One Bio

One Bio (one.bio) is a Sacramento, California-based biotechnology company that produces short-chain plant fibers intended to be added to foods and beverages at high inclusion rates without affecting taste, odor, color or texture. Its core technology is a depolymerization process, developed by its founding scientists at UC Davis, that breaks polysaccharides from plants, algae and microbes into shorter oligosaccharides. The process uses a reaction between a metal catalyst (iron) and an oxidizing agent (hydrogen peroxide) to generate reactive radical species that cleave the polysaccharide chains; the resulting fibers are characterized by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. According to the company, the process makes fibers soluble, more bioactive and palatable without changing the fiber's underlying structure, and can run on standard equipment.

The company pairs this process with the "Glycopedia," a catalog of plant-derived carbohydrate structures, their fermentation pathways and biological effects. Coverage describes the database as covering fiber structures characterized from more than 2,500 plants, foods, algae and bacteria, with roughly 3,000 plant-derived carbohydrate structures. The Glycopedia is used to select fiber sources for particular applications based on chemical structure and intended physiological function. Feedstocks include agricultural and processing byproducts such as apple peels, cranberry skins, oat fiber from plant milk production, and soy, pea and almond pulp, positioning the company as both a nutrition and food-waste play.

One Bio frames its market thesis around the gap between historical and modern fiber intake and the resulting burden of chronic inflammatory and metabolic disease, and around demand for products marketed as compatible with or as an alternative to GLP-1 agonist drugs. Its own website reports a two-week human study in which participants showed fewer digestive symptoms at high servings, reduced post-meal sugar spikes, steadier blood glucose, and improvements in mood, focus and mental clarity. The company also markets GoodVice, described as the first consumer food and beverage line built on the Glycopedia, sold at drinkgoodvice.com.

Founding story

The company was founded in 2019 as BCD Bioscience by UC Davis researchers Matt Amicucci, Carlito Lebrilla, Bruce German and David Mills, whose combined backgrounds in food science, organic chemistry and microbiology came together initially around understanding nutrition from birth before broadening to healthspan and longevity across life stages. Matt Barnard, a co-founder of vertical farming company Plenty, joined as co-founder and CEO in 2023, and has said his work at Plenty informed the premise that greater understanding and control of what is eaten yields greater control over health.

Business model

One Bio sells fiber ingredients to packaged food and beverage manufacturers, with the CEO stating in 2024 that multiple business models were being explored, including taking a customer's own fiber-bearing processing byproduct (for example oat fiber from plant milk, or pea and soy fiber from alt-protein processing) and converting it into a short-chain fiber ingredient the customer can add back into products. The company has also moved downstream into consumer products with its GoodVice branded food and beverage line.

Revenue derives from supplying short-chain fiber ingredients to food, beverage and supplement manufacturers under contracts, alongside direct consumer sales of the GoodVice product line.

Traction

By late 2023 the company reported having characterized fiber structures from over 2,500 plants, foods, algae and bacteria and having scaled its process more than tenfold per year for five consecutive years. In December 2024 it reported existing contracts in confection, juice and supplements and was selecting first on-shelf partners in four categories. Cumulative funding was reported at $44 million following the Series A. The company's website reports two-week human study results and markets the GoodVice consumer line as available.

Latest developments

Following the December 2024 Series A, the company launched GoodVice, described on its website as the first line of foods built on the Glycopedia and available for purchase at drinkgoodvice.com, and publicized results of a two-week human study on digestive symptoms, blood glucose response, energy and cognitive measures.