BOLD interviews Microphyt's CEO Vincent Usache

Microphyt was founded 15 years ago with a clear mission: to harness the potential of microalgae and challenge the status quo. Today, under the leadership of CEO Vincent Usache, the biotech company is scaling up sustainable, natural ingredients for numerous industries.

With a combination of microalgae’s vast potential and proprietary technology, the BOLD portfolio company is setting new and greener standards for ingredient development.

From Marine biology to biotech and beyond

Every groundbreaking needs a visionary leader, and Vincent Usache is that leader for Microphyt. Trained as marine biologist, Vincent paves the path forward for the France-based biotech company. His career began in the lab, transitioning to agronomy engineering, specializing in biotechnology. 

After gaining ten years of experience in the natural ingredients sector at multinational companies, including a Canadian probiotics firm, Vincent returned to his native France to earn his MBA. A chance encounter with Microphyt’s founders soon led him to his current role as CEO. 

Since taking the helm, Vincent has steered Microphyt from being a purely technology driven company to focusing on supplying natural ingredients. He has played a pivotal role in expanding the company’s reach, offering innovative bioactives to support the nutrition and personal care industries in their transition to more sustainable products.

Unlocking Microalgae’s potential

Microphyt’s mission is simple: create scalable and sustainable ingredients from microalgae. The company was founded to tap into the immense diversity of active compounds found in microalgae, a resource that, despite thriving in various environments, has been largely underutilized commercially 

“Microalgae’s potential was known in academia, but there was a bottleneck in production,” Vincent explains. “This micro-organism requires extremely well-controlled conditions to grow.”

Thanks to Microphyt’s innovative technology, the company has overcome many of the production challenges. Today, it supplies multiple industries with effective, safe and eco-friendly ingredients.

Central to this innovation is Microphyt’s photo bioreactor, a specialized patented system that has been continuously developed and refined since the company's inception. This enables the cultivation of any type of microalgae at large scale, including fragile varieties that were previously deemed unattainable. 

Microphyt’s microalgae are cultivated without any GMOs or pesticides in a closed environment. Every parameter – from temperature to light exposure – is carefully monitored and adjusted to optimize growth. Essential nutrients are provided, and the photosynthesis process is enhanced using low-energy diodes.

Where other producers are focused on one or two varieties of microalgae, Microphyt currently industrially produces 20 different species. 

Collaboration through the Extended Lab

In early 2022, Microphyt sought to increase its production capacity at his Montpellier plant in the south of France. BOLD participated in the subsequent fundraising round, drawn to Microphyt’s diverse, sustainable products offerings,  and its large-scale integrated production platform.

Microphyt‘s values align closely with the L'Oreal for the Future program, which aim to source 95% of raw materials sustainably by 2030. The partnership is mutually beneficial: Microphyt receives investment to expand production, while L’Oréal gains access to unique, sustainably produced ingredients at scale.

The Extended Lab project is a great example of the collaboration between L’Oréal and Microphyt. The lab combines the expertise of both companies to develop tailored solutions to technical challenges. The process begins with a joint technical brief outlining the issue, followed by a development plan executed in the lab. 

If a potential solution proves effective, it is scaled up to pilot production and then to industrial levels, ultimately integrating into L'Oréal's personal care products. The ultimate goal is for Microphyt to produce these sustainable solutions, which L'Oréal can then incorporate into its products worldwide.

New horizons

These are exciting times for Microphyt. With BOLD’s support the French company will soon expand into new markets and new categories, while contributing to the Group’s ambitious L’Oréal for the Future goals.