Scientific marketing for bioprocess startups
Marketing for bioprocess startups, written by someone who ran the process.
Nine years in bioprocessing, scale-up and GMP operation. I write the technical material your buyers, partners and investors read, and I stay with it until there is a meeting in the calendar.
No pitch. We look at your process, your buyer and the evidence you already hold.
From your evidence to a meeting
- Evidence you already hold Papers, client results and internal data
- Technical material Written so an engineer can forward it to their manager
- The right roles Process Development, Bioprocess Sciences and CMC
- Named contacts In a shared tracker, when business development is in scope
- A meeting in the calendar
9 years
in bioprocessing, scale-up and GMP operation
Recombinant enzymes
production, from scale-up to downstream processing and formulation
Pilot scale bioreactor
led the evaluation and purchase across the main suppliers
The problem
Your buyer is a process engineer. Most agencies have never met one.
A process engineer does not decide from a claim on a website. They want the organism, the scale, the conditions, the number of runs and the result. If your content does not carry those, they close it and they do not pass it on.
That last part matters more than it looks. The person who likes your product is usually not the person who signs for it. Your content has to survive being forwarded.
Engineer reads it
Forwards it
Manager signs
Working with me
Three things you can expect
01
I speak your language because it was mine
I did not learn bioprocessing in order to sell to you. I worked in it: fermentation, scale-up, GMP operation. You will not spend the first call explaining your workflow, and what I write holds up when your Head of Process Development reads it.
02
Marketing that ends in a sales conversation
Most of this market delivers impressions. When business development is in scope, I deliver named contacts, screened against your customer profile, in a tracker you can open at any time. You confirm or reject each one, so we are both counting the same thing.
03
I tell you what I do not know
Every figure comes with a source and a date. Every estimate says on the line that it is an estimate. Before any money goes into advertising, I put a stop limit in writing: above the agreed cost per qualified contact, the campaign stops and the budget stays with you.
Who this is for
Funded biotech startups with a bioprocess platform
11 to 200 people
Europe and North America
Round or grant in the last 12 months
Tools and services
Startups selling technology, software or services to bioprocess and MSAT teams
Fermentation
Precision fermentation and industrial biotech startups
Scale-up
Cell culture and enzyme platforms getting ready to scale
If your buyer runs a bioreactor, or signs off on the people who do, we are talking about the same person.
What most agencies do, and what I do
| Criterion | What most agencies do | What I do |
|---|---|---|
| Credential | A PhD in biology, chemistry or communications | Nine years in bioprocessing, scale-up and GMP operation |
| Scope | Marketing, or outsourced sales | Marketing and business development in the same person |
| Prices | Not published | Published, on this page |
| Numbers | Results without a baseline or a method | Every figure with a source and a date |
| Spend | No published limit | A stop limit agreed before the first euro is spent |
| Capacity | A team, with account rotation | Three active clients at most |
| Languages | English | English and Spanish |
Services and prices
Three ways to work together
Few firms in this market publish what they charge. Here is what I charge, so you know before the call whether this is for you.
Which one fits depends on one question: do you already have someone running marketing? If you do, you need material they cannot produce. If you do not, you need the judgement first.
Fixed project
Launchpad
For startups that have not done technical marketing yet, or need the foundations before a monthly commitment.
- Positioning text
- Message architecture by segment, with the usual objection and the answer
- A list of 50 screened target accounts
- A sales kit: qualifying questions, a demo script and a review of your current deck
- Two working sessions
5,300 EUR paid once
Delivered in four to five weeks. If you continue with a monthly line within 60 days, there is no setup fee.
Market Opening
For companies where marketing sits with the founder, or that are entering a market with no network of their own.
- Everything in Evidence
- Your target account list, kept up to date every month
- 12 named contacts a month, researched and approached directly
- A shared tracker: you confirm or reject each contact
From 4,300 EUR a month
Starts with Launchpad, or with a setup of 5,300 EUR that covers the same work. Minimum three months.
Monthly · when you have a marketer
Evidence
For companies that already have someone running marketing, and no technical material an engineer would forward to their manager.
- Four LinkedIn posts a month: two technical posts, one short expert video in your own people’s words, and one post built from that material
- One application note every quarter, with method, conditions and results
- Your LinkedIn page managed and published
- A monthly report and one review meeting
From 3,200 EUR a month
Setup of 2,300 EUR, paid once: positioning, message architecture and a process intake form. No setup fee after Launchpad. Minimum three months. If your expert is not available in a given month, the video becomes an extra technical post.
Optional on either monthly line
LinkedIn campaign management
Your application notes, webinar recordings and expert videos run as LinkedIn campaigns with a native form, so each download comes with a name, a company and a job title.
800 EUR a month
plus a campaign build of 890 EUR, paid once
Ad spend is paid by you, directly to LinkedIn. I take no commission, and we agree a stop limit before any money is spent.
Minimum three months on either monthly line, because nothing in this market shows a result inside one. Three active clients at most, which is what keeps the work from being delegated. Setup fees are paid before the first hour of work, and you keep the documents whatever happens to the contract. Prices in euros, net of taxes. If none of the three fits, tell me what the gap is on the call.
What I do not do
- Visual branding or full identity redesign
- Regulated medical communications, regulatory writing or market access
- Website development
- Content volume for its own sake
What I do not promise
- A number of leads before I know your quote to order rate
- Signed contracts inside one quarter
- Coverage of markets where I have no network of my own
How I work
How we start, and what happens every month
- Call, 45 minutes We look at what you sell, who signs, and what evidence you already hold.
- Written scope One document: what I deliver, when, at what price, what I need from you, and where I stop. You read it before you decide anything.
- First 30 days Positioning text, the screened account list and the first technical piece in review.
