Fermentile is a San Diego–based process intelligence company building deviation detection and batch analytics software for specialty CDMOs. We are at the seed stage, focused on CDMOs running microbial and mammalian fermentation campaigns for biotech clients.
Carmen Aguilar was a bioprocess engineer at a 25-person CDMO in San Diego’s Torrey Pines corridor when a scale-up transfer of a client’s yeast fermentation process failed on the third manufacturing batch in a row. Each failure cost the CDMO an estimated $90,000 in write-offs. The root cause turned out to be a dissolved-oxygen deviation that had appeared in the sensor data two hours before the point-of-no-return — but was invisible to the operator because the control system dashboard showed no alarm until the batch was already compromised.
The data was there. The deviation signature was clear in retrospect. But no software was running that compared live sensor trajectories against the historical golden batch in real time. The process intelligence existed in engineers’ heads and printed batch records, not in software running against the live stream. Carmen and co-founder Alejandro Reyes — then a process control software engineer at Emerson Automation Solutions — built a Python-based golden batch comparison tool, integrated it with the CDMO’s DeltaV historian via OPC-UA, and deployed it as a pilot on six active fermentation programs.
The tool caught two deviations that would have become batch failures in the first month. The CDMO’s head of process development became the product’s first internal champion. That pilot became Fermentile. Today the platform focuses on the process intelligence and scale-up transfer guidance layer for specialty CDMOs, building toward a Benchling-native integration that puts deviation alerts and batch records directly inside the ELN workflows engineers already use.
Catch fermentation deviations before CDMOs lose the batch.
We work with specialty CDMOs running microbial and mammalian fermentation campaigns for biotech clients. Our platform is built for teams with 10-80 FTE bioprocess staff operating 4-30 active bioreactors.
Fermentile is not designed for large pharma with in-house process analytics platforms, academic research labs, or cell therapy CDMOs focused on adherent mammalian culture rather than suspension fermentation.
San Diego, CA — 4275 Executive Square, Suite 600, 92037
Process data over operator intuition
Early alert over late alarm
Every CDMO program gets its own model
Batch record quality as a feature
Engineer workflow, not dashboard theater