CROBE RENEWABLES / THESIS
01
Crobe Renewables

We design active ingredients from recovered carbon to help improve the performance of our customers’ products.

CROBE RENEWABLES / THESIS
02

People should be able to trust the performance of the products they rely on every day.

CROBE RENEWABLES / THESIS
02

Poor performance is the hidden risk behind every brand promise.

Consumers buy results. Brands sell claims. Every claim depends on performance, and performance depends on the molecular design inside the product.

CROBE RENEWABLES / THESIS
03

When active ingredients are difficult to design, performance is harder to control.

Limited control over ingredient structure
Less control over final performance
Performance gaps may then require
Additional correction or compromise
But we don’t believe in compromise.
CROBE RENEWABLES / THESIS
01

Biology is giving us a new way
to design performance.

For the first time, biology can be engineered to build certain functional molecules with increasing precision.

⋅⋰
DNA
The source code.
Cells
Programs that build.
Microbes
Living factories.
Molecules
Function with intent.
Performance
Measurable impact.
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
02

…and an elegant way to build it.

A shared system for turning intent into repeatable form.

Chemistry

Atoms, bonds and reactions gave industry a language for designing materials.

Biology

DNA, cells and pathways give industry a language for designing living production systems.

ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
03

Biology is ancient.
The ability to design with it is new.

This moment is different because five capabilities are converging.

REWIRE
Engineering biology
MODEL
Computation
PREDICT
Quantum-assisted design
LEARN
Automation
SCALE
Biomanufacturing
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
04

The shift: from thermodynamic force
to biological precision.

Industry has always advanced by finding a more expressive way to organise matter.

1

Stone & Bronze Ages

Brute-force extraction
Break • heat • shape
2

The Chemical Age

High-energy molecular shattering
Crack • react • refine
3

The Biological Age

Information-driven assembly
Encode • grow • organise
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
05

Customers do not buy molecules.

ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
06

They buy function and feeling.

Performance is measurable behaviour, the attributes a formulation must deliver consistently, at scale.

H₂O
Hydration
Attracts and retains water
Texture
Controls feel and flow
Barrier repair
Supports protection and recovery
Stability
Preserves function over time
Foaming
Creates and controls interfaces
Longevity
Sustains effect and shelf life
Performance is not the ingredient. It is the behaviour the ingredient enables.
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
07

Performance is where value begins.

The commercial chain runs backward from a human need.

1
Consumer
Experiences an outcome
2
Brand
Promises a benefit
3
Claim
Makes it legible
4
Formulator
Builds the system
5
Ingredient
Carries the function
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
08

Better performance begins with precision biology.

Every correction downstream is evidence that the design began too late.

TODAY
Limited
biological
control
DSP
Formulation
Synthetic additives
Performance
risk
TOMORROW
Precision
biology
Less correction
Simpler formulation
Better economics
Better performance
Performance must be built into the product, not manufactured through marketing claims.
ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
09
TODAY'S FIRST QUESTION

“What molecule
can we make?”

A production question, asked before the customer problem is understood.

ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
10
THE BETTER FIRST QUESTION

“What performance
are we trying to create?”

A design question that can organise the science, economics and route to market.

ACT I / A NEW WAY OF THINKING
11

A new design language needs
a new kind of company.

Meet Crobe.

ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
12

We design backwards.

We begin with the performance customers need, then design the biology that delivers it.

Performance
Structure
Pathway
Microbe
Fermentation
Product
DESIGN BACKWARDBUILD FORWARD
ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
13
Our scientific hypothesis

If performance can be specified,
biology can be designed toward it.

DESIGN BUILD TEST LEARN SPECIFY AGAIN
Sources: NIST Engineering Biology; UK National Vision for Engineering Biology; Radivojević et al., Nature Communications (2020).
ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
14

Biology builds the complexity performance depends on.

Sequence, structure and interaction determine how molecules behave.

Polymers

≈≈≈

Chain length changes behaviour.

Peptides

A–B–C

Sequence encodes activity.

Chiral molecules

↺ ↻

Orientation changes function.

Cofactors

● + ○

Small components regulate systems.

ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
15

Biology wins where structure determines performance.

Not every molecule deserves a biological route.

