# Nicole Richards

> Nicole Richards is the founding CEO of Allonnia, a Boston-based synthetic biology company that engineers microbes to destroy forever chemicals like PFAS and 1,4-dioxane, and to pull critical minerals out of ore and waste streams. A chemical engineer with nearly three decades in water, mining and specialty chemicals, she spun Allonnia out of Ginkgo Bioworks' Ferment Consortium in 2020 with a $40M Series A and has since raised more than $109M in total funding.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Allonnia
- **Organizations:** Allonnia, Ginkgo Bioworks (Ferment Consortium), DuPont Water Solutions (former), Solvay / Cytec (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical), Villanova University, MBA, University at Albany, SUNY
- **Known for:** Founding CEO of Allonnia; led launch out of Ginkgo Bioworks with $40M Series A in 2020., Raised more than $109M in total funding for Allonnia., Oversaw treatment of 185 million gallons of PFAS-contaminated water using foam fractionation (SAFF) and microbial approaches.

## Career timeline

- **1992** — Graduates Villanova with a chemical engineering degree.
- **1999** — Completes MBA at University at Albany, SUNY.
- **2004** — Joins Cytec (later part of Solvay) as Global Marketing Director, Polymer Additives.
- **2009** — Named Global Business Director of Specialty Additives at Cytec/Solvay.
- **2017** — Moves to DuPont as Strategy, Growth and M&A leader for Water Solutions.
- **2020** — Appointed founding CEO of Allonnia as it spins out of Ginkgo Bioworks' Ferment Consortium with a $40M Series A.
- **2023** — Allonnia launches 1,4 D-Stroy solution for 1,4-dioxane contamination.
- **2025** — Allonnia raises $20M+ to accelerate deployment of critical materials biotechnology; named among Time's America's Top GreenTech companies.

## Achievements

- Founding CEO of Allonnia; led launch out of Ginkgo Bioworks with $40M Series A in 2020.
- Raised more than $109M in total funding for Allonnia.
- Oversaw treatment of 185 million gallons of PFAS-contaminated water using foam fractionation (SAFF) and microbial approaches.
- Launched 1,4 D-Stroy, a biological solution for 1,4-dioxane groundwater contamination.
- Allonnia recognized on Time's America's Top GreenTech companies list.
- Prior: led M&A for DuPont Water Solutions and Global Business Director roles at Cytec/Solvay.

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Allonnia closed a $20M+ round to accelerate critical materials biotechnology deployment.
- **2025-04** — Allonnia named to Time's America's Top GreenTech list.
- **2024-01** — Milestones update: SAFF treatments passed 185M gallons of PFAS-contaminated water; 1,4 D-Stroy launched.

## Links

- Website: https://allonnia.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-richards-3268b07/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/allonniabio
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA7ypWYD9Zc

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nicole-richards
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-09