Kymia is the women-led startup that extends the life of the pistachio husk, a precious ingredient for cosmetics and nutraceuticals.
The story of startup Kymia is essentially a love story between its two founders, Arianna Campione and Anna Cacopardo, and their Sicily: a pistachio-producing region from which the two entrepreneurs derived the main ingredient for their business, the husk. The idea of using the pistachio husk – that is, the protective casing that covers the inner shell we are used to peeling – to harness its qualities in cosmetics and nutrition came to Arianna Campione during her four years in London. "I lived there to complete a master's degree, and the thing I looked forward to most was the products my family would send me: we have a truly extraordinary raw material that we make very little use of."
A dentist by training, Arianna Campione brought in her partner and friend Anna Cacopardo – then finishing her degree in business economics – to build an entrepreneurial project that would add value to the Sicilian territory. The startup began to take shape during lockdown. "It wasn't easy – in Sicily it's not common to start a business, and it's even less common for women to do so. We were the odd ones out," Campione continues. "Today our team is almost entirely female, and we are very proud of that." The company was officially founded in 2022 as an Srl registered in the innovative startup register, with a patent filed for the recovery of pistachio by-products.
The heart of Kymia revolves around the Bronte pistachio, a fruit that represents a significant economic driver for the local area, providing work for many people and sustaining numerous regional businesses. No one, however, had ever paid attention to recovering the by-product: the pistachio husk. "Few people know about the pistachio harvest, because it is something strictly local and because it takes place in alternate years: so very few people have any idea what the pistachio husk even is – until today it was simply discarded entirely."
This precious by-product is in fact rich in nutrients and proteins, and has beneficial properties not only for health but also for skin and for counteracting the effects of ageing. "We studied it, analysed it and then filed the patent at an international level: it provides for the transformation and preservation of this raw material in a completely green way." The name Kymia is derived from Alchemy – the ability to transform something worthless into something of value – which also gives its title to what is probably the most successful novel by Paulo Coelho, of whom Campione is a great admirer. "The protagonist travels the world only to discover that the treasure was in his own backyard – which is a bit of what happened to us."
The product that Kymia will bring to market is a pistachio husk extract obtained through a patented process designed to extend its shelf life – its preservation time – which would otherwise be extremely short. "As soon as the husk is separated from the fruit by the de-husking machines, it oxidises immediately and goes rancid. That is probably why no one had ever used it before us: they had not found a way to preserve it effectively, which is precisely what we have done and patented. Our process is completely green because we use no chemical solvents whatsoever, only water. There is no point recovering a by-product if doing so requires generating pollution. We also work at low temperatures specifically to avoid an energy-intensive process: our goal is to create a virtuous cycle for husk recovery."
Kymia is a small startup, but its founders, besides having clear and brilliant ideas, have worked hard to grow the company. In 2022, it completed its first capital increase, with private investors who believed in the project helping the team grow to eight people. "Not all the shareholders are operationally involved, but they all support us with ideas and networking." So much so that the original idea – producing cosmetics – was gradually replaced by the decision to manufacture an extract to be sold not B2C, but B2B to producers in both the cosmetics and nutraceuticals sectors.
"By studying and analysing the pistachio husk and testing it on human cells, on skin, and across different sectors, we saw that it has many properties. Once we realised how broad these were, we understood that focusing solely on cosmetics had become limiting." And so in 2023 came a rebranding: from a finished cosmetics producer, Kymia today produces the extract that is sold to manufacturers in both the cosmetics and nutraceuticals industries. "Our target is companies interested in bringing an innovative product to market – one that needs to be introduced and that we are confident will become one of the indispensable nutrients, much like aloe vera or spirulina. Our first market will be cosmetics because the go to market is already underway: we have surrounded ourselves with new specialist professionals to obtain all the necessary documentation in a short timeframe. In the food and nutraceuticals sector, we are conducting further studies."
Recovery of a by-product, but also the creation of a positive economic ripple effect, are Kymia's core assets. "Our dream is to add value to Sicily and its resources, and perhaps create a social impact as well – yet another positive contribution to the local economy – while also reintroducing to the market a product that would otherwise be discarded. Nature is intelligent, and if it creates a protective casing for a fruit as precious as the pistachio, it stands to reason that this casing contains a wealth of beneficial properties."
