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Category: Alt Materials

  • Cocoon Bioscience Raises €15 Million for Its Caterpillar Bioreactors

    cabbage looper caterpillar

    3 Mins Read

    Spain-based Cocoon Bioscience has closed a €15 million equity funding round to scale its looper moth-based tech, including the development of a new production facility in Spain.

    The new funding for the biotech startup spin-off of biotech company Algenex was led by Columbus Venture Partners and Cleon Capital with participation from Viscofan, and North South Ventures, among others.

    Caterpillar bioreactors

    Cocoon is focused on developing growth factors for cultivated meat and other alternative protein as well as mRNA synthesis and genetic sequencing. It uses looper moth caterpillars to develop its vaccines and growth mediums instead of steel bioreactors. It injects the moth cocoons with the Baculovirus and then encodes it with different information.

    Cocoon Bioscience CEO Josh Robinson
    Cocoon Bioscience CEO Josh Robinson | Courtesy

    “It’s kind of like leveraging cocoons as natural, low-cost bioreactors,” Cocoon Bioscience CEO Josh Robinson told AgFunder News. “When [humans] catch a virus like a flu, we make a bunch of mucus. Similarly, these moths catch this virus Baculovirus and make whatever protein or enzymes are sequenced into that virus,” he says.

    “We have a product, we’re selling it today, we just need to make more of it,” Robinson said. “We’re selling it at a price point that’s already lower than anyone else, and this platform develops new products extremely quickly.

    The new production facility will be located in Bilbao, Spain — about 250 miles north of Madrid — and is slated to be fully operational in 2024.

    “Our proof of concepts, from knowing what we want to make to having a sample ready to test is an 8- to 10-week process.”

    Reducing cultivated meat costs

    Robinson says that growth factors for cultivated meat costs hundreds of dollars for milligrams, but Cocoon’s tech takes away the bioreactor expense.

    GOOD Meat cultivated chicken
    GOOD Meat cultivated chicken | courtesy Eat Just

    But with companies moving away from animal-based growth mediums like fetal bovine serum, time will tell if there’s a market for moth-grown media. It’s not slowing things down for Cocoon, though.

    According to Robinson, 2023 is expected to be a big year for the company including building and completing the industrial-scale manufacturing facility “where we’ll be able to produce kilograms to tens of kilograms of these growth factors as well as these enzymes to meet scaling demand for our current partners and those that have expressed interest in working with us,” he said.

    “Cultivated meat companies need to manufacture whatever meat they’re producing in large-scale bioreactors,” says Robinson. “But the growth factors, those high-value, hero ingredients, have to program the bovine cells to perform the way they need to. Those growth factors are traditionally produced in bioreactors, and it becomes really expensive if you’re doing that in the traditional way.”

    The post Cocoon Bioscience Raises €15 Million for Its Caterpillar Bioreactors appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Are Consumers Ready for Bee-Free Honey? MeliBio Debuts Mellody to ‘Help Restore Ecological Harmony’

    MeliBio's honey is coming to food service

    3 Mins Read

    MeliBio, one of the more recent hyped-up food tech companies to come out of the Bay Area, has released its first product: bee-free honey.

    MeliBio has been promoting its bee-free tech for several years, keeping ingredients and technology under wraps. At last week’s Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, Calif., MeliBio debuted Mellody, its first product, to a crowd of more than 65,000 attendees.

    Mellody honey

    While other companies have launched bee-free honey products made from ingredients like apples and lemons, Mellody claims to mimic the signature taste and performance of honey from bees while offering consumers a more sustainable and ethical product.

    Mellody bee-free honey is launching in food service

    The ingredients label on the new product shows fructose, glucose, and a range of plant extracts including sumac, fava d’anta, Indian trumpet flower, green coffee bean, chamomile, and seaberry, among other ingredients.

    Mellody is launching first in food service accounts, MeliBio says. The product is already available at Baia in San Francisco, Little Choc Apothecary in New York City, and Motel Fried Chicken in Philadelphia.

    “By providing restaurants and consumers with a delicious and sustainable alternative, we hope to help restore ecological harmony and make room for native pollinators,” Darko Mandich, CEO and co-founder of MeliBio, said in a statement.

    Honeybees

    According to Nielsen data, 2022 saw honey sales reach $920 million with double-digit dollar growth in the latest year. But commercial honey production faces a number of threats.

    “Many people are unaware of the issues surrounding commercial honey production and its impact on the 4,000 [species of] native bees in the U.S.,” Mandich said.

    Last year, the USDA reported that honey production declined by more than 125 million pounds — a 14 percent decline per colony. Issues affecting colony health, including the mysterious colony collapse disorder (CCD), have continued to increase in recent years. From spring 2020 to 2021 colony losses were the second highest on record since first tracked in 2006.

    We tried Melibio Cruelty Free Fermented Honey
    Melibio honey | Courtesy

    Experts link bee decline to a number of issues, namely agricultural pesticides and herbicides. In 2018, the European Union banned the most popular class of insecticides, neonicotinoids, because of their link to CCD.

    The ban followed a report from the E.U. scientific risk assessors, which concluded that the pesticides posed a risk to honeybees and wild bee populations. A recent study that looked at honey samples from around the world found widespread contamination with neonicotinoids.

    Bees play a vital role in the food system, pollinating more than 130 fruits and vegetables; they also pollinate 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants. 

    The post Are Consumers Ready for Bee-Free Honey? MeliBio Debuts Mellody to ‘Help Restore Ecological Harmony’ appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Shiru Debuts OleoPro, a Sustainable Plant Fat That Performs Like Animal Fat

    shiru products
    3 Mins Read

    Shiru, an AI-powered discovery and development company for novel ingredients, has launched its first commercial product. OleoPro is a novel, sustainable plant protein-based fat ingredient for use in a range of alternative protein food products.

    Shiru says the new ingredient delivers a 90 percent reduction in saturated fat while enhancing technical performance in alternative meats compared to commonly used structured fats. OleoPro is self-standing, holding its shape at room temperature, and delivers a “juicy, fatty mouthfeel” in plant-based meat applications, the company says.

    OleoPro

    The new fat is patent-pending and comes from Shiru’s proprietary technology platform, Flourish, which leverages AI to generate unique plant protein insights.

    “At Shiru, we think consumers shouldn’t have to compromise on taste or texture to make sustainable, nutritious food choices, and we know novel ingredients are crucial to unlocking the next generation of plant-based foods,” Dr. Jasmin Hume, Shiru’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.

    Shiru's OleoPro
    Shiru’s OleoPro is a stable, sustainable fat replacement | Courtesy

    “Oils commonly used in plant-based meats today like palm and coconut are disastrous for the environment and aren’t great from a health perspective either,” she said. “OleoPro is a categorical upgrade, bringing all the juiciness and fattiness we expect from conventional meats to plant-based, but with a much improved nutritional profile and without tearing down the rainforest.”

    Industry feedback has already been favorable, Shiru says with cultivated meat company Upside Foods praising the innovation. “Our testing revealed OleoPro to be a promising fat solution for alt meats, demonstrating superior performance in approximating beef fat compared to a range of plant-based fat systems in the market,” said Daniel Davila, Senior Food Scientist at Upside.

