NEW ORLEANS, LA. & BAINBRIDGE, GA. – Advantage Capital today announced a $6.5 million investment in Danimer Scientific, a leading biotechnology company producing biodegradable and compostable polymers used in consumer and industrial products. The investment was made through the GARJA program and supports the company's anticipated growth as it seeks to boost capacity and significantly increase its workforce at its Bainbridge, GA location over the next few years.
Bainbridge, with a population just north of 12,000, faces many of the same challenges confronting towns, businesses and residents across Georgia's rural areas. The loss of both residents and jobs looms large. And as many rural communities are still struggling to recover from the 2008-2009 recession, barriers to investment capital make it difficult for rural businesses to compete, expand, and create good quality jobs.
The investment in Danimer, currently one of the largest employers in the region, will enable the company to increase production capacity which will require many new employees, most hired from the surrounding area. Three-fourths of the company's anticipated new jobs will be accessible to those with a high school degree or equivalent, helping to grow the local work force. The company also provides specialized training programs, helping to close any local skills gaps and ready employees for upward growth and mobility.
The Danimer investment is Advantage Capital's first investment through the GARJA program, which was designed to bring private capital to rural Georgia, helping businesses like Danimer secure the financing they need to grow. The GARJA capital served to anchor a larger $11 million cumulative financing, with the balance provided by an affiliate of People Incorporated of Virginia, a community action agency serving the southeast United States.
Advantage Capital provides financing to established and emerging companies located in communities underserved by conventional sources of capital. Since 1992, the firm has invested more than $2.6 billion in companies from a diverse array of industry sectors and has helped support more than 48,000 jobs. Learn more at www.advantagecap.com, or via Twitter or LinkedIn.
Danimer Scientific is a pioneer in creating more sustainable, more natural ways to make plastic products. Danimer Scientific's Nodax™ PHA possesses seven TUV AUSTRIA certifications and statements of industrial and home compostability, is biodegradable in anaerobic, soil, fresh water and marine environments and is 100% bio-based. All of Danimer Scientific's biopolymers, including its Nodax™ PHA, are FDA approved for food contact.