Bold equips Debut with US$40M to scale nature-identical scents for sustainable fragrances

20 Oct 2023 --- Synthetic biology company Debut will be developing new bio-identical and novel fragrance molecules after receiving US$40 million in its Series B funding led by Bold, the venture capital fund of L’Oréal.

Debut creates cosmetic bioactive ingredients using advanced biomanufacturing approaches, capable of producing fragrances that mimic natural and rare scents without leaving as much of an ecological footprint. The molecules exude “the same rich, full-bodied quality of naturals.”

The funding will expand Debut’s proprietary biomanufacturing platform into the fragrance category. The company aims to establish its biotech fragrance model as a “preeminent benchmark” in the fragrance industry.

“Having successfully scaled biotechnology with 100% success in skin care and leading that category, we are now addressing the urgent challenges facing the fragrance industry,” says Debut’s founder and CEO, Joshua Britton.

“Only Debut’s proprietary advanced biomanufacturing processes can reconcile two diametrically opposing needs: The innate consumer drive for naturalness and the unsustainable pressure on the planet’s dwindling natural resources.”

Enabling the bio-based transition
Debut says its advanced biomanufacturing will enable fragrance brands to transition to bio-based formulas while “protecting their olfactive integrity.” Debut’s biotechnology can replicate the scent signature and precise characteristics of natural ingredients, including those that are structurally complex, difficult to source and only exist in trace amounts in nature.

Debut will channel its US$40M into biomanufacturing sustainable scents for perfumes.Debut will also develop novel fragrance molecules to open up possibilities for the fragrance industry.

“Debut’s ability to manufacture natural, safe and sustainable fragrance molecules at the highest standards of purity will safeguard the perfumer’s palette and halt the extraction of ingredients from the planet,” explains Britton.

“We are already being approached by companies to create bio-identical molecules for existing fragrances and innovate novel fragrance molecules that will confer olfactive uniqueness to brands.”

Debut’s bio-identical ingredients are genetic facsimiles of molecules that exist in nature. During the biomanufacturing process, the inputs are natural, the vehicle that makes the molecule is natural and the end products — the ingredients — are also natural.

Debut’s molecules are petrochemical-free as the product is made through biology rather than chemical synthesis. They are renewable and eliminate supply-chain variability.

Only one to solve the problem
The synthetic biology company asserts that climate change is “wreaking havoc with ingredient sourcing, quality and price.” High temperatures, drought and unpredictable seasons impact crop and flower yields with “devastating regularity.”Debut says it will elevate perfumery using biotechnology.

Floral scents emitted by plant sources are becoming compromised by global warming. According to research from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, there is a correlation between rising temperatures and decreased scent emission of flowers.

In the EU, natural ingredients are also at risk of regulation, “threatening the industry at large.”

Debut claims that only its proprietary advanced biomanufacturing can solve these intractable problems by making natural ingredients “impossible with fermentation or chemical synthesis.” With a combination of cell and enzyme catalysis, Debut can create complex novel biomolecules with “heightened performance.”

“Advanced biomanufacturing is the game-changer that will protect and elevate perfumery. It creates a huge intellectual property moat that will redefine the art of perfumery in the coming decade,” concludes Britton.

Edited by Sabine Waldeck

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