    The new fat made its debut at San Francisco’s Future Food-Tech conference as part of a plant-based crispy chik’n karaage developed by Nourish Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Griffith Foods. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Shiru on the launch of their first ingredient, OleoPro,” said Simon Burton, managing director of Nourish Ventures. He called OleoPro “a real game-changer” and says it holds the potential to impact the alternative protein industry.

    Alternative fats

    Shiru’s pursuit of alternative fats puts it in good company. A number of startups are working on supplanting animal fats and unsustainable plant fats such as palm oil.

    shiru oleopro burger
    Shiru’s OleoPro joins a growing category of alternative fats | Courtesy

    Last October, Nourish Ingredients closed a $28.6 million Series A for its microbial fermentation fats. More Lypid’s proprietary vegan PhytoFat is already being served in Asia, and Zero Acre Farms emerged from stealth mode last August to bring its cultured oil to market.

    Earlier this month, meat giant Cargill announced a partnership with Cubiq Foods to scale plant-based fat.

    While Shiru’s initial development has focused on plant-based meat applications across multiple formats, it says it’s equally as important to explore additional applications, including OleoPro’s use in plant-based dairy and personal care products. Shiru is currently sampling OleoPro with potential launch partners and says commercial production will begin later this year.

    The post Shiru Debuts OleoPro, a Sustainable Plant Fat That Performs Like Animal Fat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Jellatech Debuts Cell-Based Human Collagen As Investigation Links Industry to Deforestation

    Jellatech collagen
    3 Mins Read

    The jury’s still out on whether or not collagen supplements have any real benefits, but as an investigation links the industry to deforestation, an achievement from Jellatech may bring new opportunities to the booming category.

    In a post shared on LinkedIn, the North Carolina-based biotech startup Jellatech announced it has created a fully functional human collagen made from a proprietary cell line.

    ‘An important step’

    The announcement comes just eight months after the company debuted its cell-based bovine collagen. Human collagen is used in biomedical and clinical applications including tissue engineering, arthritis treatment, regenerative medicine, 3D bioprinting, and dermal fillers, among other applications.

    Courtesy, Jellatech

    “This milestone further demonstrates that our platform technology for efficiently producing high quality collagen is translatable across multiple cell types, which allows us to address a broad market need for collagen,” Rob Schutte, Jellatech’s head of science, said in the post.

    Stephanie Michelsen, Jellatech’s founder and CEO, praised the achievement, calling it “an important step” in the company’s commitment to making a positive impact.

    Collagen and deforestation

    The announcement comes as a new investigation links the demand for collagen, a popular supplement purported to have wellness and beauty benefits, to deforestation in Brazil. Collagen is typically sourced from cows, but can also come from pigs and fish.

    According to findings from the Guardian, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA), ITV and O Joio e O Trigo, collagen traced to the popular Jenifer Anniston-backed Vital Proteins brand owned by food giant Nestlé, is connected to Amazonian deforestation.

    CJulian Peter via Pexels

    The investigation found tens of thousands of cattle raised for collagen production are on farms linked to tropical deforestation — an ongoing crisis contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss. Eighty percent of the Amazon’s deforestation is connected to the livestock industry.

    The Guardian reports that, unlike beef, soy, and palm, among other food commodities bound to due diligence legislation over deforestation links, the collagen industry sits outside of these regulations and has no obligation to disclose connections.

    Nestlé told the Guardian the allegations don’t align with its responsible sourcing commitments and it has taken steps to ensure its products are “deforestation-free” by 2025.

    Despite the demand for animal collagen, research into its benefits is lacking. The Guardian reported that Harvard School of Public Health cautioned consumers over study findings as most “if not all” of the research has been funded by industry members or scientists affiliated with stakeholder brands.

    Unbiased research, however, has pointed to the benefits of consuming collagen-building foods, rather than consuming collagen itself. Foods such as those rich in vitamin C, zinc, copper, silicon, and the amino acids lysine and proline, have all been linked to healthy collagen production.

    The post Jellatech Debuts Cell-Based Human Collagen As Investigation Links Industry to Deforestation appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Chromologics Extends Its Seed Round To More Than €12 Million For Fermented Food Colors

    Chromologics
    3 Mins Read

    Danish natural food colors biotech company Chromologics has closed an extended Seed funding round, bringing its total to more than €12 million.

    Adding €7.1 million in equity from its existing investors plus two new investors, Chromologics has raised more than €12.1 million in Seed funding. The extended round including new funding from Doehler Ventures and Thia Ventures along with its investments from Novo Holdings, Nordic Foodtech VC, Danmarks Eksport- og Investeringsfond, Synergetic, and Blue Horizon.

    “We are thrilled to be able to accelerate our commercial development and welcome two new, strong investors, Doehler Ventures and Thia Ventures,” Gerit Tolborg, CEO of Chromologics, said in a statement

    “In particular, Doehler’s formal investment marks a new phase in our collaboration. We look forward to benefiting from their expertise as we begin developing commercial-scale production.”

    Natu.Red

    The funding will be used to accelerate the commercialization of Natu.Red, the first product in the pipeline — a red dye made from Chromologics’ proprietary fermentation production method that delivers a cost-competitive and sustainable, stable food coloring supply to food and beverage manufacturers.

    chromologics
    The Chromologics team has raised €12.1 million | Courtesy

    “Chromologics has convincingly demonstrated that Natu.Red is an attractive and sustainable alternative to existing synthetic and natural food colors,” said Thomas Grotkjær, Partner at Novo Holdings.

    “The successful scale-up and production of the first several hundred kilos of Natu.Red, as well as the line of sight for regulatory approval, calls for accelerating commercial development.”

    ‘Competitive advantage’

    Rodrigo Hortega at Doehler Ventures, the investment arm of global natural ingredients supplier Doehler Group, said, Doehler sees a “competitive advantage” in this type of sustainable natural ingredient. “The timing is right, and we are prepared to offer the full network and know-how of the Doehler Group.”

    Chromologics says its fermentation process is scalable to an industrial level; the company already boasts a strong network of potential customers and has begun its regulatory approval program.

    Early results indicate cost-effective production, excellent product performance, and safe use of Natu.Red as a novel food additive.

    chromologics
    Chromologics is making colors from fermentation | Courtesy

    During the funding period, Chromologics will further advance regulatory approval, establish a commercial production line, expand the portfolio towards additional colors, and progress on commercial execution.

    “This is an exciting time for Chromologics,” said Jarne Ellehollm, Chairman of the Board. “The team has developed, grown their skillset, and added new expertise. They are well equipped and ready for the next stage of their journey towards commercial success.”

    The post Chromologics Extends Its Seed Round To More Than €12 Million For Fermented Food Colors appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Celebrity-Backed Immi Raises a $10 Million Series A for ‘Improbable’ Vegan Ramen

    Immi ramen

    3 Mins Read

    The world’s first low-carb, high-protein, and 100 percent plant-based instant ramen brand, Immi, has announced a $10 million Series A funding round.

