Cherrystone brings investment in Mass. biotech firm to $1M

CHERRYSTONE ANGEL Group this week said it has closed on a follow-on round with Kalion in Milton, Mass. / COURTESY KALION
CHERRYSTONE ANGEL Group this week said it has closed on a follow-on round with Kalion in Milton, Mass. / COURTESY KALION

PROVIDENCE – Cherrystone Angel Group this week said it has closed on a follow-on round with Kalion Inc., bringing its total investment in the industrial biotech company to $1 million.

Cherrystone made its initial investment into the Milton, Mass.-based company in January 2014. The investor group said it invested its third round with the company to help it formalize partner relationships, along with other purposes.

Kalion provides low-cost access to high-purity glucaric acid using traditional, green, fermentation technology, according to a news release from Cherrystone.

Glucaric acid is used in fibers, coatings and detergents. Offering a low-cost access to this fundamental molecule provides product manufacturers a competitive advantage in the detergent, diaper, paint and nylon industries, to name a few, the release said. The technology was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and licensed by Kalion four years ago.

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“[Kalion’s] success to date in manufacturing high-purity glucaric acid has been the key to creating building blocks which are economically useful in many industries as Kalion’s strategic partners are now learning,” Robert Miniutti, Cherrystone’s board representative to the company, said in a statement.

Darcy Prather, president of Kalion, said that Kalion has been fortunate to have Cherrystone as its lead investor.
“This investment will allow us to accelerate the commercialization of our technology,” Prather said.

Cherrystone made previous investments ranging from $300,000 and $350,000 in the company, the series seed round in January 2014 and series A-1 round in March 2015, as well as in the most recent round, series A-2.

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