Microphyt raises €15 million to accelerate the commercialization of its microalgae-based natural solutions for nutrition and well-being
November 30, 2022
- Microphyt’s Series B fundraising will allow to accelerate the global marketing of its clinically-approved range of Natural Ingredients for nutrition and cosmetic markets.
- The round was both supported by L’Oréal through its venture capital fund BOLD Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development and by the Microphyt’s current investors, including Bpifrance, through its SPI Fund, and Sofinnova Partners.
Baillargues (France), November 29th, 2022 – As part of its global strategy; Microphyt, a leading company in microalgae-based natural solutions for nutrition and well-being, announced a Serie B fundraising of €15 million. This investment was led by L’Oréal through its venture capital fund BOLD Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development and supported by Microphyt’s current investors Bpifrance, through the “Sociétés de Projets Industriels” fund (“SPI fund”), Sofinnova Partners, IXO-Private Equity, Supernova Partners, IRDI and Sofilaro. The funds will be used to accelerate both the new products development and the commercialization of the product portfolio as well as to increase production of Microphyt’s industrial platform in Baillargues (South of France) to meet customer demand.
In nutrition and wellbeing, consumer demand for natural, effective, safe and sustainably produced solutions is booming. The world market for ingredients for these markets, represents more than US$ 70 billion with a share of natural ingredients (US$ 5 billion) that shows the strongest growth (8% per year). Among the natural ingredients, natural microalgae are most suited to meet consumer expectations thanks to their diversity and the quality of the bioactives.
Microphyt launched successfully over the last 18 months 5 new proprietary ingredients, supported by scientific evidence. In Advanced Beauty, cosmetic actives ingredients like Renouvellance™, Luteana™ and Phycosi™ are increasingly used by cosmetic brands worldwide. In Novel Nutrition, Microphyt launched this month the only clinically-validated natural ingredient specifically designed for e-gamers in the dietary supplement market in the US, Gamephyt™, as well as Brainphyt™ a new ingredient that improves the well-being of the elderlies.
In addition of its own development roadmap, Microphyt will partner with L’Oréal to develop and produce specific microalgae-based solutions for cosmetics, hence contributing to L’Oréal’s corporate objective that 95% of its ingredients will be bio-sourced, derived from abundant minerals or from circular processes by 2030.
“This Series B is again a major milestone in our development and we are pleased that a strategic investor like L’Oréal share the ambition to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable beauty. In addition, we are thankful that our existing investors such as Bpifrance, Sofinnova Partners or IXO PE continue to support our strategy to unlocking the full potential of microalgae amazing diversity through our unique technology platform. With this funding, we will speed up the development and supply of novel natural products that solve the key challenges of Nutrition & Well-being” stated Vincent Usache, CEO at Microphyt.
This new partnership with Microphyt enables us to further accelerate our drive towards more sustainable beauty, in line with L’Oréal R&I Green Sciences approach, explained Anne Colonna, General Manager Advanced Research, L’Oréal. Our ambition with Microphyt is to collectively develop responsible innovations on a large scale and make them available to as many people as possible.
Jean Philippe Richard, Deputy Director of SPI fund from Bpifrance, explained: “We welcome the investment led by L’Oréal through its venture capital fund BOLD as a great opportunity for Microphyt to accelerate its development. It confirms its growth potential based on the responsible use of marine biodiversity for its cosmetic and nutraceutical customers. The operation also testifies to the fact that a controlled industrial and R&D strategy based on biotechnology is key to ensuring the success of an industrial start-up supplying bio-based, traceable and low carbon-impact products.”
Michael Krel, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, said: “Microphyt is one of the rare companies in the sector who have been able to reach a level of commercial and industrial maturity enabling them to deliver on the promise of industrial biotechnology: Products and platforms that offer more sustainable, bio-based solutions for nutrition and wellness. This milestone signals a major turning point in the company’s development and we are honored to have been part of it from the beginning.”
