About us

At Polybion™, we create revolutionary biomaterials for forward thinkers. This is how we got here.

: As brothers growing up in Mexico, Axel and Alexis Gómez Ortigoza were fascinated by technology, nature and the universe.

In 2014, Axel saw the potential of a mycelium biomaterial while participating in a Synthetic Biology competition at MIT. He took the idea to his brother Alexis and their friend Bárbara González Rolón, who has a PhD in Materials Science.

Bárbara introduced the brothers to a government innovation grant. When investors fell through, Alexis contributed his life savings on the brothers' behalf, Bárbara supplied the rest, and the three founded a new company to biofabricate mycelium materials in only five days.
Working in his mother's laboratory, Axel grew the first pieces of mushroom material at a lab scale as proof-of-concept.
: Bárbara, Axel, and Alexis used the government grant investment to rent a space near Barbara's laboratory and develop the pilot mycelium production process.

POLY from the Greek polus/polloi meaning much/many
BIO from the Greek bios meaning life
ON from the Latin suffix meaning an entity that performs an action indicated by the root word
Polybion™ is an entity that develops multiple life technologies.

But despite working tirelessly for nine months, Axel struggled to replicate the experiment on a pilot scale. Meanwhile, Alexis focused on business development.
Demoralized and close to giving up, Axel returned to the lab one day to discover the experiment had worked. He interpreted it as a sign from the universe to continue. They called this biomaterial Fungicel and named the company Polybion™.
: Polybion™ founded Fungi Lab, the first vertically integrated pilot plant for mycelium materials in Latin America.

Fungi Lab was built by Axel, Alexis, and the company’s first two employees, Jorge and Hugo, in a basement. They created the incubator and further installations with their bare hands.

Polybion™ thrived for the next four years on awards, prizes, and government grants.
: Polybion™ hired two biologists and a biochemist, and Axel taught them everything he had learned during the last four years.

Alexis made Polybion™ his full-time job.
: While working in the lab, the brothers derived a material from a bacterial fermentation process and realized they could turn it into a high-performance leather alternative.

They saw the opportunity this presented, since no one was innovating with bacterial cellulose; then hired Turella Manríquez to lead the new endeavour as Celium's lead project manager.
: The Polybion™ Fungi Lab began focusing on bacterial cellulose.

Axel realized he could use locally produced agro-industrial fruit waste to feed the bacteria, creating a circular production model. They named this cell-based leather alternative Celium™ and began producing it in the lab optimally located 30 miles away from Mexico’s biggest tanning hub, León Guanajuato.

By now the next-generation materials industry was gaining traction, and some key stakeholders came on board to help define the company’s direction: Ariel Gómez Ortigoza, advisor in business development; José Luis Hernández, advisor in large-scale fermentation production and scaling; Eduardo Parra, financial advisor; and Manuel Aguilar, PhD, genetic and scientific advisor, who later became the company’s CSO.
: After Polybion™ won the first place award in Latin America’s Mass Challenge Acceleration Program, Mariana González from the European food tech-focused fund Blue Horizon contacted Alexis.

Later that year, Polybion™ became Blue Horizon's first investment in next-generation materials space. Now based in Spain, the company closed a multi-million euro financing round.
: Polybion™ focused its investment capital on two main goals: building FOAK I (The first-of-a-kind biomanufacturing facility in the world to industrialize bacterial cellulose production)

and hiring a world-class team–including Diogo Domingues Barbosa da Frada as COO, Gabriela Irastorza Dragonné as Head of Communications and Culture, and María Montserrat Cabrera Gutiérrez as Head of People and Talent.
: We are a company driven by the belief that the intersection of biology and technology produces new platforms that can create a civilizational shift.

We strive to do more with less for the benefit of our planet. We are growing a better future one cell at a time.

Our success is the result of the individuals who inspired us, supported us, and trusted our ability to break schemes and change paradigms.

About us

At Polybion™, we create revolutionary biomaterials for forward thinkers. This is how we got here.

As brothers growing up in Mexico, Axel and Alexis Gómez Ortigoza were fascinated by technology, nature and the universe.

Bárbara, Axel, and Alexis used the government grant investment to rent a space near Barbara's laboratory and develop the pilot mycelium production process.

Polybion™ founded Fungi Lab, the first vertically integrated pilot plant for mycelium materials in Latin America.

Polybion™ hired two biologists and a biochemist, and Axel taught them everything he had learned during the last four years.

While working in the lab, the brothers derived a material from a bacterial fermentation process and realized they could turn it into a high-performance leather alternative.

The Polybion™ Fungi Lab began focusing on bacterial cellulose.

After Polybion™ won the first place award in Latin America’s Mass Challenge Acceleration Program, Mariana González from the European food tech-focused fund Blue Horizon contacted Alexis.

Polybion™ focused its investment capital on two main goals: building FOAK I (The first-of-a-kind biomanufacturing facility in the world to industrialize bacterial cellulose production)

We are a company driven by the belief that the intersection of biology and technology produces new platforms that can create a civilizational shift.