    Immi’s investment was led by Touch Capital, with participation from celebrity investors, including Naomi Osaka, Usher, Apolo Ohno, David Grutman, Kygo’s Palm Tree Crew, and Gryffin.

    ‘Managing the improbable’

    The investment was led by Touch Capital, which praised Immi’s success om managing “the improbable” by transforming instant ramen into a low-carb, high-protein, and plant-based product “that is just as crave-worthy as its classic comfort food predecessor.”

    In a statement, Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan, Immi’s co-founders, said the funding enables the team “to further improve the quality of our products, expand retail distribution, bring down prices, and continue broadening access to nutritious and delicious Asian American food.”

    Immi ramen
    Immi raises $10 million in a Series A | Courtesy

    Lee and Chanthasiriphan came up with the idea for Immi after seeing their families struggle with chronic, diet-related health conditions. Both grew up immersed in the farms and noodle stalls of their Taiwanese and Thai family food businesses.

    Since launching two years ago, Immi has seen success for its three flavors – Black Garlic “Chicken,” Spicy “Beef,” and Tom Yum “Shrimp.” Last year, it moved from online sales into retail channels, including placement in Wegmans and Whole Foods, where it has seen strong growth.

    Celebrity support

    Celebrity investors, including tennis great Naomi Osaka, singer Usher, and Olympian Apolo Ohno also expressed excitement about the investment.

    Osaka said, “I’m excited to announce my investment in Immi, which has revolutionized the ramen industry with a low-carb, high-protein, plant-based, and delicious alternative to one of my favorite childhood foods.”

    Usher said food, like music, “has always been at the center of culture, and I am excited to play a small part in this new wave of global flavors with Immi.”

    Immi co-founders Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan
    Immi co-founders Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan | Courtesy: Immi

    “I value my nutrition and health more than anything else,” said Apolo Ohno, eight-time Olympic medalist, most decorated American Winter Olympian, U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer, “I’m excited to invest in Immi, which has allowed me to bring ramen back into my life again.”

    Immi says the new funding will help it hire key leadership roles, support retail sales, operations, finance, product, and growth. The financing will also support product development research, as the brand plans to launch a series of new permanent and limited-time flavors, as well as co-branded partnership flavors.

    The instant noodle industry has been growing in recent years; according to a report by Grand View Research, the global instant noodle market is expected to reach $45.67 billion by 2025 as demand for convenience food products, along with the rise in disposable income levels of consumers, both continue to rise. The plant-based food market is also expected to continue its ascent, reaching $74.2 billion by 2027, Grand View reports.

    The post Celebrity-Backed Immi Raises a $10 Million Series A for ‘Improbable’ Vegan Ramen appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Aloha’s New Energy Bars Are Made From Climate Resilient Pongamia Bean Oil

    aloha bars
    3 Mins Read

    Plant-based protein brand Aloha has launched “The Kona Bar,” a special edition product made from pongamia trees that supports sustainable agriculture in Hawaii.

    The new snack bar features responsibly-sourced ingredients, including Kona-grown coffee and Hawaiian-grown macadamia nuts. But the star ingredient may be Ponova oil, a sustainable plant-based oil made from the beans of ultra-regenerative, climate-resilient pongamia trees on Oahu.

    Pongamia trees

    Pongamia trees are super-trees that have been used historically for reforestation in Asia; they sequester carbon while improving soil health and water quality. The pongamia oil is manufactured by Terviva, a food and agriculture innovation company. The oil is expeller pressed and lightly refined in a process similar to olive oil – ponova oil is a rich source of healthy Omega-9 fatty acids.

    The climate-friendly pongamia trees help to convert distressed farmland into sustainable, productive acreage.

    Terviva's pongamia trees
    Terviva’s pongamia trees | Courtesy

    The bars also feature macadamia nuts from Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company and Kona coffee from Greenwell Farms, both from Hawaii’s Big Island. Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company uses environmentally friendly cultivation practices, including operating without fossil fuels. Greenwell Farms is one of Kona’s oldest and most respected coffee farms and a proponent of regenerative agriculture. It owns its entire value chain from growing to roasting and shipping.

    Aloha’s sustainability commitments

    “The launch of the Kona Bar underscores our commitment to supporting sustainable farming and agricultural practices, with Hawaii as a prime example of what the future of farming and land stewardship should look like,” Brad Charron, CEO of Aloha, said in a statement. “As we grow, we’re committed to finding new and innovative ways to use our business as a force for good. This is a critical step in delivering on our mission to create delicious and nutritious food while making a positive impact on the world.”

    The certified B Corp says it’s aiming to become Climate Neutral Certified this year. That will make it the first plant-based protein brand to obtain this certification.

    hawaii
    The Big Island of Hawaii Photo by Martin Zangerl on Unsplash

    Aloha says ten percent of proceeds from the sales of the Kona Bar will go to support the nonprofit Kupu, which works to support Hawaiian youth through land stewardship and educational programs.

    The bars are launching on mission-driven online retailer Thrive Market. “We’re thrilled to partner with Aloha, a brand that aligns with our values and our mission,” said Jeremiah McElwee, chief merchandising officer of Thrive Market. “This collaboration is a testament to the power of like-minded brands working together to create a meaningful and positive impact.”

    The post Aloha’s New Energy Bars Are Made From Climate Resilient Pongamia Bean Oil appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • WNWN Raises a $5.6 Million Series A for Its Cacao-Free Chocolate and a ‘More Ethical Future of Food’

    WNWN chocolate
    3 Mins Read

    WNWN Food Labs, the world’s first producer of sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate, has raised $5.6 million in a Series A financing round that it says will help the company scale up its manufacturing for a retail launch later this year.

    WNWN’s raise was led by the food tech VC, PeakBridge with participation from FoodLabs (formerly Atlantic Food Labs), Geschwister Oetker Beteiligungen Group’ subsidiary, Martin Braun-Gruppe, as well as Mustard Seed Maze, PINC, Investbridge AgriTech, and HackCapital. 

    ‘More ethical future of food’

    “This blend of VCs gives us deep and strategic food tech experience to make a significant positive impact, and with PeakBridge’s partnership and team, we are well on our way to create a tastier, more ethical future of food,” WNWN CEO Ahrum Pak said in a statement. “This investment is also very timely given the new European ban on cocoa linked to deforestation, as WNWN can reduce the cocoa supply chain’s strain on the planet and on cocoa farmers entrenched in poverty.” 

    WNWN Team
    WNWN Team | Courtesy

    WNWN is making a cacao-free product that looks, tastes, melts, snaps, and bakes like conventional chocolate but its product is free from palm oil — an unsustainable ingredient common in chocolate bars. WNWN says its products are also lower in sugar than conventional chocolate, contain no gluten, and are free of caffeine, which naturally occurs in conventional chocolate in small amounts.

    But the main upsell WNWN is focused on is the reduced carbon footprint of its chocolate. Made from plant-based ingredients including cereals and legumes, WNWN says its cacao-free chocolate products produce 80 percent fewer carbon emissions than conventional chocolate based on ints own lifecycle analysis.

