In a Sheffield laboratory, a team is trying to make the world's moisturizers a little less oily. Not by tweaking a formula, but by changing where the ingredients come from. Deep Blue Biotech Ltd is betting it can grow high-value chemicals, starting with hyaluronic acid for skincare, using genetically engineered cyanobacteria that feed on CO₂, sunlight, and seawater nutrients [TechCrunch, November 2024]. It is a quiet, photosynthetic alternative to the petrochemical refineries that supply much of the beauty industry.
The company, founded in 2023, recently moved into a double laboratory at Sheffield Technology Parks, an expansion funded by a mix of grants and private investment that has pushed its total funding past £1.2 million [Sheffield Technology Parks, October 2026]. For a pre-seed biotech, that is enough runway to move from proving the science in a flask to proving the economics in a pilot. The bet is that biology, engineered correctly, can undercut the fossil fuel supply chain on cost and carbon before anyone asks consumers to pay a green premium.
The photosynthetic wedge
Deep Blue's opening move is pragmatic. Instead of targeting bulk chemicals or fuels, where margins are thin and scale is everything, it is going after hyaluronic acid. The substance is a workhorse in serums and creams, prized for its ability to retain water. The global market is worth billions, and it commands a price that can support novel production methods. If you are going to try to sell CO₂ as a feedstock, start with a customer who already values purity and story.
The technical premise rests on cyanobacteria, often called blue-green algae. The company engineers these organisms to excrete the target molecules, using photosynthesis to power the conversion. The claimed advantages are a low-capital manufacturing process and a carbon-neutral, or even carbon-negative, production pathway [MassChallenge, June 2025]. In theory, the inputs are cheap and ubiquitous: CO₂, light, and water. The hard part is getting the microbes to produce at a yield, titer, and rate that makes the whole operation cheaper than cracking petroleum.
The team from Carbon13
The founders met in 2023 through the Carbon13 Venture Builder programme, which focuses exclusively on founding companies that can cut carbon emissions by at least 10 million tonnes per year [Strategic Allies, March 2024]. The team reflects the dual challenge of building a hard-tech climate company: you need someone who can talk to scientists and someone who can talk to brand managers.
- Manuel Rios Krauss, CEO. He brings over two decades in fast-moving consumer goods, including a role as vice president of sustainable design at Unilever [TechCrunch, November 2024]. His experience is in taking an idea from the lab and turning it into a product on a shelf, which is the exact journey Deep Blue is attempting.
- Andrej Ondráčka, CSO. He provides the molecular genetics and synthetic biology expertise to engineer the cyanobacteria [Strategic Allies, March 2024].
- Tim Corcoran, COO. He handles business development, focusing on investors, partners, and the first potential customers [Deep Blue Biotech].
| Founder | Role | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Manuel Rios Krauss | CEO | Former VP of Sustainable Design, Unilever; 20+ years in FMCG [TechCrunch, November 2024]. |
| Andrej Ondráčka | CSO | Molecular genetics and synthetic biology [Strategic Allies, March 2024]. |
| Tim Corcoran | COO | Business development and growth strategy [Deep Blue Biotech]. |
Funding the first pilots
Deep Blue's financial path is a classic blend of dilutive and non-dilutive capital for European deep tech. The company announced an $800,000 pre-seed round in November 2024, led by Sustainable Ventures with participation from One Planet Capital, PCSI, and SFC Capital [TechCrunch, November 2024]. It had also secured two Innovate UK grants by that point. The more recent Sheffield expansion was backed by "just over £1 million" in funding, including a £400,000 innovation grant, bringing total investment to just over £1.2 million [Sheffield Technology Parks, October 2026].
This capital is earmarked for scaling lab work and initiating paid pilot programs. The company has said the pre-seed round would fund its first paid pilots and joint-development agreements with customers, though it has not named them [TechCrunch, November 2024]. Strategic Allies also reported the company had secured letters of intent [Strategic Allies, March 2024]. For now, traction is measured in square feet of lab space and the confidence of grant-awarding bodies.
The yield question
The most credible risk for Deep Blue is not the science, but the unit economics. The promise of low-cost, low-carbon chemicals only holds if the photosynthetic process can achieve a high enough yield. Engineering biology is notoriously difficult to scale predictably from a benchtop flask to a commercial bioreactor. Contamination, inconsistent production rates, and expensive downstream processing (separating the desired chemical from the algal broth) have sunk many similar ventures.
The company's answer appears to be focus. By starting with a single, high-value molecule for a receptive industry, it needs to hit a lower volume threshold to become commercially viable. The letters of intent suggest some brands are willing to explore. The real test in the next 12 months will be the data from those first pilots: grams per liter per day, production cost, and purity specifications. If those numbers are competitive, the conversation shifts from a science project to a supply contract.
The incumbent in the crosshairs
On paper, the back-of-the-envelope case is simple. Traditional hyaluronic acid is often produced through bacterial fermentation of plant-based sugars or extracted from animal tissues, processes that still carry a carbon footprint from agriculture and processing. The pure petrochemical route is rarer for this specific molecule, but the broader specialty chemicals industry is firmly rooted in fossil feedstocks. Deep Blue is not just competing on carbon; it is competing on cost and consistency.
If the pilot data holds, the company it must ultimately beat is not another startup, but the entrenched chemical supply chains that have optimized for cost over decades. For a skincare brand, switching suppliers is a major decision driven by reliability, price, and a compelling narrative. Deep Blue needs to deliver on the first two to earn the right to tell the third. The double lab in Sheffield is where that proof will be grown, one photosynthetic batch at a time.
Sources
- [Companies House, May 2023] Deep Blue Biotech Ltd | https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14904820
- [Deep Blue Biotech, retrieved 2024] Deep Blue Biotech | https://deepbluebiotech.com/
- [TechCrunch, November 2024] From pond scum to premium skincare? Deep Blue BioTech is all in on blue-green algae to make better chemicals | https://www.techcrunch.com/2024/11/28/from-pond-scum-to-premium-skincare-deep-blue-biotech-is-all-in-on-blue-green-algae-to-make-better-chemicals/
- [MassChallenge, June 2025] MassChallenge Switzerland Announces 2025 Early-Stage Accelerator Cohort | https://www.masschallenge.org/news/switzerland-2025-accelerator-cohort/
- [Sheffield Technology Parks, October 2026] Deep Blue Biotech expands into double lab at the Tech Parks | https://shefftechparks.com/events/183
- [Strategic Allies, March 2024] Deep Blue BioTech | https://strategicallies.co.uk/tech-spotlight/deep-blue-biotech/
- [Sheffield Technology Parks, September 2026] Green chemical trailblazers join Sheffield Tech Parks | https://shefftechparks.com/blog/144