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- Geltor
Geltor Funding, Investors & Competitors
Geltor has raised $114M across 4 funding rounds, most recently a $91M Series B in July 2020.
Last Geltor funding round
$91M
Series B · Jul 2020
Cumulative funding Geltor raised
$114M
across 4 funding rounds
Key investors in Geltor
SOSV
IndieBio
BoxGroup
Fifty Years
Sandbox Industries
Agronomics
Cavallo Ventures
CPT Capital
About Geltor
Geltor is a San Francisco-based biotechnology company that engineers animal-free collagen and elastin proteins through precision fermentation for applications in skincare, haircare, nutraceuticals, and food. Its product portfolio includes COL1 for skin firmness, COL17 for hair growth, and ELST for elasticity, supplied to brands like Revive Collagen and The Nue Co. Founded in 2015, Geltor operates a commercial-scale manufacturing facility in Hayward, California, and has expanded into wellness with ingestible proteins. The company collaborates with L'Oréal and Shiseido on sustainable beauty ingredients, emphasizing vegan alternatives to animal-derived collagens.
Founded
2015
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Geltor Funding History
Geltor has raised a total of $114M across 4 funding rounds, plus 1 secondary share sale.
Geltor's first fundraising round was a $300K pre-seed round in September 2015. The most recent completed round was a $91M Series B in July 2020.
Geltor funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Secondary | Agronomics | - | Agronomics acquired 1,069,593 preferred shares in the Californian designer-protein company Geltor in a secondary transaction for total consideration of US$9,499,525, a 2.05 per cent fully diluted stake. The price was settled with US$6,785,375 in cash and US$2,714,150 satisfied by issuing 8,676,951 new Agronomics ordinary shares at 23 pence. Geltor ferments animal-free collagen and elastin peptides for cosmetics formulators, and the purchase extended Agronomics into precision-fermentation ingredients outside food. |
| Jul 2020 | Series B | CPT Capital (lead) | $91M | Geltor, a San Leandro, California-based biodesign startup founded in 2015, develops sustainable, functional, and 100% animal-free ingredients using precision fermentation technology for global consumer packaged goods (CPG) segments including cosmetics and personal care, nutraceuticals, and food and beverage industries. The company announced the closing of a $91.3 million Series B financing round on July 27, 2020, led by CPT Capital with significant commitment from WTT Investment Ltd., bringing total funding to $116.3 million to date. Returning investors included Cultivian Sandbox, SOSV, iSelect Fund, and the investment arms of GELITA and Archer Daniels Midland, while new investors comprised Blue Horizon Ventures, RIT Capital Partners, Humboldt Fund, and Pegasus Tech Ventures. The funding aims to fuel global expansion of Geltor's Ingredients-as-a-Service platform to meet accelerating demand for animal-free proteins amid disruptions like COVID-19 and African Swine Fever affecting traditional supply chains. Geltor has commercialized products such as animal-free collagens HumaColl21 and Collume, with sales surging as global collagen demand grew 25% over the past year. The company scaled its fermentation technology 100X, producing hundreds of new proteins, and increased headcount from around 30 to 55 earlier in 2020. CEO Alex Lorestani emphasized enabling iconic brands to build sustainable products and transitioning to resilient protein supply chains powered by fermentation. CPT Capital's lead investment validates Geltor's platform across cosmetics to food categories, with Investment Director Costa Yiannoulis highlighting its potential amid pandemic-exposed vulnerabilities in protein supply chains. Geltor partners with firms like GELITA for clinical research and commercialization of animal-free collagens and is engaged in projects with large food, beverage, and nutraceutical customers. The company competes in the emerging animal-free protein space, attracting investor interest despite challenges like lack of GRAS status, positioning it as a leader in sustainable biodesign for CPG applications. |