    ‘Conventional supply chains can’t keep up’

    WNWN has launched several limited-run products in the last year that sold out within hours of launching — the first was dark choc thins and the second, dubbed ‘Waim! bar’, was a spin on the classic Daim bar. The company says with the new funding, it can scale and bring more products to market.

    Waim bars
    Waim bars, courtesy WNWN

    “Ingredient innovations like WNWN’s are key to building a more resilient, equitable, sustainable food system, and this in turn opens the doors to other goals like responsible production and consumption,” said Erich Sieber, Founding Partner at PeakBridge. “Not only does WNWN’s product have the potential to offer health benefits and address sustainability concerns, but it also opens up a world of exciting flavor possibilities. We are confident that WNWN will lead the charge in this category and are proud to be part of this journey.” 

    WNWN CTO Dr. Johnny Drain says the funding is “validation of our science” and the company’s ability to scale. “With demand for chocolate said to be increasing year over year, conventional supply chains can’t keep up, at least not at the expense of the planet and human dignity.”  

    The post WNWN Raises a $5.6 Million Series A for Its Cacao-Free Chocolate and a ‘More Ethical Future of Food’ appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Kern Tec Is Turning the ‘Untapped Nutrients’ in Fruit Pits Into Yogurt

    2 Mins Read

    Austrian food tech start-up, Kern Tec showcased its upcycled apricot kernel dairy products at the popular BioFach European organic food fair held in Germany.

    Kern Tec says it can make a range of products developed from upcycling apricot kernels, including non-dairy drinks, plant-based yogurt, cheese, ice cream, oils, and chocolate spreads.

    “What a lot of people don’t realize is that within this kernel is a precious nut if you process the kernel correctly,” Michael Beitl, co-founder of Kern Tec, said at the event.

    Fruit pits

    In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), apricot kernels are considered to have healing properties, but in most of the world, the kernels are discarded as waste. Kern Tec’s product valorizes and processes this sidestream that would otherwise be discarded. The company releases the “untapped nutrients,” which Beitl says “is full of healthy fats and proteins.”

    Wunderkern fruit pit oil
    Wunderkern fruit pit oil | courtesy

    But stone fruit pits, particularly apricot kernels contain cyanide and can be deadly if not processed correctly. The company launched ice cream made from apricot, cherry, and plum pits last summer.

    “In Europe alone, we have over 500,000 metric tons of this as a side product, which we constantly produce, generating more CO2,” he said.

    The yogurt was in development for two years, according to Beitl.

    “With our apricot upcycling process, when you compare it to other conventional resources like oat or coconut, it has the lowest CO2 emissions per kilogram of raw material,” he said. “This is important for the consumer, who increasingly wants sustainability as part of their purchasing.”

    Sustainable dairy alternatives

    Beitl says he thinks there’s a market of consumers who will want a sustainable and delicious alternative to conventional dairy – even with the risks, which the company says are extremely low with their novel processing tech.

    eating ice cream
    Courtesy Canva

    “We educate consumers via numbers. Consumers love the story of upcycling as it makes sense for everyone, but how you catch people is with the numbers,” he said. “Our milk products show graphs comparing our CO2 emissions with other milk, such as soy.”

    According to Beitl, upcycling is no longer a trend, but here to stay. “We’ve noticed that plant-based and meat-alternative food is trending here at BioFach. It’s not just in the dairy sector. It’s in meat and other meat substitutes,” he said.

    .

    The post Kern Tec Is Turning the ‘Untapped Nutrients’ in Fruit Pits Into Yogurt appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • New Survey Finds Investors Still Optimistic About Alt Protein Despite Recent Growth

    meatballs
    3 Mins Read

    Investor appetite for alternative proteins is still strong despite a decline in investment growth in 2022, says think tank the Good Food Institute and a new survey on 2022 investments into the alternative protein sector.

    The $14.2 billion that the alternative protein sector has attracted over the past decade has been driven by investments that have nearly doubled every year on average, with a particular surge in funding since 2020, says the Good Food Institute (GFI).

    The findings

    However, GFI’s new analyses of Pitchbook data show that alternative protein companies raised $2.9 billion globally in 2022, a decrease of 42 percent YoY. While a decline in investment, the report notes that the deceleration was in line with broad market trends, and most investors still remained optimistic about the sector over the long term.

    The covid pandemic led investors in the food and agriculture sector to focus on supply chain resilience and the disruption to the meat industry. “Companies that start during this economic downturn will build efficient operations and have a running start as the economy improves again,” Guatam Godhwani, founder and managing partner at Good Startup, noted in the report. “Historically, some of the best companies have been started during difficult economic times.”

    Impossible Foods patties
    Impossible Foods is a leader in the alt protein industry | Courtesy

    GFI found that the deceleration of alternative protein funding in 2022 was in line with the decline in overall funding across all sectors. Additionally, the report notes that half of the world’s largest protein producers are investing in alternative proteins, up from 28 percent in 2021.

    Large food companies are also seeing protein diversification as a material business issue, with 35 percent of the 23 largest food manufacturers and retailers globally committed to increasing the volume or sales of meat alternatives and/or dairy alternatives.

    While the sector experienced challenges, there were also successes in 2022, with distribution picking up for fermentation-enabled proteins and several large food companies launching plant-based versions of long-branded food products. Further, quick-service restaurant chains experienced a resurgence in plant-based menu launches.

    The early days of a game-changing industry

    Of more than 100 investors active or interested in alternative proteins, the survey found that 99 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they are optimistic about the alternative protein industry over the long term. Forty-five percent of respondents noted that their investments in alternative proteins did not slow down in 2022, and 87 percent of respondents expected to make investments in alternative protein companies or funds in 2023. Respondents expect to increase investment in the more novel alternative protein categories, especially fermentation, cultivated dairy, and alternative fats.

    ImpacFat is the first company to make cell-based fish fat
    ImpacFat is the first company to make cell-based fish fat and the category is positioning itself for a boom | Courtesy

    The report also notes that the current fundraising market may improve the quality of opportunities for startups and investors alike, with startups seeing an alleviation of pressure to “grow at all costs” and investors finding themselves with more time to explore and research deals with more favorable valuations and deal terms.

    While the decline in investment growth in 2022 may have been in line with broader trends, investor appetite for alternative proteins remains strong, with investors seeing potential for growth in the sector.

    “We’re in the early days of a game-changing industry, during one of the most unusual market environments of our lifetimes,” GFI says. “The road ahead will be challenging and complex, but from our estimation, the good food future is bright.”

    The post New Survey Finds Investors Still Optimistic About Alt Protein Despite Recent Growth appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • The Precision Fermentation Alliance Brings 9 Industry Leaders Together for a More Sustainable Food System

    Remilk
    3 Mins Read

    Nine global precision fermentation leaders have come together to establish the Precision Fermentation Alliance, a new coalition that seeks to promote and champion precision fermentation as a trusted solution for a more resilient and sustainable food system.

