Amyris, the synthetic biotechnology company that is parent to beauty brands Biossance, Pipette, Olika, and JVN Hair, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to the company, which is based in Emeryville, California, plans include selling its consumer brands to improve the company’s liquidity position. The company, which was founded in 2003, posted first quarter 2023 sales of $56.1 million, a decrease of 3% versus the previous year.

To support day-to-day operations until its brands are sold, Amyris secured $190 million of debtor-in-possession financing from an entity affiliated with existing lender Foris Ventures. In a letter to vendors, Amyris said it will continue to operate its brands through their retail partners and the brands’ e-commerce platforms. The restructuring will allow the company to focus on its core competencies in R&D and the scale-up, commercialization, and applications development of its sustainable ingredients derived through biofermentation.

Signs that the company were flailing were on the wall. Earlier this week, published reports said Amyris was shutting down fragrance and skin care brand, Costa Brazil. Its retail arm, Onda Beauty, announced on Instagram it has parted ways with Amyris, “but is excited for its next chapter.” Onda’s Tribeca and Canoe Place stores remain open while its Sag Harbor location has closed. Ondabeauty.com will be operating “for a limited time.” On June 26, John Melo, the company’s former CEO, resigned. Earlier that month, Amyris announced it had tapped the Business Recovery Services unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers to guide transformation efforts. As part of this process, the company aims to deliver cost actions of approximately $250 million by optimizing the costs of goods sold, reducing operating expenses, and streamlining the business portfolio.

According to financial site Seeking Alpha, Amyris’ growth “appeared to hit a wall towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, with the company facing liquidity issues after failing to close a strategic transaction with Givaudan in a timely fashion. Outside financing and the receipt of cash from Givaudan now appear to have enabled Amyris to continue expanding, albeit at a slower pace than in 2022,” the site reported. Indeed in February 2023, Amyris sold certain cosmetic ingredients to Givaudan, including Neossance Squalane, a high performing emollient; Neossance Hemisqualane, a plant-based silicone alternative, and CleanScreen, a sustainable sun protector. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but estimates say the deal was worth $200 million in cash.

Han Kieftenbeld, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Amyris, said that the company had been working on a “strategic transformation plan to reduce costs, improve operational effectiveness, and achieve sustainable growth.” The sale of its consumer companies, he adds, “puts us on the best path to address our financial challenges and achieve a comprehensive solution – rooted in Amyris’ ground-breaking science, formulation capabilities, and technology.”