extracting high value metals from new sources accelerating the electrification of the global economy
Confidential Building these products requires overcoming 2 technological challenges 9 Reaction yield isn't optimized for scale Once the product can be made in small quantities, the protein yield must be boosted to industrially relevant conditions in order to manufacture the final product economically No catalyst for desired reaction class Creating novel molecular products requires identifying proteins catalyzing new reaction types that are either impractical or impossible via other conventional methods
Confidential Aether’s technology creates breakthrough solutions to both challenges PROTEIN INDEXING PROTEIN OPTIMIZATION 10 Aether’s multi-parametric optimization algorithms can rapidly improve newly identified reactions under industrially relevant conditions, enabling scale-up of new molecular products Aether can index proteins against over 1000X more molecules than conventional technologies, enabling rapid identification of new reaction types
Confidential We’ve only just started indexing and already identified new reaction types for 3 product lines 1 1 We’ve demonstrated the capability to screen over 30,000 molecules against individual proteins Over 1000X more functional labels per protein than state of the art screening technologies protein leads identified for defluorination, antiviral manufacturing, and aramid polymerization, all forming potential novel IP Aether’s Indexes enable the identification of new reaction types for unique product lines PROTEIN INDEXING PROTEIN OPTIMIZATION * new reaction type: patentable biocatalytic reaction between a specific protein and substrate(s) in which a specific type of bond change occurs
Confidential And we can optimize proteins to industrial spec in under 6 months protein identified during indexing chosen as starting point for optimization Algorithms combined with expert systems ran 15 iterations over 4 months, exceeding 6 month targets Demonstrated 64X product yield improvement and 190X enantioselectivity improvement in 4 months PROTEIN INDEXING PROTEIN OPTIMIZATION 12
Confidential Our go to market strategy is designed to address 3 main challenges 13 Disappointing economics at scale Long development time, incremental performance/lack of green premiums and small margins have plagued synbio products with disappointing economics when they finally reach the market Time and cost to design and deploy products Companies can spend 3+ years trying to develop new molecules and spend $15M or more before even attempting to scale manufacturing Identifying new molecular products Identifying new and interesting molecular products from the space of possible molecules can be like finding a needle in a haystack
Confidential We derisk our product lines by mining our indexes for novel and proprietary reactions 14 Aether simplifies searching for new molecular products by mining our indexes for novel reaction types on valuable molecular classes Every indexed reaction can be the foundation for novel IP owned by Aether Aether’s reaction-first approach reduces early product R&D risks and ensures sustainable competitive advantage
Confidential Our platform allows us to develop and derisk products rapidly, and at low cost 15 5+ product lines can be started per year Standardized expression system and biocatalysis (instead of fermentation) allow for fast and low risk process scale up Lower per-program costs and rapid timelines allow Aether to fail fast and rapidly iterate to new molecular products
Confidential And we focus on applications where we can capture the most value 16 High Impact: We only work on applications that can positively impact the lives of millions of human beings Differentiated Value: We filter applications by whether the product enables radically new properties, not marginal improvements to existing products Uniqueness: We only tackle programs where the final product is impossible without Aether’s proteins, enabling Aether to own more of the value generated Focusing on applications where our proteins are the key enabling factor will allow Aether to capture a large share of the value created
Confidential We’ve already started on 3 Aether product lines 1: Applying defluorination proteins to degrade forever chemical in our environment (soil and drinking water) 2: Applying novel polymerases to design and build decarbonized ultra-high performance materials with unprecedented properties 3: Applying novel metal binding proteins to extract high value metals from previously inaccessible sources Commercial strategy Potential total addressable market Co-develop with partners working on filtering and concentration of PFAS for municipal water utilities or in soil. This solution will enable them to finally provide a full solution to PFAS removal Develop a portfolio of minimum viable products to validate specs, then license products and manufacturing process to advanced materials manufacturers Develop and build pilot scale metal refineries to validate both low cost and generalizable metal extraction, then either license or vertically integrate depending on metal and margins. $40bn +$20bn $5bn Aether Product Lines 17
Confidential Perfluorinated molecules (PFAS) do not degrade in nature. They are present in almost all the drinking water globally, and PFAS exposure is associated with several types of cancer and autoimmune disorders 18 The only method to degrade PFAS today requires ultra-high pressures/temperatures, making it completely impractical for the drinking water supply Aether has developed the first novel proteins to degrade PFAS molecules efficiently and sustainably 1 With our novel defluorinating proteins, we will degrade toxic forever chemicals (PFAS) from our drinking water
Confidential High Complexity Polymers (HCPs) with 2+ monomers cannot be synthesized* with modern chemistry 19 * in any meaningful quantities, technically you could make ng level quantities with additive synthesis Additionally, current approaches are highly energy intensive with temperatures ranging from 0-400 ℃ for manufacturing polymers Aether is developing protein that would enable the manufacturing of HCPs with the potential for dramatically greater tensile strength and much better ballistic performance proteins would also enable the decarbonization of existing and future high performance polymers 2 With our novel aramidase proteins, we will design and build previously impossible high tech materials
Confidential 15% of global lithium reserves are locked in inaccessible brines in North America 20 Aether’s peptide technology could 30X domestic production of lithium. Aether is developing novel proteins that can bind to and mineralize lithium even at low concentrations with little to no pre-processing. This technology will enable the direct production of battery grade lithium from US based sources at industry beating cost. 3 With our novel metal binding proteins, we will dramatically increase the production of key strategic metals in the US, at competitive cost
Confidential Aether is creating a future built with molecular assemblers 21 Exec Summary Aether has built a platform to construct molecular assemblers using searchable indexes of proteins Aether’s proprietary platform is the first capable of building these indexes by testing millions of combinations of proteins and reactions Aether’s uses these molecular assemblers to create novel products
Confidential Aether is raising $49M to deploy its product lines 22 • Build out product line • Prototype Aether’s second generation technology • Build out Aether’s executive team
Confidential Thank You 23