Warner Testimony

Summary

Written testimony of Mark Warner, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Liberation Bioindustries, titled Unlocking U.S. Industrial Biotechnology Commercialization: The Role of the Small Business Administration, addressed to Senator Young. The testimony argues that industrial biotechnology is driven by small businesses that lack financing for first-of-a-kind manufacturing facilities, and that the SBA is positioned to address this gap. It describes capital requirements that scale from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars and says scale-up often occurs in the EU, China and Asia. It closes with five recommendations for SBA action: expanding loan guarantees for FOAK facilities, creating a biotechnology commercialization track, supporting shared infrastructure, providing technical advisory support and aligning with national industrial strategy.

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                              Testimony of Mark Warner
                        Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
                               Liberation Bioindustries


         Unlocking U.S. Industrial Biotechnology Commercialization
                      The Role of the Small Business Administration


Senator Young and distinguished guests, my name is Mark Warner, I am co-founder and
CTO of Liberation Bioindustries, a company working to bring fit-for-purpose
biomanufacturing to the US, with our first facility under construction in Richmond.

The United States leads the world in biotechnology innovation but consistently fails to
translate that leadership into domestic manufacturing. Nowhere is this more evident
than in industrial biotechnology, where breakthrough processes are developed
domestically but commercialized elsewhere. It has quite simply become a system
driving small-business value creation out of the U.S.

My testimony argues that the Small Business Administration (SBA) is uniquely
positioned to address this gap. Industrial biotechnology is overwhelmingly driven by
small businesses, yet commercialization requires capital-intensive infrastructure that
falls outside traditional SBA support frameworks. There currently is no bankable
support, public or private, for first-of-a-kind technology facilities.

By adapting its programs to support first-of-a-kind manufacturing in biotechnology, the
SBA can play a decisive role in converting innovation into operating assets,
strengthening U.S. competitiveness and industrial resilience.

Industrial biotechnology represents a foundational manufacturing platform for the 21st
century. It enables production of fuels, chemicals, materials, and food ingredients from
biological systems rather than petroleum-based processes.

The implications are significant. This sector underpins energy security, supply chain
resilience, and the ability to manufacture critical materials domestically. However, the
United States risks repeating a familiar pattern: inventing new technologies while
allowing manufacturing leadership to migrate elsewhere.

When manufacturing moves offshore, the supporting ecosystem follows—talent,
process expertise, and future innovation. Maintaining leadership therefore requires not
just invention, but domestic commercialization at scale.
Industrial biotechnology is often perceived as large-scale industry, but its innovation
base is overwhelmingly composed of small businesses. The companies developing
fermentation processes, synthetic biology platforms, and bio-based production
pathways typically have fewer than 100–200 employees and are pre-profit and capital
constrained. These are small businesses attempting to build entirely new manufacturing
systems.

The development pathway is consistent: small companies innovate, develop pilot
processes, and then attempt to build their first commercial facility. At that moment,
capital requirements increase dramatically, but the companies themselves remain small.
This creates a structural mismatch. Small businesses are responsible for building large
industrial assets, without access to financing tools designed for that transition.

The primary barrier in industrial biotechnology is not scientific feasibility—it is
commercialization. Current US government support reinforces the outcome. We fund
innovation that gets scaled overseas. Capital requirements scale rapidly from tens of
millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. Companies become too large for venture
funding yet remain too risky for traditional project finance. This creates a persistent
financing gap at the point of greatest leverage.

At the same time, the United States lacks sufficient shared infrastructure to de-risk
technologies at intermediate scale. As a result, companies either delay projects, dilute
heavily, or move development and manufacturing to regions with more supportive
ecosystems. Scale happens in EU, China and Asia, not because these places are more
innovative — they finance and host infrastructure better. This results in U.S. dollars
going into foreign manufacturing, and when first plants are built overseas, we export
the learning curve and future innovation.

Industrial biotechnology aligns directly with the SBA’s core mission. The sector is driven
by small, innovative, capital-constrained companies attempting to grow and scale.
However, unlike traditional small businesses, success requires building manufacturing
infrastructure rather than expanding service or incremental operations. This requires a
different support model.

The SBA is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by supporting the transition from
technology development to asset ownership. This is the precise point where small
businesses either scale into industrial players or fail to commercialize entirely.
Recommendations for SBA Action
   1. Expand Loan Guarantees for FOAK Facilities
      Increase program thresholds and flexibility to support capital-intensive
      biomanufacturing projects.
   2. Create a Biotechnology Commercialization Track
      Establish programs specifically designed for pilot-to-commercial scale transition.
   3. Support Shared Infrastructure
      Enable development of shared fermentation and processing facilities to reduce
      capital barriers.
   4. Provide Technical Advisory Support
      Expand expertise in scale-up, engineering, and project delivery.
   5. Align with National Industrial Strategy
      Coordinate with DOE, DoD, and other agencies to ensure biotechnology
      commercialization is treated as strategic infrastructure.

Conclusion
Industrial biotechnology represents a critical opportunity for the United States, but only
if innovation is translated into domestic manufacturing. The companies driving this
transformation are small businesses. The infrastructure they require is not. Bridging that
gap is where the SBA can have outsized impact. If the United States is serious about
maintaining leadership in biotechnology, it must support not just invention, but the
ability to build. The SBA can and should be a central part of that solution.


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