High molecular complexityMore information in every kilogram
Structure–function sensitivitySmall changes create different performance
Biological activityFunction depends on recognition and interaction
Low-volume, high-value demandEconomics reward precision over tonnage
ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
16

Biology is not the answer everywhere.

Discipline is part of the platform.

Choose biology when…

Complexity, activity and provenance create differentiated value.

Do not choose biology when…

The market buys only commodity volume, low complexity and the lowest possible price.

ACT II / OUR UNCOMPROMISING CREED
17

Our uncompromising creed.

A platform is defined as much by what it refuses to do as by what it can do.

IStructure carries value, not tonnage.
IICircularity must improve the cost base, never subsidise it.
IIIWe will never design a molecule merely because we can.
IVPerformance is the specification.
VEvery deployment must make the next design better.
ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
18

A performance claim must survive five tests.

Scientific possibility is only the first gate.

1

Performance

Can we measure the effect?

2

Specification

What structure delivers it?

3

Biology

Can a host build it reliably?

4

Process

Can it be recovered at quality and scale?

5

Economics

Does the route create margin?

Crobe validation architecture, informed by engineering biology Design–Build–Test–Learn practice.
ACT II / THE CROBE THESIS
19

The roadmap is a sequence of learning loops.

Each stage should remove a specific uncertainty.

01
Specify
Performance metric
02
Prototype
Strain + broth
03
Integrate
Fermentation + DSP
04
Demonstrate
Site conditions
05
Compound
Reusable platform data
Sources: NIST DBTL workflows; Crobe scientific development plan.
ACT III / WHY CROBE
20

Why brewery wastewater?

Because brewery effluent already contains the carbon biology needs to make useful products.

Residual organic carbon
C
Biological feedstock
Functional product
ACT III / WHY CROBE
25

Many conventionally produced bioactives carry a substantial water footprint.

Crobe designs its upcycled bioactives around better water stewardship.
ACT III / WHY CROBE
21
Wastewater is no longer an operational burden.

It’s a net-negative asset.

We’re paid to take the raw carbon from brewery and food-and-beverage wastewater, reducing feedstock costs and exposure to global supply shocks.

ACT III / WHY CROBE
22

The ultimate industrial liability meets the world’s most precise design language.

The apparent contradiction is the point.

THE OLD INDUSTRIAL STACK
Variable industrial effluent
Diffuse • chaotic • treated as liability
⋅⋰
THE BIOLOGICAL STACK
Highly ordered function
Encoded • assembled • repeatable
The least ordered output of one system becomes the starting material for the most ordered language in nature.
ACT III / WHY CROBE
23

Carbon is the fuel. Biology is the conversion system.

Feedstock determines economics. Biological design determines value.

INPUT
Residual carbon
Low-cost • variable • local
ENGINE
Designed biology
Pathway • host • process
OUTPUT
Functional value
High-value
ACT III / WHY CROBE
24

Biology only scales when the economics scale with it.

The route must win before the sustainability story is counted.

Feedstock + conversion + recovery + finishing
<
the price of performance
Circularity is strongest when it improves the cost base rather than asking the customer to subsidise it.
ACT III / WHY CROBE
25

Crobe begins with a structural advantage.

The feedstock problem and the ingredient problem are solved in the same system.

Negative-cost carbon

A disposal liability becomes a biological input.

Co-location

Carbon travels through a pipe, not a global supply chain.

Two-sided value

The site saves treatment cost while the platform creates product value.

Water returned

The process is designed around resource recovery, not extraction alone.

ACT III / WHY CROBE
26

The platform is modular by design.

Five modules. One integrated platform.

01Feedstock intelligenceCharacterise • condition • standardise
02Biological design enginePathway • chassis • strain library
03Fermentation systemControl • yield • consistency
04Recovery architectureMembranes • fractionation • polishing
05Application specificationPerformance • grade • customer proof
ACT III / WHY CROBE
27

The platform becomes real
through strategic partnerships.

Crobe owns the system logic. Specialists accelerate each proof point.

Biofoundry / CRO
Build and test strains
Industrial sites
Supply carbon and context
CROBEBiology • IP • integration
DSP specialists
Recover and qualify
Market partners
Formulate and distribute
ACT III / WHY CROBE
28

One microbial operating system.
Multiple product pathways.

