Arcaea has been launched out of Ginkgo Bioworks with a stated mission “to build a new foundation for the beauty industry through expressive biology”
Arcaea has been launched out of Ginkgo Bioworks with a stated mission “to build a new foundation for the beauty industry through expressive biology”. It will seek to grow new ingredients and product experiences for beauty by leveraging technology such as DNA sequencing, biological engineering and fermentation.
Jasmina Aganovic has been named as CEO, following senior roles at beauty companies including Fresh and Living Proof, as well as the microbiome beauty company Mother Dirt. She joined Ginkgo Bioworks as an entrepreneur-in-residence two years ago and has since been building the foundation for Arcaea.
The company said that it intends to “create a new supply chain for the industry that does not rely on petrochemicals or on harvesting and depleting natural resources” so as to produce “highly sustainable products that can deliver new functionality and performance across skincare, body care, haircare and aesthetics”.
Arcaea has secured its $78 million in Series A financing from investors including Chanel and Givaudan, together with Wittington Ventures, Viking Global Investors and Cascade Investment. This will be applied to initiate multiple technical programmes across key categories in beauty to develop a pipeline of ingredients and brand launches.
