Innomost appoints new CEO to accelerate global growth of its upcycled birch bark ingredients
Newly appointed CEO Tiina Bensky has extensive experience in brand development in the beauty industry from leading brands like L’Oréal and Lumene. The appointment marks a new chapter in Innomost’s mission to grow internationally with its upcycled birch bark ingredients and become a leader in biobased solutions to replace fossil-based materials used extensively in beauty, personal care, and industrial applications like adhesives, paints, and coatings.
HELSINKI, Finland (October 31st, 2024) Finnish bio-based materials startup Innomost has appointed new CEO Tiina Bensky as the company continues its rapid international growth. Bensky will lead the development of the company’s portfolio of natural, wood-based active ingredients that have applications in cosmetics, beauty, adhesives, paints, and surface coatings. The products or active ingredients are derived from upcycled birch bark from Nordic forest industry side streams. Innomost aims to accelerate its production capacity toward commercial scale and expand into additional use cases to replace harmful and polluting fossil-based materials.
Bensky has over 20 years of experience in the beauty and personal care industry, bringing expertise from senior business development, marketing, and supply chain management positions at leading beauty brands, including Clarins, L’Oréal, and Lumene.
“It’s invigorating to join a fast-growing company that leads with green innovation like Innomost. Coming from a background of working with established brands to an emerging one, I’m excited to take on fresh, interesting challenges. We have ambitious objectives and a strong trajectory, along with an excellent existing client portfolio and advanced, patented production technology. I’m looking forward to helping Innomost put Nordic products on the international map for innovation in sustainable materials,” says Bensky.
Ingredients sourced from fossil-based feedstocks are heavily used in cosmetic formulations for their desirable functional properties. However, these ingredients can pose environmental threats such as pollution, increased carbon emissions, and even human consumption of microplastics. These ingredients also pose potential health risks, making it essential for manufacturers to bridge the gap between sustainability, safety, and applicability.
Innomost’s patented technology transforms upcycled birch bark from industry side-streams of FSC-certified Nordic forests into sustainable biobased alternatives to fossil-based ingredients. Birch bark is an ideal alternative material due to its natural sustainability, biodegradability, and abundance as a byproduct of the forestry industry. It is rich in compounds like suberin and betulin, which provide strong protective, hydrophobic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. These characteristics make it high-performing in creating effective, durable, flexible, and hydrophobic properties across industries.
Innomost’s portfolio consists of biobased, natural, biodegradable solutions for all cosmetic product categories, including skincare, haircare, body care, decorative cosmetics, and oral care, as well as applications in glues, paints, and surface coatings. Innomost Betuinno ™ can potentially replace synthetic white pigments, such as harmful titanium dioxide.
“As sustainability regulations tighten and harmful ingredients like titanium dioxide and microplastics face global bans, the cosmetics industry is under pressure to adopt safer, natural alternatives. Innomost’s leading-edge, birch-bark-based ingredients are ideally suited to meet these new standards, offering both performance and safety. The material is derived from side streams, so no deforestation is required, and the supply of raw materials will never run out. We can also comfortably support customers in demonstrating a fully traceable, sustainable value chain in accordance with regulatory requirements,” Bensky explains.
Innomost’s pilot plant in Kokkola, Finland, currently produces up to 10 tons of material annually, a process which begins with 1 million kg of raw materials. The plant is one of a kind and makes Innomost a frontrunner in Betulin and Suberin production. The next growth stage would see production expand to the demo phase, in which up to 300 tons of material would be produced annually. Discussions towards commercial sales have already seen significant interest from several top-tier cosmetics brands.
“We’re delighted to welcome Tiina on board at Innomost. With her expertise and vision, we’re excited to continue our mission to be one of the leading manufacturers replacing fossil ingredients with biobased ones across many industries,” says Sami Selkälä, CTO at Innomost. “We’re not standing still; we’re already testing some exciting new use cases and looking forward to reaching the full potential of wood-based innovations.”
For additional information:
Aino Erkinjuntti
Sales and Marketing Director, Innomost
+358 44 970 5284
aino.erkinjuntti@innomost.com
