How did synthetic alizarin help finance the development of synthetic indigo?

The development of synthetic indigo was financially supported by the profits generated from the commercial success of synthetic alizarin.1

First marketed in 1869, synthetic alizarin provided the necessary capital for the German chemical company Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik (BASF) to fund the complex research and development required to bring synthetic indigo to the market in 1897. This transition highlights the era's strong industrial-academic interactions, where the systematic application of chemical principles to coal tar derivatives allowed companies to successfully replicate and replace expensive natural dyes with synthetic alternatives.12