Azores Life Science, founders of biotechnology-led skincare brand Ignae, has secured a €500,000 research and development grant to accelerate its innovative skincare.
WHO: Ignae Skincare is based in Ponta, Azores, Portugal, and was created by Miguel Pombo in 2017. The company's plant-based skincare products for performance-driven, sustainable, clean skincare are crafted with biotechnology from the region. Their EPC Factor reduced the amount of natural resources needed in formulation, ensuring a sustainable relationship between Ignae and the delicate environment around it.
In addition to its research in the cosmetics area, Ignae is currently developing several research projects, favoring the partnership with the University of the Azores, intending to create a center of excellence in the area of biotechnological use of natural resources from the Azores.
WHY: The latest grant, awarded under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, will allow Azores Life Science to fully develop the potential of some of its proprietary algae compounds and launch new innovative products under Ignae's skincare range.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "These developments have the potential to make a changing, fundamental difference in this area, so we are extremely excited with what this grant will allow us to do in a very short term, and the impact we anticipate in the market with these promising new technologies," Miguel Pombo, founder of Azores Life Science, said. "The origin of the company is in research and development and our vision is not to only develop the brand, but also to look at the Azores, as a wellspring for innovative and expressive biology and biotechnology."
Commenting on the recent funding development, Claire Chung, Chief Executive and co-founder of Azores Life Science, added, "We are thrilled with the research and development grant which will enable us to accelerate our innovation pipeline. We possess a bacteria biobank and a pipeline of exciting new ingredients. Because our focus has always been on exploring the Azores, sustainably and ESG has been at the heart of our research and development strategy in discovering not only new ingredients but pioneering new processes that ensures the production & scaling is sustainable. We hope to be able to find new partners to help us commercialise and license our new ingredients."
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