Better ingredients, biodesigned.

High performance ingredients without compromise, made for the world’s leading consumer goods manufacturers.

The new natural

Enabling health, wellness, and sustainability

We are working with some of the most innovative brands and product manufacturers across the beauty, personal care and food categories to bring better solutions to their customers who are demanding them.

Our partners are motivated to create performance-driven products that deliver for discerning customers who know personal health and planetary health are not in conflict and are both essential. If this describes you, we’d love to work with you.

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The Palmless™ platform

Materials for a better world

Ingredients are the backbone of beauty, personal care, home care, and food products, but current sources are vulnerable to supply (and price) volatility as well as consumer and regulator pushback.

To power the next generation of consumer goods - products that are better performing and better for the planet - we developed a proprietary biomanufacturing platform to produce high value, high impact ingredients.

C16 Biosciences products

Palmless™ Torula Oil

Torula oil is a super-emollient that nourishes, repairs,  and protects. It is packed with antioxidant carotenoids, sterols and terpenoids demonstrated to improve skin barrier function, protect against UV rays, free radicals and environmental hazards, and reduce appearance of fine lines and redness.

Clinically proven to boost the performance of UVA and UVB protection in SPF formulations, Torula oil is beauty’s new super-ingredient.

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Palmless™ in Food

Our biodesign platform provides targeted, designer fat and oil profiles that are safe, high performance, and natural. Lipids play a critical role in the majority of products on supermarket shelves – they provide the creamy mouthfeel in ice cream, the satisfying snap of a cookie, and the delightful spreadability of nut butters.

Our team has shown the versatility of Palmless™ Refined Oil across these applications, and with a $3.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together with a $1 million investment from Elemental Excelerator to focus on our scale up in food, Palmless™ will be ready for its commercial food debut imminently.

PANGAIA LAB Rewild Body Block powered by Palmless™ Torula Oil

Palmless™ in Home & Personal Care

Triglycerides, fatty acids, and fatty alcohols are key functional ingredients driving performance in shampoos and soaps, toothpaste and laundry detergent.

Our biodesigned oils are easily converted into a range of ingredients currently derived from palm oil, offering more secure and more sustainable sourcing. On top of that, Palmless™ ingredients offer functional benefits across home and personal care formulations.

Meet C16 Bio

About us

We’re a team of scientists, engineers, brand-builders, and entrepreneurs working to decarbonize products. We want to buy products that are good for human health and planetary health – so we’re taking initiative to build that future.

 Shara Ticku and David Heller standing next to a plant
Shara Ticku

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

David Heller

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer