Microphyt appoints two new directors and confirms its focus on sustainable value creation with a new ESG Advisory Committee

• Two New Directors, Hilde Windels[1] & Anne Colonna[2] are joining Microphyt’s Board, following a successful €15 million financing round.
• Chloe Schiaffino from Bpifrance is leading the newly formed ESG Advisory Committee.
• Hilde Windels is leading the newly formed Risk and Audit Committee.

Baillargues (France), March 24th, 2023 – Microphyt, a leading innovation-driven company in microalgae-based natural solutions, for nutrition and well-being announces the appointment of Anne Colonna (representing BOLD) and Hilde Windels BV as new Directors of Microphyt’s Board. Following its most recent financing of €15 million (November 2022), Microphyt is accelerating both new product development and commercialization of its ingredient portfolio. To meet customer demand, Microphyt is also increasing the production capacity of its industrial platform in Baillargues (South of France).

Hilde Windels BV is appointed as an independent Director to lead the Risk and Audit Committee. Hilde has a track record as CFO, CEO and Director in supporting companies during the transition from early stage through scale-up. She has historically been focused on enabling substantial value creation through the commercialization of proprietary technology and products. “I’m delighted to lead the Audit and Risk Committee of Microphyt’s Board of Directors at this particular time in its development" stated Hilde Windels. “Microphyt has effectively shown that it can successfully produce and sell natural bioactive ingredients in nutrition and personal care markets globally. Consolidating all these building blocks and aligning with the expectations of our stakeholders, including our long-term financial investors, is a journey I am very excited about.”

Anne Colonna, General Manager Advanced Research at the L’OREAL Groupe is representing BOLD Business Opportunities for L'Oréal Development, L’OREAL’s corporate venture fund. Anne brings her deep expertise in the research and the development of sustainable solutions and responsible innovations in well-being.

To reinforce its focus on sustainability, Microphyt has decided to form an ESG Committee. Led by Chloé Schiaffino from Bpifrance, one of Microphyt’s lead investors. The ESG Committee will advise the Board to further advance Microphyt’s CSR initiatives. Chloé Schiaffino explained: “Microphyt has been a pioneer in fostering the massive transition towards natural and sustainably produced solutions in nutrition and wellbeing. I am particularly thrilled to help expand the initial commitment of Microphyt’s CEO Vincent Usache in the Corporate Social Responsibility with the actions of the ESG Committee."

Lieven De Smedt, Chairman of the Board of Microphyt, added: “Having Anne, Chloé and Hilde on board in their new roles will not only complete the skills and competencies on our Board, but given their complimentary ways of looking at things, will enhance our strategic decision making. If Microphyt is already in the top league of bringing inspiring Natural Ingredients to the market, this Board and the new ESG Committee are committed to become a top league player in Sustainable Value Creation."

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[1] representing Hilde Windels BV

[2] representing BOLD (Business Opportunities for L'Oréal Development)

About Hilde Windels, Independent Director

Hilde Windels has over 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector, primarily as CFO of private and public companies (during 14 years), as CEO (during 5 years) and as advisor and/or board member. Since January 2022 she fully focusses on board positions and advisory roles. Her key expertise is finance, financing, building and structuring organisations, strategy, business development, corporate transactions, risk management and other “audit committee” matters. Ms Windels currently serves as Director of public life sciences companies MDx Health NV (also audit committee member), Celyad SA (chair of board and remuneration committee, member of audit committee) and Erytech SA (chair of audit committee). Since June 2022 she also serves on the board of GIMV, a public private equity firm. Ms. Windels holds a Masters in Economics (Commercial Engineer) from the University of Leuven.

About Anne Colonna, representing L’OREAL Groupe - BOLD Business Opportunities for L'Oréal Development

In both her personal and professional lives, Anne Colonna is inspired by the firm belief that innovation is created at the interface of different cultures and areas of expertise. Every day, she and her teams are pushing the boundaries of science to help the L’OREAL Groupe transformation towards a sustainable beauty that embraces all forms of diversity. An engineer by training, Anne Colonna has a PhD in biotechnology. During her 17 years with L’OREAL Research & Innovation Department, she has been recognized for her expertise in cosmetics, particularly in the areas of clinical research, product launches, international regulations, and evaluating the efficacy of products. At Advanced Research, she is leading the transformation of several research centers around the world, working along with their 800 scientific experts and numerous academic and industrial partners. She is also involved in the strategic transformation of the portfolio of ingredients and the Group’s major shift to Green Sciences reflecting the aims of its sustainability program, L’Oréal for the Future.

About Microphyt

Microphyt is a leading company in the production and marketing of microalgae-based natural active ingredients. With more than 10 years of expertise in this field, Microphyt draws from the untapped microalgae diversity to provide unique solutions for Nutrition and Wellness. Microphyt's technologies, developed in-house and patented, allow the controlled production of a wide variety of microalgae on an industrial scale and in a sustainable way. The company has 50 employees and has filed 8 patent families.

More information: www.microphyt.eu – Follow us on Twitter: @Microphyt

About Bpifrance

Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extrafinancial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export…).

For more information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr - Follow us on Twitter: @Bpifrance - @BpifrancePresse

The SPI fund is financed by the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir (PIA) and managed by Bpifrance Investissement.

Microphyt Press Contact

Julie Person

Phone: +33 (0)7 78 64 48 46 Email: julie.person@microphyt.eu