    The founding members of the Precision Fermentation Alliance (PFA), Change Foods, The EVERY Co., Helaina, Imagindairy, Motif FoodWorks, New Culture, Onego Bio, Perfect Day, and Remilk, say they plan to serve as an industry voice and a global convener for the precision fermentation industry.

    The PFA will put focus on promoting understanding of precision fermentation technology, developing best practices for regulatory compliance, and unlocking public funding and public-private partnerships to accelerate industry growth.

    Gaining in popularity with launches by Nestlé, Mars, and General Mills, precision fermentation is a process that creates nature-identical, sustainable versions of ingredients — chiefly dairy.

    Precision fermentation dairy

    The process combines the natural ability of microorganisms to turn sugars into proteins and other complex organic molecules with modern biology. Precision fermentation can produce a wide range of products that are animal-free, including proteins and fats, among other food ingredients. This approach offers significant potential benefits in terms of sustainability, as it can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of food production.

    perfect day
    Perfect Day’s precision fermentation whey can be made into ice cream | Courtesy

    The founding members of the PFA say they have agreed to work together towards several goals. The first goal is to promote an understanding of precision fermentation technology.

    The group says it hopes to establish global transparency around ingredients and foods made with precision fermentation to build trust and familiarity among consumers. This will involve educating and engaging key stakeholders throughout the food industry value chain, to establish best practices regarding regulatory, manufacturing, food safety, and communications standards and compliance.

    The second goal is to develop market access and the ability to operate and market products effectively by engaging with regulators. The group seeks to unlock public funding and public-private partnerships to accelerate industry growth. The Precision Fermentation Alliance aims to bring together a broad range of stakeholders, including academic researchers, entrepreneurs, food manufacturers, policymakers, and others, to help shape the future of the industry.

    ‘Just the beginning’

    “There is a direct line between food production, climate, socioeconomic opportunities, and equity. How we make our food is one of the foundational ways to change the world around us, and just the beginning of the vision for this group,” Nicki Briggs, MS, RDN, Vice President of Corporate Communications, Perfect Day and Chair, Precision Fermentation Alliance, said in a statement.

    “This alliance codifies what we’ve always believed: a kinder, greener tomorrow is possible through collaboration. This ecosystem of mission-aligned leaders stands to exponentially accelerate what any one member could do alone.”

    every macarons
    Every’s precision fermentation egg protein was used in Chantal Guillon macarons | Courtesy

    The Precision Fermentation Alliance will also focus on ensuring that science-based decision-making and informed public policy are used in the regulation of precision fermentation products and technology that are used in food. The Alliance will provide a forum to discuss global issues relevant to the precision fermentation industry.

    “Most of us have consumed foods that contain ingredients made using precision fermentation for decades, such as vitamins, enzymes, and natural flavors, without much fanfare,” said Irina Gerry, Chief Marketing Officer, Change Foods and Vice Chair, Precision Fermentation Alliance. (Gerry is also a Green Queen contributor.)

    “As we look to extend the use of this technology to produce an ever-expanding list of food ingredients, such as proteins and fats, we will be able to produce a wide variety of our most beloved foods animal-free, and with a much lower environmental footprint,” Gerry said. “Ushering in this new era in food requires clear communication, thoughtful policy, consistent regulation, and stakeholder engagement, which this alliance is positioned to do.”

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  • Sustainable Oil Startup Äio Raises €1M to Scale Its Palm Oil Successor

    burger
    3 Mins Read

    The Estonian start-up Äio has raised €1 million to create alternative oils and fats using agricultural byproducts.

    The funding comes by way of Nordic Foodtech VC, EAS, and other partners. Founded last year by TalTech bioengineers Petri-Jaan Lahtvee and Nemailla Bonturi, Äio is on a mission to make the food system more sustainable.

    The problem with oils

    Oil production, particularly palm oil, is driving global deforestation and planet-warming gasses. Äio is working with byproducts from agricultural and wood industries to develop clean oils.

    “Turning low-value side-streams into something so valuable is very futureproof and has great scalable business potential,” Mika Kukkurainen, partner and founder of Nordic Foodtech VC, said in a statement. “We are happy to join Äio when taking the first steps outside of university, and already looking forward in helping the team towards future success.”

    Aio
    Nemailla Bonturi, co-founder of Äio. Photo by Janek Toomikas

    According to Lahtvee, the current food system is responsible for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Plant-based alternatives, such as vegan meat, require 47-99 percent less arable land, emit 30-90 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and use 72-99 percent less water. But, he says, palm and coconut oils used to make plant-based meat alternatives “do not deliver the same taste and mouthfeel as animal fat.”

    Bonturi says not only is the production of these oils not sustainable but “they are unhealthy and can cause allergic reactions.”

    The company says it will use its new funding to increase production, test new products, and apply for permits to bring its products to market. Äio has a 2026 target to begin industrial-scale production.

    Fermented agro-oil

    Äio is one of a growing number of brands working to replace conventional oils and fats. Last November, OmniFoods unveiled patented vegan fat. And last October, the U.K.’s Hoxton Farms closed a $22 Million Series A for cultivated animal fat.

    Äio uses fermentation tech with a “red bug” microbe from the agricultural waste in a process patented by Bonturi. “In the same way that we make kombucha, yogurt, bread, and beer, we can turn sawdust or other low-value biomass into valuable and healthy ingredients. Our “red bug” cannot turn water into wine, but it can turn sawdust into food,” explained Bonturi. 

    Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels.

    The company’s Red Oil, a product made to mimic palm oil and petroleum-based mineral oils, also has cosmetic and household product applications, the company says.

    “As scientists, we were excited that years of research resulted in a real product that could revolutionize the entire food industry and consumer experience,” said Lahtvee. “We highly appreciate everyone who has contributed to our success story, and we will continue to develop the company and its products together with our partners, the leading investor, and the food industry.”

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  • Driving Impact Through Retail: Fabrica X’s Plastic Circularity Pop Up Helps To Change Minds & Behavior in Hong Kong

    4 Mins Read

    Through fun and relevant experiential programming, Fabrica X is educating Hong Kongers about ocean plastic waste and shifting consumer behavior around recycled materials.

    By: The Mills Fabrica

    Last year, Fabrica X, the Impact Retail concept store operated by The Mills Fabrica in Hong Kong, launched a signature campaign highlighting ocean plastic waste by featuring a selection of sustainable brands with innovative products that make use of recycled plastic waste as raw materials to create innovative consumer products.  

    With an aim to educate consumers about sustainable consumption from multiple perspectives and to reverse the habit of fast-paced consumerism, “Plastic Circularity: Trash to Treasure Pop Up” offered innovative products, mini-exhibitions, and experiential workshops spanning three key areas: Sustainable Retail, Education, and Experiential Discoveries.

    Sustainable Brands at FabricaX – Courtesy The Mills Fabrica

    Sustainable Brands

    Focusing on ocean plastic waste and plastic recycling, Fabrica X featured a selection of trailblazing sustainable brands, including Fullup., Moral Bags, Selvaage, W;ink Atelier, Rising Lotus, Resolar and OCIN, all of which advocate for the use of recycled waste or ocean-bound plastics as a source of raw materials with which to create a variety of forever fashion wardrobe pieces.