- Every month Content published, tracker updated, one review meeting of 60 minutes.
- End of quarter What moved and what did not, with sources, and a written recommendation for the next period. When a campaign runs, a measured cost per qualified contact from real spend.
Every figure carries a source
Source and date on the same line as the number. Estimates are labelled as estimates. If I cannot see something, I write it down as an open question, not as an assumption.
Two review rounds per piece
One named reviewer on your side, with five working days to respond. Nothing technical goes out without that review.
What I need from you
Two hours a month with one internal expert, scheduled, and data clearance from your clients when a result is theirs.
Before you hire anyone
Bring one piece of your material to the call.
In 45 minutes I will tell you what a process engineer will question in it and what I would change first. You leave with a written list, whether we work together or not.
Bring one of these
A web page
A deck
A LinkedIn post
For funded biotech startups with a bioprocess platform.
Biotechnology engineer
Abbott
Kura Biotech
Upstream, downstream and formulation
Recombinant enzymes for export
Technology transfer
Internal and external audits
GMP · ISO 9001 · ISO 13485
TU Delft fermentation course
English and Spanish
About
Katherina Espinoza
Biotechnology engineer. Former bioprocess manager. Now scientific marketing and business development for bioprocess startups.
I spent nine years in bioprocessing, scale-up and GMP operation, and what I remember best are the people. The operators who noticed what no SOP described. The R&D scientists who went through a tech transfer with me until both teams read it the same way. The CEOs who trusted me with their production. The projects that moved forward did so because people listened to each other and worked towards the same goal.
I started in 2016 in a chromatography lab at Abbott. From 2017 to 2022 I was in charge of bioprocessing at Kura Biotech, a recombinant enzyme manufacturer, first as Production Manager and then as Upstream Bioprocessing Manager. I then ran operations for a medical device manufacturer under ISO 13485, where I learned to treat every claim as a controlled document. I have also sat on the buyer’s side: I led the evaluation and purchase of a pilot scale bioreactor.
I work with clients the same way I worked with those teams. You know your science. I know how a process engineer reads it and how to put it in front of the right people. I listen first, to you and to your buyers. Then I write material they recognise, we review every technical piece together before it goes out, and I stay in the conversation until it becomes a meeting.
That is the idea behind the name Xanthoria: a lichen is a partnership, and neither partner grows on rock alone.
I work in English and Spanish, from Santiago, Chile, with scientists, founders and engineers across time zones.
Client work is covered by NDA, so you will not see logos on this page. You will see the method, the prices and how I write.
Why Xanthoria
Xanthoria parietina is an orange lichen that grows on bark and rock. It is not one organism, it is two: a fungus and an alga. The fungus gives structure and grip, the alga gives the carbon. Neither of them colonises bark or stone alone. The orange discs you see in the photo only appear once the partnership is working, never when the fungus grows by itself. That is the work: your process and my translation, with a visible sign that it is working.
What does a scientific marketing consultant do for a bioprocess startup?
Three things. First, turn the evidence you already hold (papers, client results, internal data) into a format an engineer can forward to their manager without explaining it. Second, put that material in front of the right roles, which in bioprocess means VP of Process Development, Head of Bioprocess Sciences, CMC Director and the process scientists themselves. Third, keep a record of the named contacts it produces, so the spend can be judged against something. Around 61 per cent of a B2B buying journey happens before the first call with a supplier, according to the 6sense B2B Buyer Experience Report 2025, so most of this work happens before anyone talks to sales.
How much does life science marketing cost in 2026?
Published figures are rare. Samba Scientific publishes a minimum continuous programme of 5,000 to 15,000 USD a month, and a single whitepaper or case study at 4,000 to 12,000 USD. PipeRocket publishes a floor of 5,000 USD a month. Third party references put a typical biotech agency retainer at 5,000 to 25,000 USD a month. My monthly lines start at 3,200 EUR when you already have someone running marketing, and at 4,300 EUR when business development is in scope. They are published on this page.
Can AI write technical content for bioprocess companies?
It can write the draft. It cannot decide whether the draft is defensible. A document that has to survive review by a Head of Process Development needs correct conditions, a real method and an honest denominator, and getting those right depends on having stood in front of the equipment. The practical split is that AI amplifies the work and the technical judgement validates it. If a piece is published without a named reviewer inside the company, it should not be published.
What is the difference between hiring an agency and hiring a fractional marketing lead?
An agency gives you capacity and a team, with account rotation and a layer between you and the person writing. A fractional lead gives you judgement and continuity, with a hard ceiling on how many clients can be served at once. The question that decides it is which gap you have. If you already have a marketing lead and you are still hiring, you need capacity. If marketing sits with the founder, you need judgement, and buying capacity will not fix it.
Do you design trade show booths?
I write what goes on the stand: the message an engineer reads walking past, the one pager, the demo script and the question your team asks each visitor. I also prepare the target list before the show and the follow up after it. Graphic production and printing are quoted per project.
Who pays for LinkedIn advertising?
You do, directly to LinkedIn, on your own ad account. I manage the campaign and take no commission on the spend. Before any money goes in, we agree a stop limit per qualified contact: above it, the campaign stops and the remaining budget stays with you.
Do you work with companies outside Europe?
Yes, in Europe and North America. I am based in Chile and I work in English and Spanish, which matters when a company has an operation or a distributor in a Spanish speaking market. I do not take on markets where I have no network of my own, and I will say so on the first call rather than after the contract.
Next step
Start with a call
Forty five minutes. If I am not the right fit, I will say so on the call and point you somewhere better.
Xanthoria Scientific Marketing is the trading name of Katherina Espinoza, Santiago, Chile.
Working in English and Spanish, for teams in Europe and North America.
katherina@xanthoriascientific.com · LinkedIn · Legal notice · Privacy policy
