NEW YORK, April 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TerraSafe Materials, Inc. (“TerraSafe” or the “Company”), the first portfolio company launched by Big Idea Venture’s Generation Food Rural Partners I, LP (“GFRP”) Fund, has executed a license agreement with North Carolina State University (“NC State”) to advance certain technologies that have the potential to enable the Company to pursue its goal to usher in a new era with biodegradable coatings and polymer alternatives for packaging applications.

TerraSafe is licensing multiple patent applications in the novel biomaterials space from NC State co-developed by Dr. Lokendra Pal, EJ Woody Rice Associate Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forest Biomaterials, Dr. Lucian Lucia, Professor in the Department of Forest Biomaterials and Chemistry, and Dr. Marian McCord, as well as a patent co-developed by Dr. Joel Pawlak, Associate Professor in the College of Natural Resources, and Dr. Richard Venditti, Elis-Signe Olsson Professor of Pulp and Paper Science and Engineering in the Department of Forest Biomaterials.

Scott Bolin, CEO of TerraSafe stated “The world is in desperate need of innovative solutions which reduce our dependence on plastics, which has been a research priority for NC State’s Forest Biomaterials Department in the College of Natural Resources (“CNR”) for many years. I’m pleased and excited to partner with NC State’s CNR again in bringing these needed technologies to the consumer.”

“True innovation is difficult to accomplish, let alone obtain. However, at NC State University, innovation plays a huge role in the research that many of their world-class professors create. Finding commercial solutions for our corporate and limited partners’ business needs has been made easier for our team to obtain by closely working with NC State. Their impressive breadth of technology especially in the areas of agriculture, food, and materials is exceptional.” stated Frank Klemens, Managing Director of the fund. “The support that we have received within this ecosystem has provided TerraSafe Materials an advantage to succeed. The fund looks forward to a long, fruitful relationship with NC State’s team of professional innovators for many years to come.”

“It has been great working with Frank Klemens (GFRP), and we are excited to see Scott Bolin and TerraSafe advancing the field of sustainable packaging to help solve some important global challenges,” stated Kultaran Chohan, Executive Director with the Office of Research Commercialization at NC State.

About TerraSafe Materials
TerraSafe Materials, Inc. is a material science company developing new materials, coatings, and applications for truly sustainable packaging. We specialize in the development of biopolymer compounds to displace traditional petroleum based packaging. As the first company formed within BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners (GFRP) Fund, TerraSafe Materials licenses intellectual property from multiple universities collaborating to develop novel materials to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the environment. For more information, visit www.terrasafematerials.com.

About Generation Food Rural Partners
Generation Food Rural Partners (“GFRP” or the “Fund”) is a RBIC-licensed investment fund designed to drive economic growth and development in rural communities in the US. The Fund invests in the areas of agriculture, food, and protein technologies to form new companies based on intellectual property, creating living wage jobs at its portfolio companies. GFRP is backed by members of the Farm Credit System, including Farm Credit Services of America, CoBank, Compeer Financial and Mid-America Farm Credit. GFRP is a part of Big Idea Ventures (“BIV”), the world’s most active investor in FoodTech, investing in the best food technology and AgriTech companies globally. BIV has teams in New York, Paris and Singapore and has invested in more than 100 companies across 30 countries and manages the Global Food Innovation family of funds and GFRP. For more information, visit www.bigideaventures.com/generation-food-rural-partners.

About North Carolina State University
NC State is a pre-eminent teaching and research enterprise that excels across disciplines and contributes more than $6.5 billion annually to North Carolina’s economy. More than 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students learn by doing — pursuing original research, starting new companies, forging connections with top employers, and serving local and global communities. NC State’s 9,000 faculty and staff are world leaders in their fields, bridging the divide between academic disciplines and training high-caliber students to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Together, they build powerful partnerships with government, industry, nonprofits and academia to remake our world for the better. For more information, visit www.ncsu.edu.

Media Contacts

TerraSafe Materials, Inc. | Scott Bolin | scott@terrasafematerials.com

NC State University | Vicky Earp | vaearp@ncsu.edu | (919) 513-1312

Big Idea Ventures | Olivia Chavassieu | olivia.chavassieu@bigideaventures.com |
+33 7 49 63 40 80