Manus Bio uses advanced fermentation and its BioAssemblyLine™ cell factory engineering platform to produce complex natural ingredients for flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, cosmetics, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals. The company has applied this platform to develop a fermentation-based route to the artemisinin precursor dihydroartemisinic acid. In August 2022 it secured a fourth award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a $2 million award to begin scaling that biological process. Manus Bio says the scalable fermentation approach aims to provide a more stable and sustainable source of the precursor than agricultural extraction and to enable process simplification for large-scale commercial artemisinin manufacture. Following completion of this phase, the company plans to develop commercial partnerships within the pharmaceutical sector. The announcement was datelined Boston on Aug. 31, 2022. Manus Bio leverages advanced fermentation and a proprietary platform to produce complex natural products used across flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, cosmetics, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals. The company recreates natural processes to enable next-generation industrial biomanufacturing and aims to provide sustainable, cost-effective ingredient sources. Manus Bio has applied its platform specifically to develop a fermentation-based approach to produce artemisinin, a key therapeutic for treating malaria. Through prior support it has made significant progress on that fermentation route and is now expanding the program. The company is using this work to pursue scalable, low-cost manufacturing of artemisinin to increase availability of the medicine. No operating metrics or financing amounts are disclosed in the article. Manus Bio develops an economical, sustainable biomanufacturing platform that uses advanced fermentation to access rare and complex natural ingredients. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was founded in 2011; Dr. Ajikumar Parayil is CEO. Manus Bio has launched an important flavor ingredient for use in food and beverages and is commercializing NutraSweet Natural, a natural zero-calorie sweetener. The company plans to use recent funding to expand manufacturing capabilities in Augusta, GA. It aims to bring multiple products from its R&D pipeline to commercialization. Manus Bio raised $75M in a Series B financing to support these initiatives. Manus Bio leverages advanced fermentation to produce complex natural ingredients used in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, cosmetics, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals. The company applied a proprietary microbial chassis and enzyme engineering approaches to develop a microbial platform that produces artemisinic acid, a key precursor to artemisinin. After completing an initial milestone under a prior award, Manus Bio received a second funding award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate development of a scalable, cost‑effective production method for artemisinin. The award is intended to support development of an advanced fermentation production platform to stabilize the supply of artemisinin, a frontline malaria therapeutic. Dr. Ajikumar Parayil, CEO, said the funding and Foundation support will help Manus Bio tackle the global problem of artemisinin supply. Manus Bio leverages advanced fermentation to recreate natural processes and biomanufacture complex natural ingredients used across flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, cosmetics, vitamins, pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. The company positions its technology as a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to traditional sourcing. Led by founder and CEO Dr. Ajikumar Parayil, Manus Bio supplies ingredients for health, wellness and nutrition markets. The Series A was raised to scale manufacturing and distribution capabilities to meet customer demand. The company emphasizes next-generation industrial biomanufacturing to provide sustainable sources of everyday product ingredients.

Total raised

$96M

Funding rounds

6

Latest round

Grant

Latest activity

Aug 2022