Case Study: Bolt Threads achieves faster development of sustainable biomaterials with Benchling

Optimizing Biomaterials R&D with Data-Driven Insights

Bolt Threads is a materials company that develops sustainable biomaterials—like Mylo™ mycelium-based leather and b‑silk™—used by brands such as adidas, lululemon and Stella McCartney. As R&D grew, Bolt faced fragmented data across 10+ systems, inflexible legacy tools, and slow, manual workflows that made collaboration and decision‑making difficult and delayed product development.

By adopting Benchling as a centralized R&D platform, Bolt standardized data capture, achieved end‑to‑end sample management, and streamlined program oversight across 60+ scientists in the U.S. and Europe. The change created a single source of truth, enabled scaling from 6 to 15 biomaterial programs, and delivered measurable gains—about 25% shorter cycle times for selected workflows, ~4 hours/week saved per scientist, and a 150% faster ability to aggregate and visualize experimental data.

Bolt Threads

Deven Dharm

Director of Software Engineering