Company · Healthtech & Bio

Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence

darwinbioprospecting.com ↗ ·Paterna ·Series A

Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence is a Valencia-based microbial biotechnology company that explores, discovers, and cultures novel microorganisms worldwide and turns them into industrial products, spanning Health & Nutrition (probiotics, functional foods, personalized nutrition) and Biosolutions (biogas, bioremediation, biocontrol, plastic-waste valorization). Founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the University of Valencia and CSIC, it holds a patent on a bacterium that acts as a magnet for microplastics and partnered with Repsol on polyolefin biodegradation technology.

Founded

2017

Founders

News

Rounds

Investors

SectorsBiotechnology, Microbial biotechnology, Probiotics & Functional Foods, Agricultural biologicals, Environmental biosolutions, Bioremediation Start-up MapHealthtech & Bio › R&D tools & software for life sciences

Profile updated 31 Jul 2026

Founders

Cristina Vilanova

Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder

Manuel Porcar

Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder

Global models 5

Indigo Ag

United States · www.indigoag.com ↗

Discovers and commercializes microbial biologicals (36,000+ strains) for agriculture, the same bioprospecting-to-product model Darwin applies to its Biosolutions line.

$1.4BComparable

Ginkgo Bioworks

United States · www.ginkgobioworks.com ↗

A platform that engineers and scales novel microorganisms into custom products for multiple industries, mirroring Darwin's microbial discovery-to-application pipeline.

$800MComparable

Solugen

United States · solugen.com ↗

Uses engineered microbial/enzymatic biomanufacturing to replace petrochemical products, matching Darwin's industrial biosolutions focus.

$650MComparable

Pivot Bio

United States · www.pivotbio.com ↗

Develops microbial products (nitrogen-fixing bacteria) for agriculture, directly comparable to Darwin's ag/biocontrol biosolutions work.

$617MComparable

Basecamp Research

United Kingdom · www.basecampresearch.com ↗

Built on global environmental bioprospecting expeditions to discover novel microbial biodiversity, the closest direct analogue to Darwin's core sampling-and-discovery model.

$85MComparable