# Manus

> Manus (Manus Bio) is an MIT-born industrial biotechnology company that engineers microbial cell factories and precision fermentation to produce natural ingredients - sweeteners, flavors, fragrances and pharmaceutical building blocks - that are normally extracted from plants or made from petrochemicals. Branded as 'The BioAlternatives Company,' Manus runs an R&D hub in Boston and a commercial-scale biomanufacturing plant in Augusta, Georgia, where it makes products such as monk fruit sweetener and stevia Reb M for partners including Givaudan and Tate & Lyle.

- **Founded:** 2011
- **Headquarters:** Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founders:** Ajikumar Parayil (Founder & CEO), Gregory Stephanopoulos (Co-founder / Scientific Founder (MIT professor))
- **Team size:** ~160 employees
- **Products:** Monk Fruit Sweetener, Yume™ M Stevia (Reb M), Nootkatone 70 / BioNootkatone, Valencene 80, Cell Factory Engineering & Biomanufacturing Services
- **Notable:** Spun out of MIT metabolic engineering research and built a commercial biomanufacturing platform., First company to manufacture monk fruit sweetener at commercial scale in the United States., First large-scale commercialization of an all-Americas sourced and bioconverted stevia Reb M ingredient.

## Products & services

- **Monk Fruit Sweetener** — Natural high-intensity sweetener produced by fermentation; Manus is the first to manufacture it at commercial scale in the United States.
- **Yume™ M Stevia (Reb M)** — Premium stevia sweetener and the first large-scale commercialization of an all-Americas sourced, manufactured and bioconverted stevia Reb M ingredient.
- **Nootkatone 70 / BioNootkatone** — Grapefruit-derived flavor and fragrance ingredient developed, scaled and manufactured for Givaudan.
- **Valencene 80** — Citrus flavor and fragrance ingredient produced by precision fermentation.
- **Cell Factory Engineering & Biomanufacturing Services** — Programs and services that take partners' molecules from strain design through pilot and commercial-scale fermentation.

## Achievements

- Spun out of MIT metabolic engineering research and built a commercial biomanufacturing platform.
- First company to manufacture monk fruit sweetener at commercial scale in the United States.
- First large-scale commercialization of an all-Americas sourced and bioconverted stevia Reb M ingredient.
- Raised $75M Series B (2020) led by BBGI and co-led by NXT Ventures.
- Selected by HHS for a Defense Production Act Title III program to produce artemisinin domestically ($47.4M).
- Augusta BioFacility supports more than 150 skilled biomanufacturing jobs in Georgia.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Broke ground on an artemisinin biomanufacturing facility at its Augusta BioFacility, joined by HHS leadership and members of Congress.
- **2024** — Began commercial-scale production of monk fruit sweetener in Augusta, Georgia - a first for the United States.
- **2024** — Awarded a Defense Production Act Title III partnership (grown to $47.4M) with HHS ASPR to build domestic artemisinin supply.
- **2020-11** — Raised $75M Series B led by BBGI and co-led by NXT Ventures to expand the Augusta facility and pipeline.

## Links

- Website: https://www.manusbio.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manus/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/manusbio

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/manus
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-19