Scaling AI models requires massive amounts of hardware and electricity, generating waste heat and contaminated water. Biology can help. We’re looking for entrepreneurs to build at the unique intersection of biotechnology and data infrastructures.
Where we are:
We are in the midst of an AI revolution, with rapid advancements in machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and robotics transforming industries from healthcare to finance to recycling. While there is increasing appreciation of the significant energy demands of these AI tools—training a single large scale model consumes around 1,300 megawatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 130 U.S. homes for a year—AI adoption also places immense strain on the underlying digital infrastructure. On the network side, high-throughput, low-latency optical fiber networks must expand to support the rapid data transfer requirements of distributed training and edge inference. Within data centers, facilities must integrate more specialized hardware, memory, and storage technologies optimized for AI workloads. These compute nodes must be housed in data centers designed with not only peak performance in mind, but also energy efficiency and thermal management beyond traditional standards. Liquid and immersion cooling systems, direct-to-chip cooling plates, adaptive airflow management, and advanced power distribution architectures are becoming necessary to dissipate heat and prevent performance throttling.
Addressing these escalating resource demands is critical to enabling the continued growth of AI, and achieving this will require a holistic approach that goes beyond algorithmic efficiency and addresses all opportunities for innovation in materials and waste management systems.
Where we could go:
We believe in the transformative power of biology. Today, biotechnologies are pushing beyond the boundaries of medicine and agriculture, addressing diverse “hard tech” challenges as well. Bio-enabled solutions are making their way to market in mining, advanced materials, waste remediation, and renewable energy - why not for our digital infrastructure?
Biological materials and systems offer radical opportunities to rethink manufacturing and waste management: self-assembling, programmable biological materials with thermal conductivity, anti corrosion, and other valuable properties. Biotech-driven solutions can be integrated with existing hardware to surpass limitations by breaking traditional silicon boundaries through precision, adaptability, and efficiency.
We are looking for visionary entrepreneurs with bold ideas for addressing the challenges limiting the performance and efficacy of digital infrastructure. Areas of particular interest include (but are not limited to):
Thermal Management and Energy Efficiency:
Enzymes or engineered proteins could be incorporated into cooling systems or fluids to improve their thermal conductivity or reduce corrosion. These biologically optimized fluids might reduce the energy overhead of refrigeration and improve the overall efficiency of thermal management systems. Developing novel bio-based coolants or other sustainable, high-performance materials to improve the thermal management and energy efficiency (less water, less power) of digital infrastructure are all on the table.W
Waste and Wastewater Treatment:
The semiconductor wastewater treatment market was valued at $2.5B in 2023. Innovative, biologically-inspired solutions to manage and mitigate the environmental impact of both semiconductor manufacturing processes and data center operations have great potential.
Semiconductor Fabrication and Integration:
Innovating approaches that mimic or leverage biological processes to enable precise nanostructure fabrication offer an intriguing opportunity. Emerging techniques include “biotemplating” approaches—using DNA, proteins, or viruses as templates to guide semiconductor nanostructure assembly with atomic precision; microbial synthesis and assembly that engineers microorganisms to produce semiconductor nanoparticles through biomineralization processes; enzymatic processes that catalyze conductive substrate formation under ambient conditions; and the development of biodegradable electronics to reduce electronic waste. By harnessing the precision of biological processes, these methods can offer a transformative approach to semiconductor manufacturing.
Intelligent Sensor Systems and Cell/Semiconductor Interfaces:
Intelligent sensor systems showcase strong growth potential as sensing needs proliferate across healthcare, environmental monitoring, and advanced manufacturing. By creating interfaces that integrate living cells and semiconductors, these advanced systems offer transformative capabilities for sensing, communication, and actuation, with enhanced dynamic range and multi-modal capabilities. In applications such as medical diagnostics or environmental detection, these biotechnological solutions offer a level of adaptability and functionality that can outpace traditional silicon-based counterparts.
Biology is uniquely positioned to influence some of the most material-intensive and energy-hungry aspects of our digital infrastructure—Ferment’s goal is to catalyze ventures that can thrive at this frontier.
Data center operations generate enormous amounts of heat that limit performance and throttle scaling. Novel bio-enabled materials and coolants can improve thermal efficiency.
Semiconductor manufacturing and data center wastewater require specialized treatment. Biology offers unique opportunities in improving wastewater treatment.
Nanofabrication, biotemplating, renewable chemicals manufacturing, and advanced programmable materials offer new opportunities for semiconductors and beyond.
Bio-based sensors offer high sensitivity, dynamic range, and broad multi-modal capabilities across a range of applications, enhancing data collection and real time monitoring.
Selected applicants will be invited to join the Ferment Studio as an Entrepreneur in Residence for a three-month cycle of work to design a Venture-fundable business. Together, we will provide resources, strategy development processes, and a collaborative network of advisors and potential partners to help your business idea scale and succeed. We typically commit $50,000 for this first design phase and up to $3M in subsequent seed funding. Ferment’s companies are:
Relentlessly product focused:
Ferment companies are commercially agile, typically sprinting to initial revenue generation in under 2.5 years. Our company leaders seek out the fastest paths to market, with an intimate understanding of their customers’ needs
Bio-enabled, not bio-exclusive:
Customers buy products that provide compelling solutions to their problems, they don’t buy technology. Biology can be a powerful enabler within a product development process, and often works best when paired or integrated with other technologies.
Ready to launch in mature industries:
Our companies often operate within complex industries and need to work with the existing value chain rather than against it. We seek out opportunities with manageable regulatory or other constraints.
Spend money on what matters:
Ferment companies stretch their funding through smart utilization of external and pre-existing resources, including technology providers and toll manufacturers. We spend money on developing products, commercial partnerships and IP, not on wet lab infrastructure or stainless steel tanks.
Is this you? We look forward to building the future together.
We have the capacity to create everything we need to flourish – from food to medicine to new materials. As we adapt biology with compassion and care, the future is waiting to be written.
Let’s grow a new world together.
We have the capacity to create everything we need to flourish – from food to medicine to new materials. As we adapt biology with compassion and care, the future is waiting to be written.
Let’s grow a new world together.
