Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

[Eskaminagaga]

Neither Spiber nor Bolt Threads are working with silkworms so our cost to consumers should be lower although if we have a stronger and/or more elastic product we may be able to demand a premium.

I completely agree, at least at the present time. From what I have found, it is costing Spiber between $200 and 300 per kg to produce their QMONOS fibers with a goal to produce it at ~$100/kg when they go into full commercialization. Bolt Threads, with their more efficient platform, mentioned that it should cost them less than $100/kg at their initial commercialization.

I know silkworms can create silk at less than $50/kg normally, but i imagine with more QC, testing, and domestic labor, it will likely be a bit more expensive. Kim mentioned a few years ago that it would be around $150/kg to produce, but recently updated his figure in the paid "analysis" to less than $300/kg.

From what i have seen, Dragon Silk has the most superior strength out of any company creating spider silk, weighing in at 2 GPa. I had previously discovered a presentation that Spiber made that claimed that they would have 1.6 GPa silk at their commercialization, and a recent Bolt Threads patent application claims that they will have only up to 310 MPa (0.31 GPa), similar to the strength characteristics of Monster Silk.

My guess is that Vietnam location will produce MonsterSilk for clothing but I am just guessing.

Honestly, I think this new Über Silk that KBLB has been developing will take the place of Monster Silk. It has the strength characteristics of Dragon Silk with the elasticity of Monster Silk, so why bother even working with the inferior stuff? There may be a few applications for it, but I think these new silk lines will be the focus at commercialization.

Even Lewis said silkworm was the best and most inexpensive way. While competitors are raising millions, they are trying to figure out how to make product through their bacteria process cheaper, we already have figured it out from silkworm instead and Uncle Sam is our first customer.

Agreed, silkworms are cheaper initially and produce cheaper fiber, but I don’t think this will always be the case. I can easily see Bolt Threads undercutting KBLB on price for their fibers after a few years followed by Spiber a few years after when the technology and their methods improve. Once they have the extremely expensive infrastructure built, they can scale up and pump out their silk proteins and threads regularly at an increasingly cheaper cost and with more ability to customize for individual applications. Bacteria and yeast are much easier to work with in an established infrastructure than silkworms with a much quicker lifecycle.

Comparing KBLB to Spiber or Bolt Threads is like comparing apples to watermelons.

Since they are producing spider silk-like threads for use in textiles like us, they are a competitor, so even if the production methods differ, the result is the same and the markets will be competing. There is plenty of room for growth for everyone right now and I think that KBLB will be very profitable assuming the previous quality issues have been resolved, but while silkworms may be the best and cheapest platform at the moment, I believe that will change in the not too distant future. I hope Kim, Jon, and whoever else is with the company at that point will keep an eye on this and take full advantage of the improvements being made to incorporate a “goo” method of spider silk protein production in addition to his silkworms at that time. Hopefully, he will be making enough profit by then to be able to pay for a facility to do this and the research without having to dilute.

It will be very very interesting to see how DS test results come out once Uncle Sam starts testing. Could be some really exciting stuff.

It will indeed! If their silks work out well, which I assume they will with Warwick Mills working with them, then that will be the perfect way to legitimize themselves to the larger investing groups and finally get this company’s stock out of the pennies.