Lesaffre has acquired Recombia Biosciences, a biotech company based in the San Francisco Bay Area founded in 2019 based on technology licensed from Stanford University.
This acquisition is the culmination of a strategic partnership initiated in 2020 to leverage Recombia Biosciences’ genome-editing technologies and accelerate the development of yeasts for sustainable production of fermented ingredients.
The partnership marked Lesaffre’s entry into the world of synthetic biology, considered to be one of the largest biotech opportunities of this decade.
Over the past two years, Recombia and Lesaffre have joined forces to design and develop new innovative yeast strains and to optimize the production of several biosourced ingredients and biofuels.
Recombia Biosciences will be docked to the Lesaffre Bioengineering Center of Excellence, a department of the Lesaffre Institute of Science and Technology, the company’s corporate R&D entity.
Strategic move for Lesaffre
The acquisition of Recombia Biosciences is part of a strategy to invest heavily in research and development to unlock the full potential of micro-organisms, such as yeast or beneficial bacteria.
“With the acquisition of Recombia Biosciences, we are enriching the group’s portfolio of cutting-edge technologies to accelerate innovation in yeast development and production, and we are surrounding ourselves with new talent that we warmly welcome. Innovation is part of Lesaffre’s DNA. This acquisition is a perfect illustration of Lesaffre’s mission: working together to better nourish and protect the planet,” said Brice-Audren Riché, the company’s CEO.
Recombia Biosciences will keep its name at its location in Brisbane, California. At this stage, Recombia Biosciences’ main mission will be to exploit its high-throughput genome editing and synthetic biology technologies to benefit the diverse businesses of Lesaffre.
The future direction of Recombia’s scientific and technology programs will be jointly defined by a specific Lesaffre-Recombia Board chaired by Recombia cofounder Lars Steinmetz.