Villa Blu Newsletter #10
Regular updates on a unique hub in the historical heart of Grasse dedicated to accelerating natural innovation 🌱
March was THE month of innovation for Robertet and once more a lot happened at Villa Blu 🌱
Villa Blu News - March ‘25
💡 Our very first Robertet InnoDay
For a first of its kind at Villa Blu, our Chief Innovation Officer Olivier Maubert and our COO Philippine Bangratz, organised a fantastic event inviting nearly 100 people from the Robertet divisions to come together at Villa Blu, to discover the many different types of innovative projects being developed across all teams.
From R&D teams presenting new extraction techniques to fascinating pitches about our star Rose ingredients, AI and Augmented Naturality at Robertet all the way to innovative flavors and the global longevity phenomenon, we heard it all.
📷 Beginning our journey to social media fame
Robertet Health & Beauty has joined forces with Mathieu Nutrastream, the biggest French influencer in health and supplementation. With nearly 300K followers on Instagram and more than 500K on TikTok, he uses his scientific background to vulgarise supplements and ingredients for consumers across the country. Apart from helping our teams market their innovative ingredients like Lipowheat or Damasty, he spent some time with our entrepreneurs and gave some great tips on building a community.
🌿 Agritech in the heart of Grasse
From seeds to... startups 🌱 At Villa Blu, we work with so many different entrepreneurs and projects, it's easy to forget the heart of our industry which is agriculture. Early March, we were honored to be present at the 1st Agritech Summit in Grasse, hosted by our friends at La French Tech Côte d'Azur.
It was Philippine (who is becoming a professional round-table host) who oversaw a deep dive into Agriculture in the South of France with Jean-François Gonidec, Hervé Carduner & Gabriel Bouillon.
Portfolio News
🐶 A new product for your pets 🐱
Truffe & Moustache have just launched Secours, a purifying and soothing spray for dogs & cats. Designed as an essential for your first aid kit, Secours addresses a simple yet universal issue. A natural way to safely clean and soothe minor wounds, irritations, and itching in dogs & cats.
🧪 96% natural-origin ingredients
🌿 Grapefruit seed extract with antibacterial and antifungal properties
✅ Suitable for sensitive areas — safe if licked, and doesn’t sting
🚰 Better water for better living
Sküma Water on the scene again at the Sommet de l’Hypersanté to evangelise purified water and working with people who focus on optimised health and longevity. Just months after launching their first machines in Europe after conquering the UK, Sküma are now becoming a household name in the healthy water ecosystem 💧
Investment News
Some news about fundraising for our entrepreneurs 💸
Another beverage, but a completely different vision for health, Symbiose Kefir, is working on delicious probiotic drinks with a focus on natural gut health. They’ve closed over €1.5M over the past two years and have just finished a €400K bridge round 👏
Frozmetics, a biotech developing the Cryoserum™️, a new technology to preserve active ingredients in liquid form at freezing temperatures, is raising their Pre-Seed round at €400K with over 50% secured and looking to close end of May.
You can chat with Fred, their CEO : f.ghenassia@frozmetics.com
Final Notes
Spring on its way, so is the Selection Committee for our 5th Batch (already!), a trip to the UK for the sake of innovation (and beer) and some new partnerships to be announced !
See you all next month 🫡