Dyadic International

About Dyadic International

In 1979, founder Mark Emalfarb started a business with a very specific, industrial focus: providing ingredients for stone-washing jeans. This unlikely origin story was the first step in a decades-long journey into biotechnology. The company's search for a microorganism to produce enzymes for fading denim led to the discovery of a unique fungus nicknamed C1. This C1 fungus became the core of the company's future. In the early 1990s, Dyadic began its pivot toward biotech, hiring scientists to enhance the C1 fungus's ability to produce enzymes. This pivot opened doors to new industries, including biofuels, through partnerships with large companies. The company, which went public via a merger in 2004, was now firmly on a path from industrial textiles to a broader bio-industrial and biopharmaceutical future. A major turning point came in 2015 when Dyadic sold its industrial business to DuPont for $75 million. This sale provided the capital to focus exclusively on developing the C1 platform for pharmaceutical applications. The goal was to use this highly efficient fungus to develop and manufacture vaccines, antibodies, and other therapeutic proteins faster and at a lower cost than traditional methods. Today, now trading on the NASDAQ, Dyadic International is focused on leveraging its C1 platform for global health, animal health, and even alternative proteins, a long way from its beginnings in the world of blue jeans.