Timeline raises CHF 56M from L’Oréal and Nestlé in Series D financing
The funds raised will be used to expand the science, product categories and markets across food, beauty and health sectors, Timeline shared in a press release.
Federico Luna, Timeline’s chief marketing officer, told NutraIngredients the company’s goal is to “build the leading longevity brand that offers meaningful and clinically proven products across nutrition and skincare".
“Mitopure is at the core of everything we do today, but Timeline is broader than that," he said. "Our clinically proven topical skin health products are a good example of this strategy where we combine Mitopure with synergistic active ingredients and develop proprietary formulas that are safe and have clinically proven efficaciousness. We have a very exciting innovation pipeline."
Urolithin A
Mitopure is Timeline’s branded urolithin A ingredient. The company launched its own dietary supplements under the Timeline brand and has an agreement for use of Mitopure in Nestlé Health Science food and supplements such as Celltrient and Pure Encapsulations branded products.
"We have been an investor in Timeline since 2019 and continue to be very impressed with the team and stand behind the exponential potential that the Mitopure technology holds for nutrition to help people age better,” said Anna Mohl, CEO of Nestlé Health Science.
Urolithin A and its potential to boost mitochondrial function and support cellular aging have been attracting a lot of attention in recent years. The compound is generated by gut microflora from ellagitannins found in food such as pomegranate. The compounds are first hydrolyzed in the stomach into ellagic acid, which is then converted by the gut microflora into urolithin A. However, not everyone has the right microflora to be able to make the metabolite.
Preliminary data published in Nature Medicine indicated that urolithin A may improve mitochondrial function by stimulating mitophagy, a process by which damaged mitochondria are recycled to permit a renewal with healthy mitochondria. These potent beneficial effects have been demonstrated in several different organisms, including in human clinical trials.
Most of the data to date has focused on the ingredient’s benefits for muscle health, with clinical trials in a range of population and age groups. Results from a randomized clinical trial with 88 healthy people published in Cell Reports Medicine in 2022 showed that Urolithin A supplementation boosted exercise endurance and physical performance.
L’Oréal and Nestlé
The Series D financing round was led by BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development) and underscores the investors’ confidence in Mitopure, said Timeline.
"This strategic collaboration reflects the breakthrough multidimensional approach that we've always believed is necessary to make meaningful advancements for longevity and healthspan," said Patrick Aebischer, co-founder and chairman of Timeline.
Barbara Lavernos, deputy chief executive officer and in charge of research, innovation and technology at L’Oréal, said that L’Oréal has been working for a decade to understand and anticipate what longevity and healthspan could mean for beauty.
"Longevity is a new definition of beauty, at the intersection of different scientific disciplines, from decoding biological markers to analyzing external exposure," she said. "Our investment in Timeline is exciting for its potential to transpose key hallmarks of longevity onto skin health and beauty."