| Oct 2018 | Series A | Cultivian Sandbox Ventures (lead); BoxGroup; IndieBio; Starlight Ventures; Sandbox Industries; ADM Ventures; SOSV; Gelita AG; Cavallo Ventures | $18M | Geltor is a bio-design company founded in 2015 by Alexander Lorestani and Nick Ouzounov that creates high-value designer proteins, particularly collagen, using cellular and synthetic biology without animal byproducts or GMO organisms. The company uses proprietary fermentation processes to transform plant-based sugars into customized collagen proteins engineered for specific traits such as strength, flexibility, or firmness. Its flagship consumer product, N-Collage, is a clinically-tested, vegan, halal-certified collagen that won the 2018 CEW Beauty Innovation of the Year award and was positioned for the beauty, skincare, nutraceutical, food, and beverage industries. In October 2018, Geltor announced an $18.2 million Series A funding round led by Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, bringing total funding to $23 million including a prior $4.75 million seed round raised in 2015 after participating in the IndieBio accelerator under its former name, Gelzen. The Series A syndicate included strategic investors GELITA (global collagen supplier), ADM Ventures (venture arm of Archer Daniels Midland), Cavallo Ventures (venture group of Wilbur Ellis), and Box Group, alongside returning seed investors Stray Dog Capital, Fifty Years, and New Crop Ventures. The company planned to use Series A capital to expand product lines, develop category-defining ingredients, and support entry into the food industry by 2020, marking one of the first commercialized animal-free collagen products in food applications. |
| Feb 2016 | Seed | New Crop Capital; Baruch Future Ventures; Fifty Years; FTW Ventures; SOSV; Stray Dog Capital | $5M | Geltor raised a $4.5 million seed round from investors including Baruch Future Ventures, Fifty Years, FTW Ventures, New Crop Capital, SOSV, and Stray Dog Capital around early 2016. The company develops animal-free collagen using fermentation technology for applications in food, beverages, and other industries. |
| Sep 2015 | Pre-seed | SOSV (lead); IndieBio | $300K | - |
Who has invested in Geltor?
16 investors have backed Geltor across its funding rounds, including SOSV, IndieBio, BoxGroup, Fifty Years, Sandbox Industries and Agronomics.
Lead investors include CPT Capital, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and SOSV.
Geltor Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Lead | Sep 2015 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Sep 2015 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Jul 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Oct 2018 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 16 Geltor investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialGeltor Competitors
Geltor competitors include listed companies like Bayer, CF Industries, Qinghai Salt Lake Industry and Industries Qatar, and private ones like Colossal Biosciences and Biobest.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publicly listed | $52B | $3.5B | $55B | 1.8x | ||
| Publicly listed | $7.1B | $3.2B | $20B | 3.1x | ||
| Publicly listed | $2.3B | $1.2B | $20B | 4.5x | ||
| Publicly listed | $4.4B | $1.6B | $17B | 4.4x | ||
| Private | - | - | $10B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.5B | - |
Geltor Public Comps
Geltor is still privately-owned, but its public comps include AbbVie, Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Novo Nordisk, Unilever, EssilorLuxottica, Colgate-Palmolive, Bayer, Hindustan Unilever and Galderma.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $61B | $17B | 8.7x | 8.1x | 30.6x | 17.6x | |||
| $87B | $24B | 4.2x | 4.2x | 15.4x | 15.6x | |||
| $51B | $12B | 4.9x | 4.6x | 20.9x | 19.4x | |||
| $48B | $23B | 4.2x | 4.3x | 8.8x | 8.8x | |||
| $58B | $12B | 2.9x | 2.8x | 13.6x | 12.4x | |||
| $33B | $7.5B | 2.8x | 2.7x | 12.4x | 11.0x | |||
| $20B | $3.9B | 3.8x | 3.6x | 19.8x | 15.2x | |||
| $52B | $3.5B | 1.8x | 1.8x | 26.7x | 8.3x | |||
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Common questions about Geltor
| When was Geltor founded? | Geltor was founded in 2015. |
| Where is Geltor headquartered? | Geltor is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Geltor publicly listed? | No, Geltor is a private, VC-backed company. |
| How much funding has Geltor raised? | Geltor has raised $114M across 4 funding rounds. |
| What was Geltor's last funding round? | Geltor's last funding round was a $91M Series B in July 2020, led by CPT Capital. |
| Who are Geltor's investors? | Geltor's investors include SOSV, IndieBio, CPT Capital, BoxGroup, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, New Crop Capital, Starlight Ventures, Baruch Future Ventures, Fifty Years, FTW Ventures and 6 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Geltor? | Companies comparable to Geltor include Bayer, CF Industries, Qinghai Salt Lake Industry, Industries Qatar, Colossal Biosciences and Biobest. |
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