Capsum continues to invest in the indoor production of botanical ingredients. The integration of plant-based ingredient production capabilities into Capsum’s manufacturing plant in Texas will enable the company to control the entire production chain and to fulfil its vision of Seed-to-Face cosmetics creation.
A specialist of microfluidics, the company is completing its offer with natural, responsible and efficient active ingredients to serve American beauty brands with additional sustainable and innovative benefits to include in their cosmetics.
Capsum’s innovative bio-production facility is planned to be autonomous in water and energy, powered by 2 acres of solar panels installed on the roof. It will start with production of sunflower microgreens and rapidly expand to other active ingredients from natural origin, including flower and root extracts.
High-value natural ingredients
The technology that implemented at the Texas facility combines indoor farming and precision farming.
Traditionally associated with greens and vegetables production, indoor farming is a technique to grow plants on vertically stacked racks, typically in a soil-less, closed-loop hydroponics setup which optimizes space and resources and doesn’t require the use of pesticides. While precision farming is a scientific approach to cultivation that aims at steering plant development through precise control of the environmental and biotic parameters, and can be leveraged to boost the chemical composition of the plants in molecules of interest.
Precision Indoor Farming brings together the two cultivation techniques for the production of plants boosted in active molecules of interest while minimizing environmental impact. The technique offers several benefits, including: the production of more active molecules, the reduction of water and energy consumption, a low carbon footprint, and a secured supply.
As an example, flowers produce phenolic compounds at sunrise that can be boosted in quantity by prolonging the specific environmental conditions - typically temperature and quantity of light - that signal dawn to the plant. First trials indicate a threefold increase in total polyphenols contents produced by the plant compared to traditional growth conditions.
Capsum to support Orius’ development
In order to boost the development of this technology, Capsum has acquired a minority stake in the start-up, which was established in Toulouse, France, in 2021.
The two companies think that using precision indoor farming offers a solution to the constraints related to the creation of new ingredients develop active ingredients in beauty by: combining naturality and performance, contributing to Clean beauty, offering large sustainability assets, bringing better transparency and securing the supply chain, contributing to brand uniqueness.
“Capsum chose Orius to setup its Precision Indoor Farm in Austin, TX, because of their credentials and skills in high-tech farming. While developing the project, both teams had such a great experience in sharing knowledge and ambition that they decided to partner to transform the Beauty Industry using Precision Indoor Farming,” says Sébastien Bardon, Capsum CEO.
As pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors are evolving following similar trends and constraints, Capsum deems that Orius perspectives are promising beyond beauty.
