More on the bio front. Dispersa, a great company who attracted a lot of buzz at the last World Surfactants Conference in NJ, has raised a chunk of new equity to fuel their growth.  They closed a $5.8 million CAD round of seed funding. The round was led by Nàdarra Ventures and backed by a consortium of all-Canadian investors, eh, including new investors BDC Thrive Lab, Cycle Momentum, The 51 Food & AgTech Fund and Fonds d'investissement Eurêka, through Hidden Layers Capital. This round also saw participation from existing investors, including Good & Well, Dragonfly Ventures, BoxOne Ventures, and Front Row Ventures. So that’s cool. The PR goes on to say that

Dispersa's proprietary technology, BioEterna^®, combines synthetic biology and precision fermentation to create surfactants from waste oils and sugars. And they claim that PuraSurf^® M is the world's first fully waste-derived biosurfactant. Kudos to them and much success.

Many consumers globally have an average of 3-5 detergent bottles in their household [Western world most likely], and more than half are unsure of how much to dose [I dunno – just fill the cap right?]. Henkel aims to take the guesswork out of the equation with smart dosing. As a first step, Henkel is announcing two new smart detergent dosing devices that can be used in existing laundry and dishwashing appliances.

• Somat Smartwash: The world's first smart detergent dosing device that automatically senses dishwasher parameters to determine the right dose of detergent and additives at the right time needed to deliver all-in-one optimal results over months.

• Persil Smartwash: A groundbreaking laundry solution that autonomously senses washing machine parameters and automatically doses the right amount of detergent at the right time in the wash cycle for the best stain removal and fabric freshness.