#26 Synthetic Genomics
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- 21. Gilt Groupe
- 22. Indian Premier League
- 23. PatientsLikeMe
- 24. Grey New York
- 25. BMW Group Designworks USA
- 26. Synthetic Genomics
- 27. FiLife
- 28. Frito-Lay
- 29. Alibaba
- 30. MITRE
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- 31. HTC
- 32. Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- 33. Firstborn
- 34. Sportvision
- 35. Ideo
- 36. Samsung
- 37. Glam Media
- 38. Ngmoco
- 39. VNL
- 40. Aldi Süd
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- 41. Fast Retailing
- 42. Huayi Brothers
- 43. Athenahealth
- 44. MVRDV
- 45. Alstom
- 47. Good Guide
- 48. Microsoft
- 49. Politico
- 50. Twitter
Fuel-producing microbes long seemed more like a sci-fi pipe dream than a viable solution to the fossil-fuel crisis. Then, last summer, biologist Craig Venter's upstart company Synthetic Genomics announced a $600 million collaboration with ExxonMobil to engineer strains of super-algae capable of churning out huge quantities of biofuel. Exxon is placing a massive bet that Venter -- best known for his contributions to sequencing the human genome -- is also ahead of the curve in the energy sector. Full-scale commercial production of Venter's algal fuel is still years away, but there are plenty of reasons for optimism: Even wild-type algae can produce about 10 times more fuel per planted acre than conventional biofuel crops such as corn and canola. Once Venter adds genes that optimize the microbe's oil production, renewable fuel under $2 per gallon could be in the making.
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WHEN FOUNDED 2005 |
HEADQUARTERS La Jolla, CA |
CEO Craig Venter |
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 90 |
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Synthetic Genomics
total revenues for most recent fiscal year
Private
what the company is most famous for
Its founder Craig Venter, who decoded the human genome.
why it's innovative
The cutting-edge science out of this company includes a $600 million five-year deal with ExxonMobile to research fuel production from algae.
