Morningstar / Business Wire · Jul 2026
Announced new efficacy data for Torula Oil and named several commercial product placements, reinforcing the company’s commercialization momentum in prestige beauty.
Next-gen ingredients to decarbonize consumer products, starting w/…
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
C16 Biosciences is a New York-based biotechnology company that uses fungal/fermentation biomanufacturing to make Palmless™ sustainable ingredients, led by a palm-oil alternative platform that started with Torula Oil and now spans beauty, personal care, home care, and food applications.
Primary product
Palmless™ Torula Oil and the broader Palmless™ biomanufactured ingredients platform
Founded
2018
Headquarters
619 West 54th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019, United States
Team size
11-50
Work style
Onsite
Industry
Biotechnology Research
Sub-industry
Precision fermentation / industrial biotechnology ingredients
Offices
619 West 54th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019
180 Varick St Fl 6, New York, NY 10014
New York City, New York, United States
Business model
B2B ingredient sales
brand partnerships and co-development
consumer-facing branded products under Palmless™
Funding
Stage
Series A / venture-backed
Total raised
$33.7M
Latest round
Venture Round · Jan 2024
Latest amount
$1M
People & investors
Leadership
Co-Founder & CEO
Co-Founder & COO
Chief Scientific Officer
Head of R&D
People Ops & Experience Lead
Founders
Co-Founder
Work & culture
Mission-driven and collaborative; the company describes its team as 'glass-half-full change-makers' and as scientists, engineers, brand-builders, and entrepreneurs working to decarbonize consumer products.
Work style
Onsite
Compensation
No public compensation bands, salary ranges, or detailed pay signals were found on the company site or careers page.
Product & market
Pricing
B2B ingredient supply and partnership-based pricing; no public list pricing found.
Differentiators
- —Fungal/yeast fermentation instead of palm or petrochemical feedstocks
- —Industrial-scale output claimed at metric tons of oil per week
- —Platform can produce multiple ingredient classes from one organism
- —Targets beauty, personal care, home care, and food applications
- —Palmless™ ingredients are positioned as supply-chain-resilient and deforestation-reducing
- —Commercially launched Torula Oil with published efficacy/data claims
Technology
Flask
Python
SQL
JMP Statistical Discovery
iCIMS
Harvest
Google Tag Manager
Google Search Console
jQuery
cdnjs
Adobe Fonts
html5media
Customers
Tower 28 Beauty
Haeckels
Pangaia
iota
KraveBeauty
DECIEM
Competitors
Zero Acre Farms
Geltor
Visolis
Lygos
Joyn Bio
Pivot Bio
Kiverdi
Lasso
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
$10M-$25M
Latest news
The Business Journals · Jan 2025
Founder profile describing Shara Ticku’s transition from finance to climate tech and the origin story behind C16 Biosciences.
Fast Company · Mar 2024
Highlighted Palmless/Torula Oil, early sell-outs, and the company’s move from beauty into broader applications, reinforcing product-market traction.
The New York Times · Mar 2024
Profiled C16 Biosciences alongside other palm-oil-alternative startups, explaining the technology, scale challenge, and commercialization hurdles.
Business Wire · Jan 2024
Official funding announcement covering a $3.5M Gates Foundation grant and $1M Elemental investment, plus expansion into food-grade oils and fats.
Jobs and careers at C16 Biosciences
0 jobs at C16 Biosciences
No open positions
Check back later for new openings