Geltor, a biodesign company developing sustainable, animal-free proteins for the beauty and wellness industries, has completed a new equity financing round that brings the total amount it has raised to $137 million.
The round was co-led by iSelect Fund and included significant participation from existing investors. Following the raise, Geltor will make targeted investments in several areas, including expanding its biodesigned polypeptide portfolio to new regions, bringing new solutions to market for topical and ingestible products, and exploring AI-enabled polypeptide design and biomanufacturing with trusted partners.
Geltor says it has already achieved key milestones, including launching a vegan collagen polypeptide in Latin America, receiving an FDA “no questions” letter for its ingestible type 21 collagen in response to a GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) notification, and signing a Biodesigner AI™ collaboration with a leading beauty and personal care brand.
Geltor’s platform selects and optimizes amino acid sequences from databases of known protein sequences found in nature. Precision fermentation is then used to replicate the biodesigned sequence, and a purification process separates the protein from the fermentation broth. This takes place at a commercial scale, meeting the volume requirements of customers of all sizes.
“Go-to partner for biodesigned polypeptides at scale”
Geltor’s current product portfolio includes:
- HumaColl™21 — Described as the world’s first and only biomimetic human type XXI collagen polypeptide, this ingredient is said to promote healthy and younger-looking skin.
- Elastapure® — Said to be the world’s first and only biomimetic human elastin polypeptide, designed to promote more resilient-looking skin.
- Collume® — An award-winning polypeptide for daily skin benefits and hair manageability.
- Caviance® — A polypeptide for skin rejuvenation and recovery.
- PrimaColl® — Claimed to be the world’s first vegan collagen for dietary supplements and beauty from within applications.
“This is an amazing moment to be the go-to partner for biodesigned polypeptides at scale,” said Alexander Lorestani, co-founder and CEO of Geltor, on LinkedIn. “The beauty, wellness, and longevity spaces are fusing into a $500B+ US and $2T+ global market with intense demand for technologies that deliver transformative, perceivable consumer benefits. Designer polypeptides and their derivatives are exceptionally adept at delivering paradigm-shifting results (think Ozempic, Botox), and we’re extremely encouraged by the progress we’ve made in delivering the power of these molecules to consumers globally.”
