Sweegen secures FEMA GRAS status for the sweet protein brazzein via precision fermentation; Conagen says the same tech can produce the vivid red pigment carminic acid (without crushing insects).
Danone’s corporate venture arm Danone Manifesto Ventures has taken a minority stake in Imagindairy, an Israeli startup making ‘animal-free’ dairy proteins via precision fermentation (using microbes instead of cows).
The sustainability credentials of microbial fermentation—used to make everything from lactic acid to ‘animal-free’ whey protein—would be greatly enhanced were the technology less dependent on food crops to produce its primary feedstock: sugar. But how viable are the alternatives?
Liberation Labs—a startup on a mission to address capacity bottlenecks in biomanufacturing—has secured $30 million in equipment financing to support its first commercial-scale precision fermentation facility in the US.
In part two of our roundup from the Future Food-Tech summit in San Francisco, we highlight startups spanning everything from molecular farming to upcycled prebiotic fibers.
While investor sentiment has soured on alternative proteins, last month’s Future Food Tech summit in San Francisco attracted a record number of foodtech startups showcasing everything from foodie chatbots to upcycled prebiotic fibers.
Australian startup Cauldron has raised AUS $10.5m to scale a platform enabling firms to produce high-value ingredients via precision fermentation more efficiently via a continuous process.
The #1 priority for new trade association Food Fermentation Europe is helping startups navigate the regulatory pathway for approving novel foods in the EU: a lengthy and uncertain process that right now, they argue, is “completely unclear.”
Shiru has identified plant proteins that can be combined with unsaturated oils to create a solid fat that can replace highly saturated animal or tropical fats such as palm and coconut oil.
While alt-protein investment has cooled, there’s still plenty of interest in replacing eggs, says Maija Itkonen of precision fermentation startup Onego Bio.
Thanks to advances in synthetic biology, startups are now programming microbes to express everything from egg albumin without chickens to whey protein without cows. But when animal products are no longer made by animals, what do we call them?
Is it more efficient to make “animal-free” proteins in plants or fermentation tanks? Motif FoodWorks, which currently makes myoglobin via precision fermentation, is now exploring whether corn could also serve as an effective host via a partnership with molecular farming startup IngredientWerks.
A US patent recently granted to Perfect Day— the highest-profile startup in the ‘animal-free’ dairy field—has been challenged by an anonymous petitioner
Future Fields has raised US $11.2 million to scale up fruit flies as production vehicles for high value ingredients including growth factors for cultivated meat production and human recombinant proteins for medical research and biopharmaceuticals.
Wild Microbes has raised $3.3m in a pre-seed round to help unlock the potential of precision fermentation via gene editing technology it claims can enable the use of a broader range of microbial hosts.
The alternative protein sector was ‘overhyped, but now its demise is being over exaggerated,’ said investors at a recent industry event as the GFI unveiled results of a global investor survey suggesting a mood of cautious optimism.
Nine foodtech startups—from animal-free dairy companies to firms making meaty flavors for meat alternatives—have joined forces to create a new trade association: the Precision Fermentation Alliance.
Billions of dollars have flowed to precision fermentation and biomass fermentation companies in recent years, says Synonym Bio. “But achieving commercial adoption requires a network of large-scale infrastructure, which does not yet exist.”
Israeli startup Remilk—one of the best-funded players in the nascent animal-free dairy space—has hit pause on plans to build the world’s large-scale precision fermentation facility in Denmark and is instead ramping up production with a contract manufacturer in western Europe.
