Core Biogenesis and the EIC Accelerator: Growth Factors From Seeds
Growth factors are proteins that tell cells to multiply; Core Biogenesis set out to cut their cost for cell therapy and cultivated meat. Core Biogenesis, founded in Strasbourg in 2020, engineers Camelina sativa, an oilseed plant, to produce such proteins in its seeds, attached to the natural oil droplets called oleosomes, which it says makes them cheaper and free of animal material.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,153,390 towards SEB, "Scalable and Eco-friendly Bioproduction", a €1.65 million project that ran through 2023 and 2024. According to the CORDIS report, it developed four transgenic strains producing Activin A, FGF-2, human serum albumin and TGF-beta, "all with confirmed bioactivity", and moved cultivation from greenhouses towards open fields. The next step it named, "pilot GMP batches and regulatory submission", has not been announced. Since 2025 the company has launched its growth factors as anti-ageing cosmetics ingredients.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Core Biogenesis SAS, SIREN 883 231 128, Strasbourg
- Founded
- 4 May 2020
- CEO
- Alexandre Reeber
- Platform
- Recombinant proteins in Camelina sativa seeds, fused to oleosomes
- Cosmetic actives
- Peauvita, Peauforia, Peaureva
- Investors
- XAnge, Blue Horizon Ventures, Thia Ventures
- EIC project
- SEB, 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2024
- EIC funding
- Blended finance; no EIC Fund investment announced
Where Core Biogenesis Stands Today
The company now sells to the cosmetics industry. Its actives Peauvita and Peauforia, based on EGF and FGF-2 fused to oleosomes, are marketed as fighting "four key signs of aging in just 14 days", according to Cosmetics Business. Knowmade reported in November 2025 that placebo-controlled studies showed effects on wrinkles and dark spots within 14 days; these studies are the company's own. In 2026 trade press reported a scalp ingredient, Peaureva, and an eye shadow, the Eye Longevity Shadow.
The record
From cell therapy media to anti-ageing creams
The EIC project produced plant-made growth factors aimed at cell therapy and cultivated meat; Core Biogenesis has since launched them in cosmetics.
- May 2020Company foundedCore Biogenesis, Strasbourg
- Mar 2022EIC Accelerator cut-offSEB: scalable, eco-friendly bioproduction
- Jul 2022Series ALed by XAnge with Blue Horizon and Thia Ventures$10.5M
- Jan 2023EIC project startsGrowth factors made in Camelina seeds€1.15M grant
- Dec 2024EIC project endsFour transgenic strains; GMP batches still to do
- 2025Cosmetics launchPeauvita and Peauforia anti-ageing actives
- 2026More cosmeticsPeaureva scalp active; eye shadow
Core Biogenesis, PR Newswire, Knowmade, CORDIS and trade press.
The Technology: A Plant as a Protein Factory
Instead of growing proteins in bacteria or animal cells in steel tanks, Core Biogenesis grows them in fields. The report describes seed master banks, greenhouse protocols validated at 3 kg scale, open-field trials and patented extraction and purification steps designed for GMP. Its two patent applications cover the engineered plants and the purification method, according to Knowmade.
The evidence
Four growth factors expressed in plants
Growth factors produced in transgenic Camelina sativa strains during the EIC project, all with confirmed bioactivity according to the report. Value 1 means achieved.
CORDIS project 190139157 report.
"Our patent-pending protein expression platform is a powerful tool for producing highly bioactive compounds in a completely animal-free and antibiotic-free manner."
Alexandre Reeber, CEO, Core Biogenesis, July 2022What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 70% of a €1.65M project
SEB ran from January 2023 to December 2024. The award was blended finance.
CORDIS project 190139157. Values in € millions.
SEB aimed at scalable, low-cost bioproduction of growth factors for cell therapy, cultivated meat and cosmetics. It delivered the strains, cultivation protocols and purification methods and reported "clear traction observed in B2B interest". It did not deliver pharmaceutical-grade batches or customer contracts, which the report lists as the next steps along with financing for a larger facility.
- Growth factors from plantsDeliveredFour, with bioactivity.
- Scalable cultivation and purificationDeliveredGreenhouse and field trials.
- GMP batches for therapyNot doneListed as next step.
- Commercial productsCosmeticsPeauvita, Peauforia, Peaureva.
What Has Happened Since the Award
Core Biogenesis raised a $10.5 million Series A in July 2022, led by XAnge, to build a production facility in Strasbourg for growth factors and cytokines, with cell therapy as the lead market. No round since then has been announced. The French register shows no insolvency proceedings; the share capital was reduced slightly in April 2024.
The Money
The register summary shows net losses of €1.07 million in 2021 and €1.72 million in 2022, the last year shown, with 21 employees in 2022. Revenue from the cosmetics launches is not public.
The accounts
Losses before the EIC project
Net result in millions of euros. Later accounts are not shown in the public register summary.
French company register via Pappers.
What cannot be checked
Core Biogenesis' revenue since 2023, whether any cell therapy or cultivated meat customer buys its proteins, and whether the EIC Fund invested under the blended award are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC paid mostly for a platform to supply cell therapy and cultivated meat. The company's product announcements since 2025 have all been in skincare.
What the project promised
Scalable, eco-friendly bioproduction of growth factors for cell therapy and cultivated meat.
What the record shows
Four plant-made growth factors, no GMP batches announced, and a product line in anti-ageing cosmetics.
The Verdict
From the lab to the beauty counter
According to its CORDIS report, SEB showed that Core Biogenesis could make active growth factors in plants. The company took them first to cosmetics, the last of the three markets the project named after cell therapy and cultivated meat.
Core Biogenesis has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, French company data, trade press and EU project data, linked throughout.
Industry
Materials and chemicalsPersonal care ingredients
AlsoHealthLife science tools
- Focus
- Cosmetic actives
- Reagents and consumables
- Technologies
- Plant molecular farming
- Plant biotechnology
- Keywords
- Growth factors
- Anti-ageing skincare
- Cell culture media
- Cultivated meat