French Biotech Faircraft Acquires VitroLabs Assets In Effort To Dominate Lab-Grown Leather Market

VitroLabs has already shown that its cultured leather can be used in high-end products. It also holds 30 international patents for its work in growing layered skin, supporting cell growth, and scaling up production.

Faircraft combines biotechnology and materials science to make eco-friendly materials for the fashion and leather industries. Based in Paris, it has strong ties to top luxury fashion brands. With VitroLabs’ technology, Faircraft now has a stronger scientific base and a better chance to produce lab-grown leather at a commercial scale.

Faircraft’s investors include Kindred Ventures, Blue Wire Capital, Cap Horn, Bpifrance, and Entrepreneur First.

“This acquisition represents a real strategic turning point for us: we are now the leader in the production of high-quality in vitro leather, and will now move into a new phase of industrialisation. Our objective is clear: to make in vitro leather a mark of prestige for the world’s leading fashion houses," said Haïkel Balti, co-founder and CEO of Faircraft.

Faircraft plans to open its first large production facility within the next two years. The company says more luxury brands are looking for eco-friendly materials that still look and feel high-quality, and it wants to meet that demand.

Its research lab in Paris will be key to improving the production process, making sure everything meets sustainability rules, and tracking how materials are made — all things that are very important to fashion brands trying to be more environmentally responsible.

This deal also brings together important knowledge and patents in a new and competitive area of the biomaterials industry, where very few companies have reached the point of being ready to produce at a large scale.

About Vitrolabs

VitroLabs is a biotech company that makes leather and other materials in a lab using tissue engineering. They are known for creating lab-grown leather that doesn’t harm animals or the environment. The process starts by taking a small number of animal cells, feeding them with nutrients, and helping them grow into tissue that looks and feels like real leather.