    Waste Reduction Workshops at FabricaX – Courtesy The Mills Fabrica

    Thematic Workshops

    In addition to showcasing conscious lifestyle products, Fabrica X partnered with The Ocean Material Group to host several Ocean Material Recycling Workshops and a mini-exhibition.  All plastic waste used in the workshop series was collected locally from HSBC Clean Waterways Program‘s solar-powered boats and The Mills’ shopping mall, after which it was sent to New Life Plastics to be processed into flakes. During the workshops, participants experienced the fun of making everyday products from rulers to coasters using small-scale recycling machines.

    Throughout the campaign period, 254 plastic bag upcycling workshops were also held and attended by close to 1,300 participants who made upcycled handicrafts- from cardholders and lampshades to Christmas ornaments- during the sessions.

    Waste Sorting Activation at FabricaX – Courtesy The Mills Fabrica

    Impact Measurement

    Fabrica X hopes that its Impact Retail strategy can instill a mindset change in workshop participants through an experiential, educational, and sustainable retail model.  Surveys were conducted to find out participants’ understanding and acceptance of different knowledge areas (note: there was a 19% survey uptake):

    On knowledge gain – participants became more aware of the issue of plastic pollution for the marine ecosystem, human health, and ways of tackling these issues from an individual capacity 

    58% of participants were able to gain more knowledge in four key areas of ocean plastic pollution – ocean plastic pollution, the impact of plastic on marine ecosystems, the impact of plastic on human health, and the usefulness of plastics.

    73% of participants gained a deeper understanding of ocean plastic pollution and the impact of plastic on marine ecosystems.

    On the intention to live more sustainably – after understanding the context of ocean plastic pollution in the world and for Hong Kong, participants showed a higher willingness to practice sustainable habits like reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

    Having learned more about the key issue raised in this year’s Impact Retail concept, 67% of participants said they are more willing to practice reducing, reusing and recycling in their daily lives.

    On promoting a circular economy – participants understand that although plastic is environmentally damaging, it has its usefulness, especially when used in a circular manner. As such, participants are more willing to not only recycle but activity consider buying items made in a circular way, such as items made from recycled polyester. 

    73% of participants said they gained a better understanding of the usefulness of plastic after the workshop, which in part helped motivate participants (89%) to recycle more in their daily lives and express a higher willingness to buy items that are upcycled from plastic waste (88%). 

    On reducing plastics – It is equally important for Fabrica X to introduce the attitude, values and mindset change that is needed to reduce the unnecessary consumption and usage of plastics. Through our workshops, participants showed a higher intention to reduce and reuse where possible. 

    75% of the participant learned more about the dangers of plastic pollution to our health through our exhibition. This in part motivated them to be more likely to reduce (86%) and reuse (76%) where possible. 

    Educating Consumers at FabricaX – Courtesy The Mills Fabrica

    In the long run, Fabrica X aims to catalyze a mindset change where an individual’s values and attitudes can lead to the intention to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle through a mix of educational exhibitions, experiential/hands-on workshops, and exposure to sustainable retail brands, including a new ‘Biomaterials‘ campaign spotlighting innovations in a new generation of plastic-free materials made adapted to textiles and lifestyle products.

    Visit the store to celebrate the wonder of biomaterials now.

    All photos courtesy The Mills Fabrica.

    This is a Green Queen Partner Post.

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  • Thai Union Invests In French Algae Tech Platform Algama

    algae
    2 Mins Read

    Thai Union, leading producer of Thai seafood, has invested in France’s Algama algae innovation platform.

    Thai Union’s Corporate Venture Capital Fund joined Algama’s recent €13 million Series A funding round to help accelerate its industrial algal ingredients for the food and beverage sector.

    “At Thai Union, we are committed to “Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans”, Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO of Thai Union said in a statement. Chansiri says algae, as a sustainable, marine ingredient, is aligned with the seafood giant’s goals.

    Algal protein

    “Algama and its experienced team have strong tech and commercial capabilities to create a positive impact on the protein industry. We are excited to work with them and explore further collaboration opportunities,” Chansiri said.

    algae
    Photo by Vita Marija Murenaite on Unsplash

    Tamalga, the ten-year-old Algama’s flagship product serves as an egg replacer in baked goods. The company says the new funding will accelerate the commercialization of its innovations as well as the development of new applications. It will also add a new 10,000m2 bio-refinery in Liege, Belgium.

    With Thai Union on board, Algama says its also exploring the seafood successors category with protein innovations at the forefront.

    “We are excited to work with Thai Union to create the next generation of seafood ingredients that are sustainably sourced and health-promoting,” Alvyn Severien, Algama’s co-founder and CEO, said. “By exploring the untapped potential of algae, we aim to push the boundaries and develop innovative products for the future.”

    Alternative seafood

    Last spring, Thai Union announced it was exploring cultivated seafood following the launch of its OMG range of plant-based seafood products. The company says the seafood sector is lagging behind other protein sectors when it comes to plant-based options.

    OMG Shrimp launched in August from Thai Union

    “The bigger opportunity lies with flexitarians, who are flexing between meat, seafood and vegan propositions,” Maarten Geraets, managing director of alternative proteins at Thai Union told the Bangkok Post last year. “Plant-based solutions are a trend that people would want to buy into. It’s something you want to be seen with, eating or drinking. It can be very aspirational.”

    The company established its CVC fund in 2019 with its focus on alternative protein, functional nutrition, and biotechnology. The fund is focused on investing in and partnering with early-stage, entrepreneurial companies aligned with Thai Union’s commitment to Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans.


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  • What Is Molecular Farming? Plus 6 Companies to Watch

    lab
    4 Mins Read

    In the race to clean up the food system, molecular farming is emerging as one of the protein industry’s most viable contenders.

    Molecular farming was first demonstrated more than 30 years ago when scientists produced a recombinant antibody and human serum albumin in transgenic plants and cell cultures. The tech has since expanded its reach with a number of companies working to utilize and commercialize these proteins to create a more sustainable food system.

    What exactly is molecular farming?

    In simplest terms, molecular farming is producing proteins with plants instead of animals. Plants are modified so that their cells replicate the desired proteins, and are then harvested from the leaves or other plant tissues.

    Molecular farming is seen when microorganisms infect plants, transferring some genes in the process. Scientists use similar methods to give plants new instructions for creating proteins.

    Photo by Louis Reed at Unsplash.

    Why is molecular farming used?

    Companies are turning to molecular farming for a number of reasons. It’s been hailed as a viable solution to producing vaccines and other necessary pharmaceuticals. It’s also being hailed as one of the best steps to shift our food system away from carbon-intensive animal products and toward more sustainable alternatives.

    Benefits of molecular farming

    Just like we’re seeing benefits from other meat and dairy successors both in the health and quality of the food to the smaller environmental impact, molecular farming offers similar benefits. These advances in food tech also hold the promise of a cleaner, more sustainable, and more efficient food system.

