A bio-based vitamin B7 is the first product to be commercialized as biotech company, Biosyntia, secures funding from a strong syndicate of capital investors.
Biosyntia, manufactures sustainable and natural ingredients using precision fermentation and has a strong pipeline of active ingredients for use in beauty and nutrition products such as vitamins and antioxidants.
A funding round was closed with an investment of €11.5 million ($11.6 million) from the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) and two existing investors, Sofinnova Partners and Novo Seeds, which is the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings A/S.
This will allow the company to enter the production phase of its first-of-its-kind, natural and sustainable active ingredients as well as expand its pipeline of products. The first product to be commercialized is the bio-based biotin (vitamin B7).
Natural and sustainable
Martin Plambech, CEO at the company said: “Our team is truly proud of the recognition this investment gives. The investment enables us to finally offer customers the first and only natural and sustainable alternative to what is available for them today. With ECBF joining Sofinnova Partners and Novo Seeds as investors, we improve an already strong investor base. Combined with our promising pipeline of ingredients, we are in the making of a new, global fermentation-based ingredient producer that can challenge today’s incumbents.”
Biosyntia is an industrial biotech company delivering nature’s ingredients at scale both affordably and sustainably. Using biotechnology and research with development tools and insights, the company is developing first-of-its-kind precision fermentation processes to replace fossil-based alternatives.
Environmentally-friendly
Its vision is to develop a natural and environmentally-friendly production process of essential nutritional active ingredients, reducing the use of petrochemically-based processes and driving a positive environmental impact. The company today has several commercial partnerships, including collaborations with large market players such as Givaudan and WACKER.
Jowita Sewerska, investment director with ECBF said: “We are very excited to strengthen ECBF’s industrial biotech portfolio by joining with Biosyntia and its current investors in the story of a sustainable change that has a very strong commercial basis. Vitamins and other ingredients should be produced from bio-based instead of fossil-based sources, which unfortunately is usually not the case today. Biosyntia has a promising position to change that, starting with their B-vitamins programs, where the company already is a technology leader.”
Biosyntia was founded in 2012 by a group of highly-skilled young scientists. The Danish startup started by developing biocatalysts at unprecedented speed and efficiency by employing a patent pending high-throughput screening technology.