baCta Secures €7 Million Seed Funding for Sustainable Astaxanthin Production

– baCta, a pioneering French startup focused on strain engineering and bioproduction, has successfully raised €7 million ($8.3 million) in seed funding aimed at scaling its first ingredient: astaxanthin.

– The seed round was led by LocalGlobe and Daphni, with contributions from OVNI Capital and notable business angels, including founders from Phagos, Genomines, and MistralAI.

– The acquired funds will facilitate the validation of baCta’s process at a larger scale and expand its capabilities to produce other high-value ingredients.

“baCta represents the convergence of deep biological data and Generative AI. Mathieu and his team have built an engine that doesn’t just promise scientific breakthroughs but delivers industrial viability.” Remus Brett, General Partner at LocalGlobe.

“baCta’s platform approach offers a scalable, economically viable path to replace dirty supply chains with biological factories.” Pierre-Yves Meerschman, Managing Partner at Daphni.

Understanding Astaxanthin and Its Market Potential

A crimson-colored antioxidant, astaxanthin is widely utilized in dietary supplements, cosmetics, and animal feed. This powerful ingredient occurs naturally in microalgae, imparting the iconic pink hue to marine creatures like shrimp and salmon.

Traditionally, most astaxanthin production stems from petrochemical sources, primarily supplied to aquaculture. Higher-value “natural” products—boasting a different stereochemical profile—target the nutraceutical and cosmetics sectors. These products are typically derived from cultivating Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae in either open ponds or photobioreactors.

Founded in Paris in 2024 by Mathieu Nohet and Marie Rouquette, PhD, baCta takes an innovative approach. They aim to produce astaxanthin in fermentation tanks using specialized yeast strains optimized through robotics and generative AI.

Nohet remarks, “Astaxanthin is an incredible ingredient with extensive longevity benefits, but it hasn’t yet had its ‘collagen moment.’ We aim to make it more accessible and abundant.”

Yeast Fermentation vs. Microalgae Production

Producing astaxanthin in bioreactors may appear more capital and operationally intensive compared to growing microalgae in ponds. However, yeast proliferates far quicker than algae and achieves a higher density in bioreactor settings. “For perspective, algae biomass in photobioreactors typically falls below 5g/L, while yeast can exceed 100g/L,” explains Nohet, emphasizing cost efficiency.

Moreover, bioreactors present lower contamination risks and decreased space requirements. “Our downstream process (DSP) is significantly cheaper than algae-based astaxanthin and avoids energy-intensive supercritical CO2 extraction methods. Our product not only boasts a pleasant, neutral smell and taste but also features a competition-ready yeast strain,” he adds.

The company targets costs in line with synthetic and chemistry-based processes through its efficient strain and proprietary DSP. baCta plans to utilize existing fermentation capacity to remain capital expenditure-light until they demonstrate profitability.

While several companies also utilize yeast for astaxanthin production, baCta believes it can deliver superior efficiency. “We’re aware of the AstaFerm product from NextFerm Technologies in Israel and LCY in China. Our products are quite similar; differentiation will come from cost, securing optimal production strains, and our proprietary DSP,” says Nohet.

In terms of stereochemical profiling, “Yeast-derived astaxanthin is free, unlike the esterified algal form, where astaxanthin binds to fatty acids,” he clarifies. “Beyond this, both forms represent the same isomer (3S,3’S) and provide comparable benefits, making our product more bioavailable and enhancing its potential advantages.”

Regulatory Approvals and Future Prospects

Details of baCta’s strain and process remain confidential, but Nohet confirms plans to navigate the GRAS process in the U.S. and the novel food process in the EU to gain regulatory approval. “Our final product will comply with non-GMO guidelines according to both U.S. and EU regulations,” he assures.

Currently, baCta has demonstrated its technology at benchtop scale and is routinely executing liter-scale fermentations to refine growth conditions and processes. “We are in advanced discussions with an industrial partner in France specializing in fermentation expertise to utilize their scale-up and production facility; an official announcement is forthcoming,” he adds.

Innovative Approach: Design, Build, Test, Learn

Employing an AI-driven design-build-test-learn “biofoundry” model, baCta rapidly engineers yeast strains and continuously enhances genetic pathways to boost astaxanthin yield and process efficiency.

• Design: An AI model trained on genetic data proposes gene and pathway modifications for improved astaxanthin yields.
• Build: Liquid-handling robots implement the AI-designed DNA into yeast, generating numerous variants in micro-bioreactors.
• Test: Sensors and analytics assess which strains yield the highest astaxanthin concentrations.
• Learn: Performance data informs the model for iterative design optimizations.