We do not reinvent the factory for every molecule.

VARIABLE INPUT
Industrial carbon
UNIVERSAL CHASSIS
A prolific host,
rewired by programme
HA
Neu5Ac
MK-7
Surfactin
γ-PGA
The chassis translates chaotic, variable carbon into ordered, predictable performance.
ACT III / WHY CROBE
29

Capital-light is an architecture, not an absence of assets.

Own the layers that compound. Partner the layers that specialise.

Own

  • Core biology
  • Strain and process IP
  • Platform data
  • Customer specification

Partner

  • Final polishing
  • Specialist equipment
  • Application testing
  • Distribution

Scale

  • Site modules
  • Operating playbooks
  • Field-of-use licences
  • Shared upside
ACT III / WHY CROBE
30

Every deployment makes the next design better.

The IP moat is the loop between biology, process and market evidence.

Feedstock data
Strain learning
Process learning
Application proof
Customer demand
COMPOUNDING
PLATFORM
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
31

The cost of losing performance.

Replacing an ingredient is easy. Rebuilding its performance is the expensive part.

~25%
of cosmetic products are upgraded
or completely reformulated each year
87%
of industry respondents reformulate
regularly or occasionally
Ingredient restriction or supply change
Formula redevelopment
Stability + safety testing
Claims revalidation
Manufacturing trials
Changed consumer experience
€14.7bn
UK beauty and personal care market, every forced reformulation puts established performance, claims and customer loyalty back at risk.
Sources: 2025 cosmetic-product reformulation review; industry reformulation poll; Cosmetics Europe market data. Figures are sector indicators, not Crobe revenue forecasts.
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
32

Performance earns the right to win commercially.

Sustainability strengthens the decision. It does not replace it.

Equal or better performance
+
Defensible claims
+
Supply resilience
+
Competitive economics
= a reason to switch
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
33

The first portfolio proves the range of the platform.

Five fine chemicals. Multiple performance systems.

HA
Hydration • lubrication • matrix
Neu5Ac
Recognition • nutrition • bioactivity
MK-7
Calcium direction • longevity
γ-PGA
Water retention • film formation
Surfactin
Foaming • emulsification • biocontrol
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
34

We enter markets through applications, not molecules.

The same biological output can create value in different performance systems.

Beauty

Hydration
Barrier support
Mild cleansing

Nutrition

Bone and heart
Healthy ageing
Early-life nutrition

Medical

Wound care
Ophthalmics
Biomaterials

Agriculture

Biostimulants
Biocontrol
Wetting

Industrial

Cleaning
Water treatment
Process aids
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
35

Growing demand gives us room to scale beyond our initial capacity.

Three different numbers. Three different questions.

£12.9bnCategory universeAll markets surrounding the five molecules
£2.1bnRaw-ingredient TAMManufacturer-level spend across all applications
£0.8bnSAM
£6–8mInitial annual SOM
Universe = end markets  |  TAM = ingredient value  |  SAM = accessible demand  |  SOM = planned output
Scaled year-five SOM: £40–60m annual, conditional on flagship and licensed capacity.
Sources: public category market reports; Crobe raw-ingredient and capacity models. Figures are working estimates subject to commercial validation.
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
36

Scale comes from replication, not one giant plant.

Each deployment adds capacity without centralising every risk.

DEMO
FLAGSHIP
LICENSED NETWORK
Common biology and operating logic. Local carbon and site economics.
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
37

The next milestones turn thesis into evidence.

Every milestone closes a commercial or scientific gap.

01Bench proofWastewater-derived carbon → target molecule
02Process proofIntegrated fermentation and recovery
03Performance proofGrade, structure and application testing
04Economic proofMass balance, COGS and repeatability
05Site proofDemonstration under industrial conditions
Crobe scientific and demonstration roadmap; sequencing subject to partner and funding milestones.
ACT IV / COMMERCIAL PROOF
38
THE VISION

A functional performance layer
for industrial biology.

Customer need biological design local production qualified performance

Built from residual industrial carbon. Improved by every deployment.

CROBE RENEWABLES / MANIFESTO
39

Biology is a language.
We speak it fluently.

CROBE RENEWABLES
DNA
Cell
Microbe
Molecule
Performance
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