The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
Joshua Britton has a lot to be proud of this year.
Debut Biotech, the company he founded in 2019 and runs as CEO, launched its first consumer brand in January, called Deinde.
The brand is based on treating low-grade inflammation which is believed to cause five signs of aging, including fine lines, dullness, dryness, and uneven skin tone and texture. Its first three products center around naringenin, a patented niacinamide alternative made by Britton’s team through fermentation using molecules from grapefruit peels. The whipped cleanser and moisturizing face stick sell direct-to-consumer for under $40, while the skin-strengthening serum goes for $88.
Debut Biotech also expanded its partnership with L’Oréal Group to develop and scale more than a dozen bio-identical ingredients that could replace conventionally sourced ingredients in L’Oréal’s global product assortment. The goal is to bolster the conglomerate’s sustainability journey — and it’s betting big on Britton. So far, L’Oréal’s VC arm, Bold Ventures, has invested $40 million in Debut as the majority investor. Debut has taken on $70 million in total investment.
In the name of diversification, Debut launched its own contract manufacturing business unit called BiotechXBeautyLabs, in July. The goal is to offer high-performing, sustainable, clinically-tested and differentiated biotech products at a high speed and with no upfront research costs. Its first products will be released in 2025 including a partnership with aesthetics studio chain Formula Fig.
Britton told Glossy that this momentum has created year-over-year business growth for the past three years — but building the company’s infrastructure hasn’t been easy.
“Vertical integration is no joke,” Britton told Glossy. “Years ago, we were told we were stupid for even trying. … It was one of the hardest things we set out to do.” Now, Debut has 100 employees, a functioning in-house line and a contract manufacturing business, and is financially backed by the largest beauty conglomerate in the world.
“Even though biotech is this amazing new thing that can provide this transition [in the beauty industry toward better ingredients and processes], no one knows how to use it,” Britton said. “No one knows how to integrate it, so we had to do the full stack. We had to build everything.”
Today, he said, Debut is a “solid foundation” from which his team can innovate, create and ultimately bring change to the industry. Among those changes are using ingredients that require fewer resources and create fewer negative impacts on the environment and communities that are typically impacted by sourcing, which are often in the developing world.
Originally from the U.K., Britton has a master’s degree in organic chemistry from Nottingham University, a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine and a post-doctorate degree in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Debut currently holds more than 70 patents and counting — they include two new ingredients the brand plans to debut next year.
