Pure Molecules
A Cleaner Future.
Unlocking High-Value Markets Through Biological Precision
VIA is developing highly purified, biosourced m-Cresol that competes on performance, not just a green premium. Our yeast fermentation process naturally excludes p-Cresol, bypassing a separation bottleneck that plagues traditional refining. This extreme purity directly serves exacting industries like semiconductor manufacturing and injectable pharmaceuticals. Proving our economics in these specialized sectors builds the foundation to scale into producing plastics, apparel fibers, and SAF.
Three Molecules
Made From Sugar
VIA has three yeast strains. Each strain turns sugars into one molecule: HMBA, m-Cresol or 3-MA. HMBA can also be converted to m-Cresol outside the yeast, with an enzyme or by chemistry.
The strains grow on 1G sugars today, from food crops. 2G sugars, from crop residues and non-food plants, and 3G sugars, from sargassum seaweed, are the next feedstocks.
VIA's first markets
Pure m-Cresol for Injectable Drugs and Semiconductor Manufacturing
Makers who start from coal tar or petroleum get m-Cresol mixed with p-Cresol. The two boil 0.3 °C apart, so separating them takes a distillation with more than 100 separation stages. In VIA's process only m-Cresol forms, so there is no p-Cresol to separate out.
Makers of injectable drugs and of photoresist materials for semiconductor manufacturing both need highly purified m-Cresol.
- m-Cresol is a preservative that stops microbes from growing in multi-dose injectable drugs, including insulin.
- 48 US injectable drugs list m-Cresol as an ingredient on their labels.
- The United States Pharmacopeia and the European Pharmacopoeia set limits for m-Cresol's purity, metals and organic impurities, so lower grades cannot be used in these drugs.
- Resin makers react m-Cresol and p-Cresol with formaldehyde to make novolac resin. Photoresist makers mix that resin with a light-sensitive compound to make a coating, and chip plants use the coating to print circuit patterns.
- Metals and halides in the resin affect the yield and reliability of the finished chips.
The US Supply of m-Cresol
The only US source of MC99, the lowest grade of purified m-Cresol, closed down in 2025. No plant in the United States makes purified m-Cresol of any grade today. VIA operates in the United States and plans to supply US buyers with higher grades of m-Cresol in place of MC99. VIA is focused on highly purified m-Cresol for injectable drugs and for the photoresist process in semiconductor manufacturing.
VIA's next market
Nylon, Polyester and PET
VIA plans to convert m-Cresol and 3-MA into toluene, one of the BTX aromatics (benzene, toluene and xylenes).
Chemical makers use established reactions to convert toluene into nylon 6, by way of benzoic acid and caprolactam. They also convert toluene into paraxylene, and paraxylene into terephthalic acid, the main ingredient of polyester fiber and PET packaging resin.
VIA's Production Patents
VIA owns its production patents outright. Two granted US patents, US 9,637,763 and US 10,215,381, cover the production of aromatic molecules in engineered yeast and other host organisms. The same patent family is granted in 14 other countries and the European Patent region.
Meet the Team
Lewis J. Dutel
Chief Executive Officer
28 years in oil and gas. Led the negotiations that gave VIA its production patents.
Brett Schreyer, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Chemical engineering PhD, UConn. Previously at four biotechnology companies.
Will Kushner
Chief Investment Officer
Leads commercial contracts and the next stage of investment.
Preethi Sathanantham, PhD
Senior Scientist
Synthetic biology PhD, Virginia Tech. Yeast and fungal strain engineering.
Sierra Brooks, PhD
SOSV Senior Scientist
Invests in deep tech startups in human and planetary health at SOSV in San Francisco.