Sean Sears & Clever Fermentation: Cultivating Biotic Innovation from an Unexpected Bottle to Tomorrow's Nutraceuticals

When Sean Sears stumbled upon an old bottle of wine in his cellar, he expected a forgotten vintage, not a scientific breakthrough. The alcohol had fermented away, leaving behind a strange taste and a surprising effect. After drinking it, he felt noticeably calm, balanced. That moment of curiosity became the genesis of what would become Clever Fermentation, a company dedicated to unlocking the health potential of fermenting superfruits, such as blueberries, and transforming them into next-generation nutraceuticals.

"When I woke up the next morning, I felt great," Sears recalls. "I thought to myself, what could be in this? And that curiosity sent me down a path that's lasted more than a decade." With the help of a microbiology scientist, he spent 13 years refining what he had stumbled upon, determined to create something even better than the wine that started it all.

The company has grown from that serendipitous beginning into a venture that now sits at the intersection of traditional fermentation and cutting-edge synthetic biology. Sears initially envisioned Clever as a business that might create fruit powders or functional beverages, tapping into the natural benefits of superfruits.

But as synthetic biology evolved, the vision expanded dramatically. "In the world that includes synthetic biology, your fermentation is stronger, more precise. We can now develop solutions that target underlying metabolic dysfunctions and microbiome deficiencies," he explains. "That changes everything." Today, Clever is pioneering the development of phenolic metabolites, health-enhancing bioactives produced through fermentation, designed to be delivered in precise, stable, and clinically validated formats.

According to Sears, probiotics are not the only gut health tool that is effective or reliable. Prebiotics have gained ground, he believes, but it is phenolic metabolites and bioactives like short-chain fatty acids, some of which are postbiotics, that complete the picture.

By producing these compounds outside the body and delivering them in controlled doses, Clever seeks to provide both a consistent supply and measurable health outcomes. "What we produce is the opposite of a concentrate; it's an array of metabolites and other bioactives that together improve your health by adjusting the microbiome," Sears explains. "You gain the benefit of the whole blueberry instead of getting just a part of the blueberry."

The inspiration behind this approach also reflects a larger story about modern diets. Across cultures such as Germany and Korea, fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi remain daily staples, rich in health-promoting compounds. Yet in much of the Western world, fermentation has largely disappeared from the diet, leaving a gap in the microbiome and, as researchers increasingly argue, in overall health.

"Our food system supplied us with such great food for so long that we didn't think we needed fermented foods anymore," Sears notes. "But it turns out that was a big miss." Biotics like phenolic metabolites, he believes, represent a way to address this gap, reintroducing critical metabolites in a more accessible and scientifically optimized form.

Clever's 1st product, Bluotic, is set to take the form of nutraceuticals, powdered compounds delivered as pills. The company is currently preparing for clinical trials scheduled for 2026, with scale manufacturing expected to begin in 2027. The long-term goal includes functional food and drink, increasing the options for consumers.

Unlike many startups rushing to market, Clever has chosen the longer path, prioritizing rigorous validation and pharmaceutical-grade standards over quick wins. The contract research firms they partner with are rooted in pharma manufacturing rather than food production, a choice that reflects the seriousness with which Sears approaches both safety and efficacy.

This careful approach is matched by the market's shift to harder scientific evidence and a better understanding of metabolic and microbiome science. "Just a decade ago, few people outside scientific circles spoke of probiotics, and fewer still of prebiotics," he notes. "Today, these terms have entered mainstream conversations, and the global biotics industry has swelled into the billions."

In Sears' view, Phenolic metabolites, including postbiotics, round out the understanding of gut health and are the next evolution in this trajectory, and Clever is positioning itself at the forefront of that shift. Sears is confident that the convergence of consumer awareness, scientific innovation, and cultural interest in gut health has created the perfect conditions for Clever to thrive.

At its core, Clever Fermentation is the product of curiosity, patience, and a willingness to see potential in unexpected places. "Lots of times when you invest in an idea, the market drifts away from you," Sears reflects. "But this time, the technologies, such as synthetic biology, have come together to help us, and the market has come our way."

From a forgotten bottle in a winery cellar to a sophisticated postbiotic nutraceutical, the company's journey reflects both the timeless value of fermentation and the promise of modern science to refine it for the future. In bringing these worlds together, Sears is crafting not only a company but a vision of health that could redefine how we nourish ourselves in the years to come.