Solugen

Climate tech / biobased chemicalsUSA

New to Unitard

✂️ Markdown

Peak $2 BillionToday

~-70%

from peak

🦄
Became a unicorn
Sep 2021
📈
Peak valuation
$2 Billion ’22
💔
Became a Unitard
2024
💸
Last valuation
~$600M

Current status

Private; developing its Bioforge Marshall plant in Minnesota beside ADM’s corn-processing complex, which received a DOE conditional loan-guarantee commitment in June 2024

The rise & fall

9 moments · 2016–2026

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2016

Founded in Houston by Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt

The pair design enzymes that turn corn sugar into hydrogen peroxide and organic acids normally made from petroleum.

InnovationMap

Sep 9 ’21

Joins the unicorn club: $357M Series C$1.8B

GIC and Baillie Gifford lead at a $1.5B pre-money valuation (above $1.8B after the round, per CNBC), with Temasek, BlackRock affiliates, Refactor and Fifty Years.

InnovationMap

Oct 28 ’22

The peak: Series D of over $200M at over $2B$2B

Lowercarbon Capital leads; Kinnevik puts in $50M. The money is for a Bioforge plant in Minnesota three times the size of the Houston flagship.

ImpactAlpha

Dec 31 ’22

BlackRock fund marks Solugen at its high

BlackRock Science & Technology Trust values its 269,284 shares at $40.70 each, up from $37.14 after the Series C.

SEC NPORT-P

Apr 12 ’24

Ground broken on Bioforge Marshall

The 120-kilotonne plant sits beside ADM's corn-processing complex in Marshall, Minnesota; Solugen targets operation in fall 2025.

MPR News

Jun 2024

$213.6M DOE loan-guarantee commitment

The Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office offers a conditional commitment for the Marshall plant; it must clear due diligence before any funding.

Marshall Independent

Sep 30 ’24

BlackRock's mark implies under $1B — joins the Unitard Club 💔$899M

The trust cuts its Solugen mark to $18.29 a share from $29.80 a quarter earlier, 55% below the Series D-era mark.

SEC NPORT-P

Mar 31 ’26

Mark falls to $12.34 a share, 70% below the peak$606M

The latest filed mark from BlackRock Science & Technology Trust, the only public mutual-fund holder, values the stake at $3.3M.

SEC NPORT-P

2024–26

From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2024–26

Glassdoor ratings averaged about 4.9 through 2023, then dropped to 2.0 in 2024. Reviewers from 2024 on described repeated layoffs and frequently shifting priorities as the business focus changed, while many praised their colleagues.

Today

Still private — the funds keep marking

BlackRock Science & Technology Trust marks it at $12.34/share · -70% from its peak mark · as of Mar 2026

SEC NPORT-P

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Solugen, founded in Houston in 2016 by Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt, uses engineered enzymes to turn corn sugar into chemicals normally made from petroleum. A $357M Series C led by GIC and Baillie Gifford made it a unicorn in September 2021.

In October 2022 Lowercarbon Capital led a Series D of over $200M at a valuation of over $2B, ImpactAlpha reported. The money went toward a Bioforge plant in Marshall, Minnesota, which won a $213.6M conditional Energy Department loan-guarantee commitment in 2024.

Filings from Solugen's one public mutual-fund holder, BlackRock Science & Technology Trust, show it valued its shares about 70% below the Series D-era price by March 2026. No down round has been announced.

Mutual-fund markdowns

2 funds · SEC NPORT-P

How U.S. mutual funds fair-value this still-private company in their quarterly SEC filings.

Per-share mark from peak

-70%

BlackRock Science & Technology Trust

$40.70 → $12.34

as of Mar 2026

Fund	Class	$/sh	From peak	As of
BlackRock Science & Technology Trust		$12.34	-70%	Mar 2026
BlackRock Science and Technology Trust		$36.85	-1%	Dec 2021

Source: SEC EDGAR Form NPORT-P (Level-3 fair-value marks). Per-share marks reflect the fund’s own valuation of a specific share class and aren’t a company-wide valuation. Last refreshed Oct 2026.

Source: ImpactAlpha (Oct 28, 2022): Series D of over $200M at over $2B, led by Lowercarbon Capital, with Kinnevik ($50M), Temasek, Baillie Gifford, Fifty Years and Refactor. InnovationMap (Sept 10, 2021): $357M Series C led by GIC and Baillie Gifford at $1.5B pre-money; CNBC (Sept 9, 2021, via search snippet): valuation above $1.8B. SEC NPORT-P (single holder): BlackRock Science & Technology Trust marked its 269,284 Solugen shares (count unchanged since 2021) at $37.14 (Sept 2021), $40.70 (Sept and Dec 2022, Series D era) and $12.34 (Mar 31, 2026), 70% below the Series D-era mark; the mark first implied under $1B at $18.29 (Sept 2024). No priced down round or layoffs reported by press. MPR News (Apr 12, 2024): Bioforge Marshall groundbreaking, operation targeted for fall 2025; Marshall Independent (June 13, 2024): $213.6M DOE conditional commitment, not yet final.