The use of renewable raw materials is not always readily possible for climatic, economic, or political reasons. From the perspective of procurers for global value chains, it would therefore be a dream to be able to reduce the use of natural raw material sources or replace them with product components that can be obtained more sustainably. This is the goal pursued by entrepreneur Jens Klein, who is focusing on biotechnology with his start-up Insempra. With the help of special yeasts and bacteria in native and genetically modified form, the specialists based at the Innovation Center for Biotechnology (IZB) in Munich produce natural ingredients such as flavors, fragrances, and preservatives, as well as high-quality lipids for the food, cosmetics, and textile industries.

Examples include lipids, which are traditionally extracted from plants, or certain polymers that are synthesized from fossil fuels using conventional chemical methods.

Biotechnological manufacturing processes are based on microbes that produce products under favorable conditions in large fermenters. In 2023, the concept convinced a group of investors to commit to providing twenty million US dollars in venture capital financing. With the fresh capital, the Munich-based company has expanded its innovative technology platform and will drive forward the production of high-quality bio-based ingredients and thus sustainable alternatives on an industrial scale.

Insempra is also in the second round of the Circular Biomanufacturing competition launched by the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation SPRIND with its BioTeasure project (2024). A ten-member panel of experts received around 1,500 project outlines and selected eight projects, including BioTreasure. In this project, the team led by Luisa Gronenberg, Head of Research and Development at Insempra, has set itself the task of producing polymers from yeast using biotechnology, which can be used for nylon, for example . The core idea is to use biotechnological methods to generate new products from carbon-containing waste and residual materials. For example, the yeasts are fed with sugars from a lysate of plant residues from the agricultural and forestry industries. In addition, they can survive on cooking oil residues and even components from the decomposition of old PET bottles.  “These undemanding organisms are therefore a prime example of sustainability,” emphasizes Jens Klein.

Insempra is already further ahead in the bio-based production of lipid flavorings and fragrances. In 2023, the company launched market-ready products for the cosmetics and food industries, including alpha-ionone, a raspberry flavoring, and a biotechnologically produced phenyl ethyl alcohol, which was previously produced either from rose petals or petrochemicals. These ingredients are components of everyday consumer goods and are sold to customers worldwide. The company is also working as part of an international consortium on the production of bio-melanin, a skin pigment that protects the skin from sunburn.

Jens Klein's business idea did not arise directly from academic research. Until 2021, he was CEO of AMSilk, the world's first supplier of biotechnologically produced silk polymers. Based on this experience, it was clear to him that if biotechnology is to make a real difference, it must be thought of and applied industrially, i.e., it must be scalable, financially attractive to manufacturers and customers, and thus ready for the market. That was the birth of Insempra, or Origin.Bio, as the company was initially called. Today, around 40 experts from more than 15 countries work at the IZB in Martinsried with a great deal of passion and expertise to set new standards for bio-based innovation. The IZB's surroundings offer a wealth of inspiring biotechnological expertise in the neighboring institutes and companies; the proximity to institutions such as the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Technical University of Munich, and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich is also valuable. Jens Klein brings financial expertise from a variety of activities; in addition, together with Dr. Holger Reithinger, Senior Advisor at venture capital service provider Forbion, he heads the “Finance and Tax” working group at BIO Deutschland.