Green Manufacturing
RUBY BIO
Sustainable solutions for high-value products
Founded:
2022
Located
California, United States
We invested
Seed
EARTH-FIRST VISION
Ruby Bio leverages naturally occurring yeast to convert low-cost sugars into high-value, biodegradable, and non-toxic molecules through biotechnology. Ruby’s proprietary biosynthesis platform enables sustainable innovation across personal care, home care, food, and beverage sectors, starting with biosurfactants.
The global surfactants market is worth $47.36 billion in 2024, with 17 million metric tons produced annually. Biosurfactants make up 5% of that market ($2.37 billion) and are projected to grow at a CAGR of 11%. Ruby Bio is leading the charge, replacing the pollution-heavy legacy of petrochemistry with biotechnology built for people and the planet.
THE PROBLEM
Surfactants are essential to personal care products, from cleansers and lotions to cosmetics. Yet most are still synthetic or semi-synthetic, derived from petrochemicals, palm kernel oil (PKO), or coconut oil (CNO) – feedstocks tied to carbon emissions, deforestation, and biodiversity loss in tropical regions. As environmental and health concerns grow, so does the demand for cleaner, more sustainable alternatives across the personal care industry.
SOLUTIONS
Ruby Bio is building fermentation-derived biosurfactants to produce biodegradable, non-toxic and fossil-free ingredients for innovative personal care formulations. Using engineered natural yeasts and proprietary manufacturing processes, they create high-purity molecules that are as safe for the planet as they are effective on your skin. By leveraging low-cost sugar feedstocks and high-efficiency yeast strains, Ruby Bio is building a cost-effective, high-performance, and scalable biosynthesis platform.
THEIR DNAs
Ruby Bio is led by a seasoned team of builders with deep expertise in biotech, engineering, and scaling synthetic biology from bench to market.
Charlie Silver (CEO & Co-founder) previously built Mission Bio from the ground up, raising $120M and scaling the company to a $300M valuation. His career spans leadership roles in product and technology at Novelx (A:NYSE), Agilent, and Glimmerglass Networks, and research positions at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and NASA Goddard. He holds a joint MBA from UC Berkeley and Columbia University, an MS in Physics from UW–Madison, and a joint BA in Astrophysics and Philosophy from Columbia.
Dr. Pavan Kambam (CTO & Co-founder) is a bioprocess and fermentation expert with an MBA from UMass-Amherst, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UMass-Amherst, and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. He has led biosynthesis development at six startups, including Greenlight Biosciences, Clara Foods, and Eat Just, with a track record taking biomanufacturing from bench to pilot scale.