Nature already gives us a lot, but we can also help it give even more, believes Aplantex, a growing SME in Boucherville, which wants to produce on a large scale the active ingredients used in the composition of cosmetics and medications.
The idea
The work of Mourad Sabri and a team of scientists to produce highly sought-after natural ingredients more quickly and at a lower cost led in 2022 to the creation of a company that has been entirely dedicated to it ever since.
Nature produces these molecules all by itself, which, once concentrated, are the active ingredients used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Aplantex has found a way to produce them more quickly and in greater quantities in a controlled environment, explains Patrick Charest, its CEO.
PHOTOS TAKEN FROM APLANTEX WEBSITE
Mourad Sabri and Patrick Charest
The product
With vertical hydroponics, a plant whose identity is kept secret produces an abundance of raw material from which valuable active ingredients can be extracted and concentrated. The plant can thus quickly produce tons of raw material from which value-added molecules are extracted, sold by the gram, which are the active ingredients of products such as anti-aging creams, food supplements or medicines.
Aplantex’s business model ensures continuous production at a lower cost than natural production, which has a longer cycle and is subject to climatic hazards.
The company’s first steps toward commercializing its molecules are generating a lot of interest. The giant L’Oréal is among those who have supported the company since its beginnings. Aplantex has surrounded itself with advisors including Stéphane Bérubé, president of the consumer products division of L’Oréal Canada, and François Ravenelle, who was until very recently president and CEO of Inversago, a company of the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
The future
Aplantex believes it has a head start in supplying the huge markets it is targeting with 100% natural ingredients produced in Quebec using renewable energy.
The company has just concluded a financing of 2.8 million in which Investissement Québec, Cycle Momentum and Circular Innovation Fund participated.
The next step will be the construction of commercial-scale facilities, for which a new round of financing will be required. Ultimately, Aplantex is aiming for licensed production, which would allow the local production of its molecules anywhere in the world. To be continued.
Visit the Aplantex website