Pitch: Japanese startup using precision fermentation to produce plant compounds
Source: Fermelanta
ID card
- HQ: Japan
- Founded: 2022
- Funding: $32.5M
- Last Funding: $13.6M Series A (08/2025)
- Corporate investors: Ø
- Partnerships: Ø
- Innovations: “Cell factory” platform engineering bacteria with multi-gene botanical pathways to produce secondary metabolites
- Competitors: Antheia (US), yeast-based precision fermentation for plant-derived active pharmaceutical ingredients
- Regulation: Ø (nothing disclosed)
More insights
- Fermelanta targets a broad pipeline of secondary metabolites via precision fermentation: alkaloids (pharmaceutical/agriculture), flavonoids (nutraceutical), carotenoids (flavour & fragrances), pigments, polysaccharides (cosmetics/food additives), vitamins and peptides.
- The platform relies on engineering bacteria with up to 20 heterologous genes to recreate multi-step biosynthetic pathways.
- It built lab/bench purification capabilities, producing tens of grams per batch for R&D/sampling, and is working with external CDMOs to scale production to tens to hundreds of kilograms per batch.
- It positions its technology as faster and cheaper than plant extraction or plant cell culture for many compounds.
For Symrise
Why did we select the startup?
Fermelanta enables access to rare or supply-constrained plant-derived molecules relevant to flavour & fragrances, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals, with reduced exposure to agricultural variability.
Why now?
The recent Series A funding signals a shift from platform proof-of-concept to scale-up and industrial readiness.
It is also an illustration of the broader realignment of the broader precision fermentation ecosystem towards “custom-made” function ingredients which could be highly relevant for Symrise.
Source: Fermelanta