Evonik strengthens its biosolutions offering with new Botanicals & Natural Actives business segment

Essen, Germany. Evonik is strengthening its offering of botanical extracts and natural actives by bringing its expertise together under a newly established business segment. The Botanicals & Natural Actives segment draws on expertise built up through legacy products together with a series of recent acquisitions. Evonik can now better meet the growing demand for botanical extracts and claim-substantiated natural actives, which are supported by its recently established Skin Institute.

As part of Evonik’s life sciences division, Nutrition & Care, the new Botanicals & Natural Actives segment plays an important role in expanding the company’s portfolio of biosolutions through strategic partnerships and acquisitions. By adopting a B4B (business-for-business) approach, Evonik can offer customers highly differentiated biotech natural actives as standard products and tailor-made plant-inspired solutions for their beauty and personal care portfolios.

“Sustainability drives us and innovation inspires us! By bringing together sustainable sourcing, strong biotech processes and scientific claim substantiation with our recently established Skin Institute, our customers benefit from high performance, sustainable specialty botanical ingredients that allow them to differentiate in the market,” said Yann d’Herve, head of the Care Solutions business line.

Sustainable sourcing and traceability are core values for the new Botanicals & Natural Actives segment and build on a legacy in product stewardship and transparency. The acquisition of the Argentinian biotechnology company Novachem in 2023, has added natural and sustainable active ingredients for skin and hair care applications to the Evonik portfolio. These support circular beauty – a concept that preserves natural resources while promoting beauty and wellbeing. The Swiss sustainable botanicals pioneer Botanica was acquired by Evonik in 2021 and has long-term global partnerships with suppliers to provide local, organic and fairtrade plants, as well as raw materials from secondary products.

“Nature is an infinite source of inspiration for genuine beauty and well-being. We see great market opportunities waiting to be tapped. I look forward to even more collaboration and exchange of ideas with our customers,” said Kai-Steffen Krannig, head of the Botanical & Natural Actives segment at Evonik.

Alongside Novachem and Botanica, the new segment includes the portfolio of ALKION Biopharma (acquired 2016), which specializes in biotechnologically developed cosmetic active ingredients, and Wilshire (acquired 2021), a supplier of phytochemicals to the cosmetics industry. Evonik’s legacy business including TEGO® Turmerone natural plant extract, TEGO® enlight natural brightening blend and TEGO® Natural Betaine natural amino acid derivative for skin is also core to the new segment.

The formation of the Botanicals & Natural Actives business segment is the next logical step for Evonik’s Care Solutions business line as it transforms into the preferred sustainable specialties partner for the personal care industry. By leveraging the synergies between these strong and complementary technology platforms, Evonik is enhancing its entire portfolio, creating new common solutions, opening new markets, accelerating growth and creating significant value.