Today, Joshua Britton is the founder and CEO of debutor biotechnology company delivering “high-performance” bioactive cosmetic ingredients “at unprecedented speed.” But before the beginning began innovate in the biotech space, it was just an idea, stemming from “some academic research,” “a lucky Uber journey” and a “vision for the beauty industry,” says Britton.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Debut. Joshua Britton.}

Britton completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry and organic chemistry before continuing his studies at the University of California, Irvine. He then decided to apply what he had learned to “this new thing called cell-free and synthetic biology,” which refers to the processes within biotechnology that enable the creation or modification of biological organisms. Essentially, enzymes or microbes can be “taught” how to make powerful compounds – including plant or flower molecules – in a reactor in a laboratory setting.

Of course, the process comes with massive implications for the multi-billion dollar beauty industry, which relies on natural ingredients for flavor and other properties. Britton decided it was time to bring biotechnology mainstream. But, of course, he also needed to finance the venture. While working in his professor's lab during the day, he had a side hustle driving for Uber at night to earn extra money. When he started talking to a passenger and presented her with his idea, she was sold — and wrote him a check for $100,000 to support his efforts.

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Britton's passenger would be Debut's first investor, but certainly not the last: The company raised $22.6 million in one series A round led by Material Impact in 2021 and $40 million in a Series B round led by BOLD, L'Oréal's venture capital fund, the largest cosmetics company in the worldlast year.

“Whenever people want (flavor) products, they have to effectively use agriculture to get them.”

Debut has already brought the technology to market with a consumer skin care brand called thentargeting inflammation, a process related to the aging of the human body. The products contain Naringenin, a powerful polyphenol commonly found in grapefruit peel that has been clinically proven to strengthen the skin barrier and reduce inflammation. According to Britton, clinical claims allow “product differentiation on the market,” and many brands are coming to Debut as they look to convert from other bases like vitamin C, niacinamide, and squalane.

But fragrance will be Debut's next frontier, a move that coincides with consumer growth the demand for transparency and natural ingredients – and concerns over the influence of the beauty industry on the depletion of natural resources. Most fragrance ingredients from fragrance houses are cultivated, perhaps from “the lavender fields of France” or from the roots of a particular type of tree, says Britton, which requires land, water and agrochemical use.

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“Whenever people want these products, they need to use them effectively agriculture to get them,” Britton explains. “The fragrance industry has been very good at hiding the fact that most fragrances are actually chemically derived. If you dig too deep into them, you will find that they are made from petroleum-based synthesis. And that's what we're looking to change.”

“There might be 200 or 300 compounds out there all at different levels. And you have to be able to mimic that right in a bioreactor.”

When it comes to fragrance, Debut is all about “imitating nature.” Sometimes, this means reflecting a single ingredient, a process not unlike wine or beer production, where a sugary aqueous solution is mixed with a cell, but instead of producing wine or beer, produces a pattern of scents, Britton explains. It is a method that involves limited land use, no agrochemicals and “very little waste”.

Of course, some scents “are very complex blends” that require a careful balance of different notes—and Debut has developed the technology to replicate those, too, Britton says. “The nose is so sensitive that if you smell a root, for example, what you'll see is that there may be 200 or 300 compounds at different levels,” he explains. “And you have to be able to mimic that right in a bioreactor. If (you don't), then you won't have the same smell and the product won't be successful.”

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Debut is all about setting successful products into the hands of consumers — the previous standard model of biotech's horizontal integration, where companies seek a scientific solution that is then manufactured on a very small scale for a vertical that emphasizes the consumer and the end product from the start, according to Britton.

“When we think about how to bring synthetic biology to people, it's in the form of tangible products,” says Britton. “This means that we must not only do innovative research, but also interact with our own CUSTOMERS and users. We need to understand how to make formulations. We have to make physical products”.