Biophelion's Story
From Academia to Business.
Biophelion's story began where most great science did:
in a research lab, with a question that refused to go away.
How can we produce high-value natural molecules at scale — reliably, sustainably, and without compromising the ecosystems we're trying to protect?
The Research Years
The founders, Lars Regestein and Till Tiso, spent years in academic research developing fermentation processes capable of producing complex molecules from simple feedstocks. Their work at the Leibniz-Hans Knöll Institute in Jena and RWTH Aachen University laid the technical groundwork for what would become Biophelion's core platform: a robust, autonomous fermentation process using tailor-made organisms and flexible, locally sourced inputs.
This wasn't just basic research. It was deliberately oriented toward industrial application — toward building something that could actually work outside a flask.
July 2025 — Foundation in Jena
Biophelion GmbH was founded in July 2025, backed by over €6 million in non-dilutive funding secured before incorporation. That funding by SPRIN-D validated the science and gave the team the runway to move fast. The founding team came together from academia and business — scientists who understood commercial reality and operators who respected the science.
January 2026 — Fully Operational
By January 2026, Biophelion had a fully operational lab infrastructure in BioInstrumente Center in Jena. The team had grown to span fermentation science, process engineering, product management, commercialization, and strategy. The first commercial product — Massoia Lactone — was in production at pilot scale, with the first qualified batches enabling sample shipments to prospective customers.