BASF invests in Chinese cosmetic botanical raw material startup to commercialize it in the global personal care market

On August 31, BASF and Yunnan Inge Bio Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Inge Bio), a supplier of natural actives and solutions for the personal care industry, announced the signing of a cooperation agreement, which includes BASF's strategic equity investment in Inge Bio.

Through this equity investment from BASF, IngeBio will continue to expand its production facilities, increase production capacity faster, and bring new solutions to the market. BASF uses its expertise to formulate these actives in personal care products and introduce them to customers around the world.

In addition, BASF will work with IngeBio to find and commercialize new solutions to the global personal care market.

This innovative partnership, which utilizes the superior resources of both parties to carry out cooperation, has deepened the two parties to a greater extent to expand the fields of cooperation and achieve mutual benefit, win-win results and common development.

Dr. Robert Parker, Director of New Business Development and Digital Officer, Care Chemicals, BASF, said: "BASF is committed to providing innovative solutions for the personal care market and building an ecosystem of partners that supports our customers. We are proud to partner with IngeBio. , develop business together and achieve mutual benefit and win-win.”

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Yunnan, China, IngeBio is a start-up company. It focuses on the development and production of innovative, highly active and sustainable plant raw materials obtained from native species in the Pan-Himalayan region, providing innovative natural active ingredients and overall market solutions for the personal care industry.
IngeBio extracts new active substances from traditional plants, has dozens of invention patents, and enjoys a good reputation among Chinese and international personal care formulators.

In 2022, the latest three products released by IngeBio are:

Flame - An excellent whitening active derived from Pyracantha, an ancient edible berry in the Pan-Himalayan region.
Yingshuyan - a natural skin barrier repair raw material prepared by freeze-drying technology, which is rich in the active ingredients of cyprodin.
Green thorn fruit oil - from Shangri-La, Yunnan, is often given to families with newborns as gifts by local ethnic minorities to care for babies' red buttocks and prevent chapped skin in winter.
Based on a strong R&D platform and internal testing facilities (in vivo and in vitro), IngeBio has expanded rapidly in recent years. At present, Inge Bio has achieved standardized and customized research services according to customer needs, and its business also supports local communities to grow native plants for sustainable procurement.

Dr. Ji Zhou, Chairman and Founder of IngeBio China, said: "It is a great honor to be recognized by BASF as such a valuable industry partner. The cooperation with BASF will help us benefit from BASF's industry experience and benefit from the mutual benefits of both parties. benefit from expertise.”

Chinese herbal medicine-related botanical actives are still a new trend in the personal care industry

As we all know, the current beauty industry has gradually transitioned from a channel-driven to a product-driven era, and product strength has become the top priority for corporate competitiveness. Efficacy positioning, raw material innovation, and safety and greenness based on consumer demand are the moat for the brand to create differentiated advantages.

In this context, the advantages of natural Chinese herbal plant raw materials are prominent. Chinese herbal extracts have various compound effects, such as whitening, anti-allergy, anti-aging, anti-oxidation, acne removal, moisturizing, repairing, etc., which can meet various efficacy needs. And traditional Chinese herbal medicines are mostly well known to consumers, and their functional ingredients can quickly establish a differentiated product selling point in the minds of consumers.

In fact, plant extracts have always been the main direction of domestic cosmetic research and development. In the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics", it is clear that "encourage and support the use of modern science and technology, combined with my country's traditional advantageous projects and characteristic plant resources to research and develop cosmetics".

According to the "Catalogue of Cosmetic Raw Materials Used (2021 Edition)", 8,965 kinds of raw materials and their usage information are included in the catalog, of which plant raw materials account for about one-third.

In the future, the application of Chinese herbal medicine-related botanical actives is still a new trend in the personal care industry and continues to grow rapidly.

As a leading supplier in the global cosmetics, detergents and cleaning agent industries, BASF has reached an innovative partnership with IngerBio in this strategic investment. It can be seen that BASF is constantly improving its natural cosmetic raw material library to solve the consumer pursuit. The demand for natural cosmetics to better provide innovative and sustainable products to local and global customers.

The collaboration between BASF and IngeBio is another example of how BASF Care Chemicals is ready to meet the challenges of the future. Sustainability, digitization, innovation and new ways of working together are the key cornerstones of Care 360° - solutions for sustainable living.

In July, BASF Group announced its second-quarter financial report. Group sales increased by 3.2 billion euros year-on-year to 23 billion euros, an increase of 16.3%, mainly due to BASF's substantial increase in prices in almost all business areas.

Specifically, sales in the Nutrition and Care business area increased by 30.9% compared to the second quarter of 2021, reaching 2.1 billion euros. Compared with the second quarter of 2021, sales in the Chemicals business area increased significantly by 27.2% to 4.3 billion euros.