Fresh From L’Oréal Funding, Debut Wants to Tackle Fragrance
Having closed a total of $40 million in its series B funding led by Bold, L’Oréal’s venture capital fund, biotech firm Debut wants to make the fragrance industry more sustainable.
“Having successfully scaled biotechnology with 100 percent success in skin care and leading that category, we are now addressing the urgent challenges facing the fragrance industry,” said Debut founder and chief executive officer Joshua Britton.
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By developing bio-identical and novel fragrance molecules, San Diego-based Debut believes it will enable fragrance brands to transition to bio-based formulas, while protecting the olfactive integrity of the formulas.
That’s because Debut’s biotechnology can replicate the olfactive 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’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,” said 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,” he added.
L’Oréal announced its minority investment in Debut in June. At the time, L’Oréal’s deputy chief executive officer in charge of research, innovation and technology Barbara Lavernos said Debut “addresses one of the beauty world’s fundamental challenges, which is driving limitless, open innovation without the resource intensity and environmental impact that comes with relying on traditional manufacturing alone.”
In addition to its work with other companies, Debut is working on its own brand, too.
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