Dot Ingredients is developing a new class of ingredients that reduce reliance on petrochemicals and palm oil in everyday products such as cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals. The company uses wood pulp, a globally abundant, non‑food material, to produce surfactant particles that act as emulsifiers — helping oil and water mix in formulated products.

Dot’s particle‑based emulsifiers have demonstrated comparable or superior performance at approximately 4-8x lower concentrations than typical natural emulsifiers – creating significant savings for the end user and a high margin product for Dot. Independent industry formulators evaluating samples have confirmed this lower dosage requirement in real formulations.

The company is initially focused on the US$2 billion global cosmetics emulsifier market, where adoption timelines are shorter and formulation performance is critical. Dot has ongoing sample programmes and NDAs in place with multiple global chemical manufacturers and distributors that collectively serve the personal care, food and pharmaceutical sectors.

Revenue is expected to come from selling high‑margin specialty ingredients through established distributor channels. Dot Ingredients is raising NZ$3 million in a Seed round to scale production, advance pilot manufacturing and progress commercial partnerships.