Since its creation in 2014, BGene has been developing new processes for the production of aromatic molecules for the cosmetics industry, which is now in search of naturalness.
This innovative company has chosen to work with wood residues to produce biosourced ingredients and offer a real alternative to intensive cultivation and petrochemical products that are harmful to the planet and to humans.
BGene has received several awards and grants for its positioning and research in biotechnology, and has always placed environmental and societal impact at the heart of its thinking. Today, it is quite natural for the company to become a company with a mission to prepare for its increasingly virtuous transition to scale.
BGene 9 years of R&D for a virtuous cosmetic production
Since its creation, even before the Pact law came into force, BGene has put its environmental convictions at the heart of its R&D project. The biotech start-up is developing new methods for producing ingredients for flavor and fragrance manufacturers, offering an alternative to intensive agriculture, monoculture, the use of pesticides and the excesses of plant extraction.
" We want to offer cosmetic actors a new possibility of sourcing ingredients, namely molecules of natural origin produced in laboratories from renewable raw materials as an alternative to plant ingredients with a high environmental impact or those derived from petrochemicals."explains Marie-Gabrielle Jouan, CEO of BGene.
BGene specializes in synthetic biology and works with natural, renewable raw materials that are not in competition with food. While most scientific alternatives are currently based on refined sugar, BGene works with residues from wood processing, a position that is almost unique in France. This makes BGene part of a true circular economy, from plant residues to cosmetic ingredients.
" What synthetic biology allows is to teach micro-organisms how to make an ingredient from a natural raw material in order to produce it and supply the cosmetics industry all year round in sufficient quantities, while respecting the environment, insists Marie-Gabrielle Jouan, CEO of BGene
BGene has therefore developed an innovative technology for production by bacterial fermentation, Today, the big names in the cosmetics industry have noticed that product composition and naturalness have become powerful purchasing levers for their consumers.
BGene prepares to scale up and become a mission company
BGene is a biotechnology company that has set itself goals of excellence since its inception. To further its virtuous approach, BGene now publicly states its raison d'être: to serve the ecological transition by developing tomorrow's more sustainable and environmentally friendly production methods for bio-based molecules.
Composed of 28 complementary scientific profiles in bioinformatics, genetic engineering, bioprocess industrialization and innovative project management, this team has a pool of skills capable of designing high value-added aromatic molecules that meet the challenges of today's bioeconomy and energy transition.
BGene has therefore defined three main statutory objectives: to limit the impact of its activity on resources, to guarantee a more environmentally friendly process and to transmit and share BGene's scientific knowledge.
By becoming a company with a mission, BGene is committed to the transparency and traceability of its innovations to serve the ecological transition.
While BGene already works for the big names in cosmetics to offer its know-how in the form of R&D partnerships, the start-up wants to produce its first batches of ingredients this year.
Within the next 3 years, BGene aims to increase its workforce once again in order to establish its transition to scale and aim for industrialization.
