C16 Biosciences awarded Gates Foundation grant

In New York, C16 Biosciences has secured a $3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance its fermentation platform for producing food-grade oils and fats. The company was also granted a $1 million investment from Elemental Excelerator.

The global edible oils industry is projected to reach $870 billion by 2050, but the industry’s growth will be limited by insufficient arable land for oilseed crops to grow. C16 Biosciences has developed an innovative biomanufacturing process, leveraging yeast rather than plants, to produce oils and fats using fermentation. The company will use the funds to expand its fermentation platform to leverage next-generation feedstocks.

The company has already built a customer base in oils for beauty and personal care. In early 2023, the company launched Torula oil, a luxury biobased oil for the beauty industry. Torula oil is the main ingredient behind the company’s own product, Palmless^TM Save the F#$%ing Rainforest Nourishing oil, and the REWILD Body Block, a collaboration with Pangaia and Haeckels sold at Selfridge’s UK and online.

“Creating better oils and fats for use in food has been a critical part of our company’s ambition and strategy from Day 1, but we’ve waited strategically for the right moment to enter the market,” said Co-Founder and CEO Shara Ticku. “Now that we’ve scaled our manufacturing to commercial-scale production and begun generating revenue in the personal care industry, we are ready and eager to expand our solution’s application set to produce high performance, scalable ingredients for food.”