L’Oréal Invests Biotech Company Debut on Developing Active Ingredients
- Chaileedo Press
- Jun 2, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 5, 2023
L’Oréal announced that its corporate venture capital fund, BOLD, has secured a minority stake in the US biotech startup Debut which is known for its expertise in "cell-free" manufacturing of ingredients.
L’Oréal announced that its venture capital fund, BOLD, has secured a minority stake in Debut, a US-based biotech company. The investment will enable Debut to rapidly expand its manufacturing platform and meet the increasing demand for innovative ingredients that can be used in cosmetics, skincare, and packaging.
BOLD led a round of Series B funding for the San Diego-based biotech company, which raised a total of $34 million.
L’Oréal stated that this investment is a result of the existing joint development programs between L’Oréal and Debut, which capitalize on Debut's vast intellectual property portfolio to bring high-value, sustainable ingredients to the market more quickly.
Debut, a company based in San Diego, California, is focused on discovering, formulating, clinically testing, and manufacturing new ingredients and products. They specialize in using a cell-free advanced biomanufacturing platform that overcomes the constraints of traditional fermentation techniques and directly controls biological processes to produce complex natural products, including polyphenols, biopolymers, and natural colors. These products are highly valued for their anti-aging, high-performance, and antioxidant properties, and the use of this platform enables Debut to bring these products to market faster and more sustainably.
Debut's cell-free advanced biomanufacturing platform greatly simplifies the manufacturing process and allows for a greater variety of products to be produced. With this technology, new ingredients can be developed and produced in as little as six weeks, from the discovery phase to pre-production. These ingredients can be used in a range of high-performance and sustainably made beauty products, such as moisturizers, serums, and hair care products.
Barbara Lavernos, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Research, Innovation, and Technology of L’Oréal said “Cell-free biomanufacturing is not science fiction: it is here. We could not be more excited to be the first beauty company to invest in this technology with Debut. We are delighted of our partnership with DEBUT to create together stand-out active beauty innovations while protecting the planet’s resources.”
"We are absolutely delighted to have L’Oréal as an investor at a time when advanced sciences are needed to thoroughly re-imagine how beauty ingredients are made, to address the challenges of cost, quality, scalability and sustainability head-on,” said Joshua Britton, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Debut.
Source: L’Oréal
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