    Molecular farming companies

    The molecular farming landscape is growing rapidly. These are a few of the companies leveraging it to transform the global food system.

    1. Miruku

    A New Zealand-based future food company developing advanced dairy proteins in plants, Miruku emerged from stealth mode last spring with an oversubscribed $2.4 million Seed investment round. 

    “Our goal is to provide nutritious and functional animal-free dairy, economically,” Miruku’s CEO Amos Palfreyman said in a statement last spring. “The Miruku team is amped to have been joined by a special set of local and international institutional food tech investors backing our vision of delicious and ecologically sustainable food production, and of course our growth plans.”

    2. Bright Biotech

    U.K.-based Bright Biotech is working to make plant-based affordable recombinant proteins for R&D, therapeutic, cosmeceutical, agri-food, and industrial applications. It raised $3.2m last November in an oversubscribed Seed round.

    The company says it uses “game-changing innovative technology” which uses chloroplasts to express high amounts of high-value proteins in plants. The company is currently producing and supplying recombinant growth factors to the R&D sector.

    pizza
    Courtesy William Mattey via Pexels

    3. Mozza

    Mozza says its mission is to make cheese from plants that’s indistinguishable from cheese that comes from animals. “It’s not nut cheese. It’s not soy cheese. It’s cheese made from the same proteins found in cow’s milk, but produced in plants rather than in a cow,” reads the Mozza website. And, the company says, because it’s dairy cheese, it will melt like dairy cheese, stretch like dairy cheese, and taste just like conventional.

    4. Nobell Foods

    Expect to hear the name Nobell Foods a lot more in the near future. The company recently raised $75 million to bring its molecular-based dairy proteins to market. The company uses a patented approach to making dairy from plants — a process that involved more than four years of research and development from founder Magi Richani, an engineer by training. Richani has tapped into caseins, the proteins in cheese that give it its texture and flavor. The company creates these key dairy proteins from soybeans for cheeses that it says taste, smell, melt, stretch, and even age like those made from animals.

    ORF’s barley crop | Courtesy

    5. ORF Genetics

    Iceland’s molecular farming company ORF Genetics sells growth factors to cultivated meat companies. It developed Orfeus, a barley grain based vehicle for recombinant protein production. ORF’s portfolio includes growth factors for the stem cell research market, the skincare market, and cultivated meat. “We are confident that ORF Genetics has the perfect production platform to drastically reduce the cost of growth factors in your cell-cultured meat production and to provide the quantity of growth factors required,” Liv Bergþorsdottir, CEO of ORF Genetics, said in 2020. 

    6. Tiamat Sciences

    North Carolina-based biotech startup Tiamat Sciences raised $3 million in Seed funding in 2021 for its proprietary plant molecular farming platform. It says using plants is less costly than bioreactors but produces the same or superior quality protein.

    “Our technology can help to promote animal-free alternatives not only for food but also for the pharmaceutical industry,” France-Emmanuelle Adil, founder and CEO of Tiamat Sciences, said in a statement. “Plants are a great system to work with; they grow fast, are small water and energy consumers, and they are compostable. The technology offers flexibility with production for a diversified product portfolio.”

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  • Hyfé’s Sustainable Mycelium Protein Scales Up Ahead of Schedule

    Hyfé Foods co-founders CEO Michelle Ruiz and CTO Andrea Schoen
    3 Mins Read

    Climate-tech company Hyfé says it has scaled up the production capacity of its mycelium protein to 400L pilot bioreactors.

    On a mission to unlock low-cost production for sustainable products, the Chicago-based Hyfé is utilizing waste streams as a source for fermentation feedstock. It says it’s three months ahead of schedule, completing its scale-up last month.

    “Our mission is to use our flexible fermentation platform to produce cost-competitive essential goods for multiple industries, repurposing millions of pounds of wasted nutrients and keeping tons of emissions out of the atmosphere every year,” co-founder and CEO Michelle Ruiz said in a statement.

    Turning wastewater into affordable, sustainable protein

    Launched last year by former LanzaTech and ExxonMobil engineers, Hyfé has already earned the support of Boston Bioworks and the University of Illinois Bioprocessing Research Laboratory. The Engine led its oversubscribed $2 million Seed round last May; the venture firm spun out of MIT and invests in early-stage Tough Tech companies.

    wheat field
    hoto by rajeev ramdas on Unsplash

    Mycelium is Hyfé’s first focus, which it says showcases the technology’s ability to make high-quality products. Hyfé uses patent-pending technology to capture nutrients otherwise washed away during food manufacturing. It takes the nutrients and converts them into fermentation feedstocks. Food manufacturing is the third largest contributor to wastewater, which accounts for 1.5 percent of all emissions. By salvaging those nutrients, Hyfé is able to reduce its costs and produce nutrient-dense fermentation products.

    “Biomanufacturing has the potential to create solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity,” the company says. “It can enable improvements in health, climate, and quality of life if rendered economically viable.”

    Mycelium flour

    Hyfé says reducing the cost of production is key to making sustainable bioproducts competitive against subsidized commodities. “The feedstocks that power bioproduction represent a high-impact opportunity since they account for up to 50 percent of fermentation operating expenses and are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.”

    Hyfé is focused on mycelium protein Photo by Unsplash.

    Ruiz says Hyfé’s mycelium flour tastes and acts just like wheat flour, “enabling people to eat the foods they love without negative health impacts. We are leveraging biotechnology to produce this ingredient that is carbon neutral, at scale, and at a very low cost,” she said last May.

    “A bowl of Hyfé pasta has as much protein as a chicken breast, is high in fiber and has no refined carbs. We’re on a mission to make food better for you as well as better for the planet.”

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  • Melibio’s Bee-Free Honey to Launch in Europe Next Year

    We tried Melibio Cruelty Free Fermented Honey
    3 Mins Read

    MeliBio’s novel vegan honey will launch in Europe next year through organic food producer Narayan Foods.

    Melibio’s honey will see its retail launch in European stores next year; Narayan’s products are available in more than 75,000 stores across Europe. The product launch marks the first time vegan honey of its kind will enter the European market.

    California-based Melibio uses plant-based ingredients and novel tech to produce its bee-free honey that looks, tastes, and functions like conventional honey. It even includes plant pollen, but without the impact to bees.

    Bee-free honey

    While bees play a critical role in our food system, pollinating plants that make up 35 percent of global crop production, honey removal is taxing on hives and can often be deadly. Bee populations face a number of other threats including colony collapse disorder, which has decimated hives around the world. Conventional agricultural pesticides and herbicides have been linked to their decline, leading the European Union to ban the neonicotinoid class of pesticides.

    Melibio co-founders Aaron Schaller (l) and Darko Mandich (r) show off their vegan honey
    Melibio co-founders Aaron Schaller and Darko Mandich.

    The European announcement comes just a year after Melibio debuted its first prototype for the honey.

    Melibio has raised $7.2 million since it launched in 2020; it closed a $5.7 million seed round earlier this year. The company’s goal is to produce honey that doesn’t contribute to biodiversity loss. The company earned a spot on TIME Magazine’s 100 best innovations of 2021 list.

