This month, California-based start-up MeliBio secured $5.7 million in seed funding to scale production and commercialize fermentation-derived honey.

Biotechnology has brought significant vegan ingredient innovation to the cosmetics and personal care industry in recent years—animal-free squalane from Amyris and animal-free collagen from Gletor, for instance. 

And now, thanks to funding support from Astanor Ventures and nearly 15 other firms and angels, MeliBio has plans to add bee-free honey to the growing list of biomimetic ingredients available to beauty makers. 

“We know that science can produce delicious and nutritious honey, which is molecularly identical to traditional honey, at no cost to our precious bees,” MeliBio CEO Darko Mandich tells the press. He along with Aaron Schaller founded the company in 2020. 

“At MeliBio, we are here to introduce certainty in the supply chain and help companies simplify their honey sourcing, while making their honey-based formulations sustainable and delicious,” says Mandich. 

Mandich keeps mentioning that MeliBio’s product is “delicious” because, like so many start-ups eager to disrupt the FMCG market, the company intends to supply not only cosmetics and personal manufacturers, but also the food industry. As this month’s press release confirms, “The company aims to provide their product to food, beverage, and cosmetics companies looking to offer a sustainable and vegan product to the fast-growing demographic of plant-based, environmentally conscious, and clean-beauty consumers.”

MeliBio is also hopeful that biotech honey production will help preserve wild bee populations and biodiversity, something multiple investors noted in their remarks of support for the start-up. 

“Darko and Aaron are passionate about taking pressure off the commercial honey bee supply chain and consequently improving pollinator diversity,” says Christina Ulardic, Partner at Astanor Ventures, in this month’s press release. 

And the company seems to be on track for success in the marketplace as well. This past October, MeliBio demonstrated the market readiness of its honey in four New York City restaurants as well as a CPG company out of Washington, DC.  Then in November of 2021, TIME gave MeliBio honey a special mention on its Best Inventions list for “[taking] bees out of the supply chain with its lab-brewed molecular copy of honey.”

Now, as the company puts the $5.7 million in seed funding to use scaling up production processes and commercializing its honey, there are plans to begin onboarding new clients in April.