Gil Seton Jr. is a Southern California real estate entrepreneur who also leads SP Investment Fund LLC, where he focuses on ventures in transformative areas of health science and technology. One of Gil Seton’s invested companies is C16 Biosciences, which has developed a unique, lab-grown palm oil substitute known as torula oil.
From the start, the MIT alumni behind C16 Biosciences had a vision of employing biology in solving climate challenges. The only issue was finding a viable concept, which required much trial and error. After each failure, rather than admit defeat, the team went back to the drawing board.
Ultimately, one founder shared a story of traveling to Singapore, where fires from forests being burned to create palm plantations cast a haze over the entire island-state. Another founder shared a similar experience in Costa Rica, where they had seen once pristine tropical rainforest turned into monocultures of palm trees. From there, they decided their goal would be to create a sustainable palm oil alternative.
With a background in synthetic biology, the team refined a process for propagating oil-producing yeast in large vats. The yeasts ferment sugars, much like the yeasts employed in brewing beer. This oil is harvested from vats and refined into a product that can be used as a palm oil substitute by the personal care industry. Today, C16 Biosciences offers a popular Palmless product for use in items such as soaps and cosmetics. It is also working to commercially develop food-grade torula oil.
The stakes riding on the success of products such as Palmless are high. Research has indicated that nearly 1 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide may be connected to palm expansion in Southeast Asia. This does not even take into account the expansion of palm plantations across South America and Central Africa. Numerous species, including critically endangered orangutans, have lost habitat as a result.
Broad industry use of palm oil also points to the strong commercial potential of torula as a substitute ingredient. Palm oil is found in around half of packaged goods on the shelves, from chocolate to skin cream. Its uses include boosting spreadability and as an emulsifier that binds two unlike substances, such as water and oil.
In an interview with Offrange, C16 Biosciences’ CEO Shara Ticku noted that a half dozen cosmetics brands with torula oil as a primary ingredient launched in 2025 alone. These include NIOD, a next-generation Estee Lauder-owned skin cleanser brand.
According to Ticku, her company’s eco-friendly ingredient offers another major advantage: precision fermentation that generates novel carotenoid profiles. These can be tailored to the specific end-use of the health and beauty project being paired with torula oil. While the cost is significantly higher than with strictly functional palm oil, the use of torula has emerged as a sought-after differentiator.
In general, Torula oil works to smooth skin, while it richly moisturizes, combining a silicone-like texture with a light after-feel. Its unique carotenoids span torulene and carotene, as well as unique fungal sterols. Such antioxidants help replenish skin and enhance skin barrier function. Because of its bio-based manufacturing process, agricultural impurities associated with palm oil are never an issue.
