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§ Private Profile · Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines
Pili is a technology company.
Pili develops and produces bio-based dyes and pigments, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional petrochemical-derived colorants. The company leverages hybrid processes, integrating industrial fermentation with organic chemistry to create high-performance color ranges. These advanced biomaterials are designed for various applications, significantly reducing the environmental footprint associated with traditional dyeing and coloring processes.
The company was co-founded in 2015 by Jérémie Blache, Guillaume Boissonnat-Wu, and Marie-Sarah Adenis. Their journey began within the bio-hacking community, driven by the shared recognition of the color industry's heavy reliance on fossil fuels and its substantial environmental impact. This insight spurred the founders to innovate a cleaner, more circular solution for manufacturing essential colorants.
Pili's products are adopted by major brands across the textile, ink, polymer, paint, and coatings industries, who are seeking to integrate more sustainable practices into their supply chains. The company’s vision is to lead the decarbonization of the color industry, providing a viable and performant alternative to polluting fossil-based and resource-intensive plant-based colors. Pili aims to empower industries to meet evolving climate and regulatory demands.
Pili has raised $32.7M across 5 funding rounds.
Pili has raised $32.7M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Pili has raised $32.7M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $16.0M Series A in February 2023.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2023 | $16M Series A | Laure Michel, Bpifrance | Elaia Partners, SOSV, Bart Swanson, Famille C, Startupangels.de | Announced |
| Mar 28, 2021 | $4.7M Venture Round | — | Elaia, SOSV | Announced |
| Mar 1, 2021 | $5M Series U | — | Elaia Partners, SOSV, Bart Swanson | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2019 | $4M Series A | — | Elaia Partners, SOSV, Bart Swanson, Bpifrance, French State | Announced |
| Apr 1, 2018 | $3M Seed | — | SOSV, Bart Swanson | Announced |
Pili is a biotechnology company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Toulouse, France, that produces high-performance, bio-based dyes and pigments using fermentation and green chemistry to decarbonize the color industry.[1][2][4][5][6] It serves industries like textiles, inks, paints, coatings, and plastics by replacing polluting petrochemical colorants with sustainable alternatives that reduce CO2 emissions by over 50%, eliminate toxic byproducts, and operate at room temperature without high energy or water inputs.[1][2][5][6] Pili has raised $33.54M total, including a $15.8M Series A in 2023 and $4.35M grant about 10 months ago (as of mid-2025 data), fueling pilot production of products like Eco-Indigo and supporting ~30 employees with a research-intensive culture.[1][2][6]
The company targets the textile sector's massive dye consumption—2 million tons annually, 99% fossil-based—offering scalable, low-carbon solutions with equivalent performance to petroleum-based options.[2][6] This positions Pili for growth amid rising sustainability demands, with global partnerships and R&D collaborations driving commercialization.[1]
Pili emerged from a 2012 conversation between designer Marie-Sarah Adenis and biologist Thomas Landrain, who discovered the pollution from ink production and prototyped a "semi-living" pen using dye-producing bacteria fed with sugar for infinite ink.[5] Recognizing broader potential, they partnered with CEO Jérémie Blache and scientific director Guillaume Boissonnat to found the company in 2015, shifting focus to industrial-scale bio-based dyes via genetically modified microbes as "cell factories."[1][2][5][6]
Early efforts centered on Toulouse's biotech hub near top research institutions, investing over €30M ($33.54M) in R&D, fermentation optimization, and pilot facilities in France (TWB, Cnam Paris, Roches Roussillon).[1][5][6] Pivotal moments include the 2023 Series A funding to produce initial tons of Eco-Indigo, marking industrialization amid textile decarbonization needs.[2][6]
Pili rides the biotech-driven sustainability wave in materials science, addressing the color industry's 30M-ton annual output—mostly fossil-based and polluting waterways/atmosphere—amid EU regulations, corporate net-zero pledges, and textile giants' green shifts.[1][2][5][6] Timing aligns with post-2023 funding surge for bio-manufacturing scale-up, as fermentation tech matures like precision fermentation in food/proteins.[5]
Market forces favor Pili: rising carbon taxes, consumer demand for eco-textiles, and oil volatility make bio-alternatives viable; competitors like KBCols Sciences lag in scale.[2] It influences the ecosystem by pioneering "alive" cell factories for circular economies, inspiring hybrid bio-chem models and partnering globally to distribute dyes.[1][5]
Pili's trajectory points to full commercialization by 2026-2027, expanding Eco-Indigo production and new pigment lines via recent grants and €30M+ investments, targeting global textile/ink markets.[1][2][6] Trends like AI-optimized bioprocesses, policy-driven decarbonization (e.g., EU Green Deal), and supply chain localization will accelerate growth, potentially valuing it higher amid biotech M&A.
As the pioneer decarbonizing colors from microbes, Pili exemplifies biotech's power to replace petrochemical giants—watch for industrial partnerships scaling its low-carbon revolution.[5][6]
Pili has raised $32.7M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Pili's investors include Laure Michel, Bpifrance, Elaia Partners, SOSV, Bart Swanson, Famille C, Startupangels.de, Elaia, French State.