Biosyntia accelerates bio-based biotin production with €11.5m Series B funding round
The investment is to fund the production phase of its vitamin B7 ingredient, sustainably produced via a sugar-based fermentation process that Biosyntia believes is a viable alternative to crude oil as a main raw material.
Lead by the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), its Investment Director Jowita Sewerska says, “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.”
“We are 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.”
Sofinnova and Novo Seeds
Along with the ECBF, the round was closed alongside two existing investors, Sofinnova Partners and Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings.
The injection of cash follows a €4m investment in Series A financing back in May 2018 that followed an initial seed round of €1.68m, led by Novo Seeds.
In September 2020, Biosyntia unveiled BIO-B7 - “the world’s first” natural, fermented biotin, according to the Copenhagen-based firm.
The firm has touted the fermentation process as a natural transition from the synthetic biotin, manufactured by chemical synthesis with crude oil.
The fermentation processes are said to provide a significant reduction in CO2 emission, chemical waste, air pollution and water usage both historically for vitamin production and specifically for a commercially scaled biotin process.
“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,” says Martin Plambech, CEO of Biosyntia.
“As 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.”
Forskolin and flavonoids
The Series B funding round will also allow the company to expand the pipeline of products.
Current ingredients under development include forskolin, a key bioactive derived from the plant Coleus forskohlii.
Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of forskolin for weight management supporting the positive effect on fat metabolism as well as its ability to reduce cellulite skin when applied topically.
Biosyntia are also working on a series of flavonoids derived from soil, where beet carbohydrate complexes are converted into Quercetin by microorganisms in a fermentation process.
The flavonoids are produced in Europe, are fully traceable and with over 98% purity.
At the start of 2022, Biosyntia revealed it had signed a deal with Munich-based WACKER Group to develop a large-scale production process for their fermentation-based biotin.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two firms will contribute its R&D resources in a multi-year program, building on Biosyntia’s biotin technology.
