Personal-care products—think everything from deodorant to lipstick to sunscreen—today represent 0.5 to 1.5 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and often pollute the environment after use. Consumers are increasingly demanding more sustainable, natural, and environmentally friendly alternatives, creating both a need and an opportunity for innovation in the industry.
Greentown Labs and Evonik are accelerating decarbonization of this critical consumer-facing industry with Greentown Go Make 2025. Designed to fast-track startup-corporate partnerships to advance climatetech, this Greentown Go program—focused on technologies that reduce products’ manufacturing-related emissions and end-of-life environmental impact—just selected its startup cohort.
Ecovia-bio (formerly Ecovia Renewable, Inc.) creates high-performing, water-soluble, and water-swellable biopolymers for personal-care, agricultural, and industrial applications. Its low-cost gamma poly-glutamic acid is a biobased, biodegradable alternative to fossil-based polyacrylates currently used across these industries. Its biopolymers are created from a proprietary fermentation process and champion performance. The startup is based in Ann Arbor, MI in the United States.
La Fabrique Végétale—hailing from Lyon, France—develops sustainable, upcycled, plant-based solutions for the cosmetics and perfume industries, including emollients, biosolvents, and biopolymers. These solutions serve as substitutes for petroleum-sourced raw materials and prioritize circularity. Its products to date have included upcycled alcohol for perfumery, avocado-based emollient, solvent-free grapeseed oil, a shea butter-derived biopolymer, and more.
These two startups were chosen from a pool of 52 applicants from 21 countries, for an acceptance rate of just 3.8 percent. Now, they’ll work closely with Evonik during a four-month accelerator program led by Greentown—which will involve engaging with Evonik’s Personal Care Business, Research, Development, & Innovation team, and Corporate Venture Capital office to explore potential partnerships, including joint development, licensing, investment, and more.
Evonik aims to meet the consumer-driven demand for natural and environmentally friendly alternative ingredients for personal-care products with sustainable solutions that are safe for people and the environment. To this end, Evonik relies on precision bio-solutions to improve people’s health and quality of life while protecting our ecosystems.
“Nature is an infinite source of inspiration for genuine sustainability,” says Kathrin Brandt, Head of New Growth Area Biopolymers at Evonik Creavis. “We look forward to expanding the application of biopolymers in personal care together with Ecovia-bio and La Fabrique Végétale, two promising startups in this field.”
Greentown runs Greentown Go programs across five tracks: Go Build (buildings), Go Energize (energy and electricity), Go Grow (food and agriculture), Go Make (manufacturing), and Go Move (transportation). These startup-corporate partnerships programs challenge the status quo within each key greenhouse-gas sector as they accelerate partnerships between industry giants and innovators.
“The challenge of decarbonizing the personal-care industry brings with it incredible climate and economic opportunities,” says Aisling Carlson, SVP of partnerships and investor programs at Greentown. “These two startups are well poised to have significant impact in the sector, and we look forward to helping them advance their technologies and commercialization pathways by collaborating with Evonik.”
The post Greentown, Evonik, and Two Startups are Decarbonizing the Personal-care Industry with Go Make 2025 appeared first on Greentown Labs.
