Innomost launches Betuinno.™ Betulin to beauty and surface industries to replace harmful synthetic white pigment ingredients

Finnish startup Innomost has launched Betuinno.™ Betulin Top Quality Fine – a new ingredient for beauty, surfaces and coatings, and skin care industries. Betuinno.™ Betulin is a sustainable ingredient that is ideal for replacing synthetic white pigments, such as titanium dioxide. It has multifunctional benefits in cosmetics formulation and it is a sustainable and biodegradable replacement for environmentally harmful white pigment colourants.

“We are delighted to bring this new product to the market, as consumer needs and new regulations demand that beauty products are truly sustainable and safe, while providing transparency to the end-users of what the products contain. The Betuinno.™ Betulin white pigment can be utilised in different use cases, which enables Innomost to enter new industries – our products are already loved in the cosmetics industry, so we are excited to bring wood-based solutions to other players, too,” says Sami Selkälä, CEO and founder of Innomost.

White pigment is widely used in multiple products: cosmetics, toothpaste, suncreams, coatings and so on. Betuinno.™ Betulin has the potential to replace the current market standard, titanium dioxide, a white pigment ingredient that was already banned in food use in the EU in 2022 and in selected states in the United States. It is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Group 2B, as possibly carcinogenic to humans. Additionally, Betuinno.™ Betulin, together with non-nano zinc oxide, can replace titanium oxide in suncreams.  Suncreams release significant amounts of titanium dioxide into the sea, polluting it and causing harm to wildlife.

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Betuinno.™ Betulin matches the whiteness and reflectivity of synthetic white pigments. Biodegradable, vegan and non-toxic, it has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, helps skin to heal, regenerate and has moisturising effects, as well as being largely anti-allergenic. Betuinno.™ Betulin is produced from upcycled birch bark from certified forest industry side streams. Thanks to the in-house designed and patented production process technology, environmentally friendly and sustainable production solutions are used to lower the carbon footprint to the minimum.

The launch of a new product supports Innomost’s rapid international growth – its products are used on three different continents in beauty and cosmetic products, and its biggest clients include brands such as Lumene. To support the launch of a new ingredient together with a growing client base globally, the two existing investors, Metsä Spring and Innovestor, have invested an additional €1.4M in Innomost.

“Innomost has completed the greenfield pilot plant situated at Northern Europe’s largest inorganic chemical industry park in Kokkola, Finland. With this plant, Innomost can demonstrate its patented production technology and proceed towards commercial scale. We are next looking forward to expand the client base globally with applications in different industrial sectors,” says Erik Kolehmainen, Chair of Innomost and VP, Corporate Venturing at Metsä Spring.

“The co-operation with Innomost is highly valuable, offering locally sourced upcycled ingredients, as an example, we were able to formulate birch upcycled ingredients and phased out microplastic scrubbing particles with Barkinno Birch Bark Powder. In addition, as Innomost is continuously innovating, together we will continue exploring usage of existing or test new birch derived ingredients to increase the usage of upcycled & circular ingredients in our formulations. By increasing the usage of Birch derived ingredients in our portfolio, Innomost is key partner to ensure we are delivering on our strategy and vision of Leading in Circular Beauty,” says Dr. Alain Mavon, VP R&D and Sustainability, Lumene.