Five or six years ago the press coverage around cultivated meat was almost universally positive. Today, we’re seeing headlines about cancerous cells, ‘vaporware,’ and business failures. So where does the industry go from here?
Between 2005-2012, venture capitalists poured millions into startups attempting to make fuel from microalgae, getting their fingers badly burned in the process. But could algae be gearing up for a second bloom?
“We’ve got a groundswell of young people who are trained in molecular biology,” says SynBioBeta founder Dr John Cumbers: “They’re not scared of GMOs. But they are scared of the environmental impacts of climate change and the unsustainability of our consumer culture.”
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.
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.”
Michroma will use the funds to commercialize its line of natural, fungi-derived food colorants before moving on to flavors, fragrances and more.
Over 60% of the global population lives in Asia with just 20% of farmland, and a growing middle class demanding high-status animal protein. We need to create better alternative protein products for the Asian consumer, writes Sonalie Figueiras.
Synonym connects precision fermentation startups with production infrastructure to help them unlock the promise of synthetic biology.
The two US-based companies will develop microbiome-based feed ingredients, health and therapeutics, and monitoring products for animal health innvoation.
The US company’s e-commerce portal provides a more efficient way to source proteins for novel food ingredients, drug discovery, and more.
There is “no non-engineered way” to fight climate change at scale and in time, says chief science officer Ellen Jorgensen.
The San Francisco precision fermentation company will scale up its process for brewing animal-free egg proteins and other high-functioning ingredients.
Cellular agriculture startups aim to solve agrifood’s biggest sustainability problems. But smallholders must be part of the solution, writes Saron Berhane.
The New York-based startup will use the Series A funding to scale up its platform that provides traceability and food preservation tools in then form of spray-on microbes.
US-based Robigo engineers plant microbiota into ‘molecular vigilantes,’ according to co-founder Connor Sweeney.
The San Diego startup makes ingredients for food, cosmetics, and therapeutics “in a cleaner way and a much better way for the planet,” according to co-founder Nicholas Brideau.
Ginkgo Bioworks said it will use the capital raised to “dramatically increase the scale” of its cell-programming tech platform.
Zymergen is not wholly focused on agriculture but it’s a significant part of its business and drove early demand for its molecular products that aim to replace petroleum-based products and other environmentally-damaging ingredients with a biological alternative.
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