    Simplifying honey production

    “We know that science can produce delicious and nutritious honey, which is molecularly identical to traditional honey, at no cost to our precious bees,” Darko Mandich, MeliBio co-founder and CEO said in a statement earlier this year.

    Melibio Honey Consistenicy - Pic by Alessandra Franco
    Melbio’s honey

    “At MeliBio, we are here to introduce certainty in the supply chain and help companies simplify their honey sourcing, while making their honey-based formulations sustainable and delicious. Together with our clients, we can make the future of honey better, for both humans and for bees” said Mandich who worked in the honey industry prior to launching Melibio.

    “Being part of the honey industry for eight years helped me to understand all the challenges ranging from the broken global supply chain to issues of adulteration and most importantly large scale die-offs that threaten 20,000 bee species,” Darko Mandich, the co-founder and CEO of Berkeley, California-based MeliBio, told Green Queen in 2021.

    “If we don’t bring sustainability through innovation into this industry, it could seriously harm bees and humans. So I decided to move from Europe to California and join the emerging community that is working on producing animal products just without the animals.” 

    Lead image courtesy of Melibio.

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  • BioFluff Closes a $500,000 Pre-Seed Funding Round for Plant-Based Fur

    biofluff fur
    3 Mins Read

    BioFluff, the San Francisco-based company producing plant-based fur, has closed a pre-seed funding round of $500,000, with funding from SOSV/IndieBio fund, Joyance partners, and Ataraxia Partners Limited, among others.

    Fur made from plants is heading to a garment on you soon, with BIoFluff saying its ready to bring its first products to market next year following its pre-seed funding.

    The company was nominated to be part of global luxury fashion leader LVMH’s innovation award, including the one-year accelerator program, La Maison des Startups. The accelerator comes with the potential to partner with the luxury group’s Maisons.

     LVMH is one of only a few luxury labels without an animal fur ban. Earlier this year it said it was working to develop lab-grown fur. But fur made from plants may also be in its future.

    Fur from plants

    BioFluff makes its fur from plants that it says mimic conventional animal fur and popular synthetics but without the ethical issues tied to conventional animal fur and the climate impact of plastic-based artificial fur.

    “We are not trying to replace century-old traditions and craftsmanships, but we want to give everyone a new high-quality material to work with,“ Martin Stuebler, Co-Founder and CEO, said in a statement.

    biofluff
    Biofluff makes fur from plants | Courtesy Biofluff

    “We believe that after the alternative food market exploded the next innovations can be expected in the alternative material market,” he said.

     The company says unconventional plants “never before used” in creating textiles, including agricultural waste, can disrupt the $35 billion global fur market and $2 billion faux fur market.

    The BioFluff production process is virtually free from chemicals common in conventional fur processing, and the end product is fully biodegradable; Stuebler and co-founder Ashwariya Lahariya, bring backgrounds in chemistry and materials science to BioFluff. Stuebler also worked on developing mycelium-based leather, and Lahariya is a fibers and textiles research scientist.

    Bringing plant fur to market

    Now, they’re gearing up for their commercial debut and a seed funding round in February. “We are planning on launching our first capsule product with one of our fashion clients in Paris in 2023,” Stuebler says. “We are currently growing our team of scientists to advance our fiber augmentation and finishing process,” he says.

    biofluff fur coat
    Could your next winter coat be made from Biofluff? Courtesy Biofluff

    “We started the company because we couldn’t find any sustainable fur solutions on the market,” Stuebler told Green Queen.

    During the first covid wave in 2020 Stuebler was in lock down near a tannery in Spain and saw animals being processed for fur there.

    He reached out to co-founder Ashwariya to discuss technologies that could replace animal and plastic fur. Those technologies are now being used to produce BioFluff’s fur, Stuebler said.

    “We are our first and most critical customer when it comes to quality and sustainability.”

    Lead image courtesy Biofluff.

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  • Bill Gates-Backed C16 Biosciences Will Bring Its First Palm Oil Alternative to Market Next Year

    orangutan
    3 Mins Read

    A sustainable alternative to palm oil can’t come soon enough. C16 Biosciences says it’s ready to make it happen with its first commercial product line launching next year.

    C16 Biosciences, the Bill Gates-backed company producing oils and fats using biomanufacturing, is celebrating its first industrial-scale 50,000-liter fermentation with the launch of Palmless, its consumer brand platform.

    “The launch of Palmless is a big step forward in making a palm oil alternative a reality. Consumer brands have been seeking a palm alternative for years, but have lacked a real solution – until now,” Shara Ticku, co-founder and CEO of C16 Biosciences said in a statement. “Brands using Palmless in their products demonstrate they are making every effort to reduce their impact on climate change, and that consumers are demanding it.”

    The problems with palm oil

    Palm oil is a contentious product. It’s widely used in about 50 percent of household products and food items. But it’s a leading cause of tropical deforestation across southeast Asia, displacing critically endangered species such as the orangutan. According to a 2020 study, laboratory analysis found drainage of young palm oil leads to a 50 percent increase in CO2 emissions.

    Zero Acre Farm oil
    Courtesy Zero Acre Farms

    Demand for alternatives to palm oil across its many applications is on the rise, but few options exist aside from more ethical and responsible palm oil such as fair-trade or deforestation-free certified. Companies including Zero Acre Farms are working to develop cultured oils using fermentation. It raised $37 million in a Series A funding round earlier this year.

    Despite global efforts to reduce palm use and spread awareness about its impact, U.S. imports of palm have increased by nearly 30 percent in the last eight years. According to data from Grandview Research, the global palm oil market size was valued at $63.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 5.1 percent through 2030.

    Bringing the alternative to market

    “One of the reasons we invested in C16 was because we knew they had the potential to turn science into a commercial reality,” said Carmichael Roberts of Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The firm backed C16’s $20 million Series A in 2020. “Palmless becoming a challenger brand is an important next step as it will give consumers the power to choose products that do less harm.”

    Lab grown palm oil
    Lab grown palm oil | Courtesy C16 Biosciences

    C16 says Palmless will be able to fill the gap across consumer packaged goods including food items. C16 is planning to launch its first Palmless beauty items in 2023.

    “PalmlessTM is more than the start of commercial roll-out of C16 Biosciences’ technology. It’s also about holding manufacturers and brands to a higher standard: a better option is available,” Ticku said. “There are no more excuses.”

    Lead image courtesy of Pexels.

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  • This Engineered Houseplant Removes More Indoor Air Pollutants Than 30 Other Plants

    Neoplants engineers houseplants
    3 Mins Read

    Following more than four years of research, Neoplants has revealed Neo P1: a bioengineered houseplant that’s capable of removing more in-home air pollution than common houseplants.

    According to Paris-based Neoplants, its bioengineered Pothos plant can capture and recycle the most dangerous indoor pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and xylene.

    The company, which launched in 2018, has raised more than $20 million in funding from leading technology investors, including True Ventures, Heartcore, Entrepreneur First, and Collaborative Fund.

    VOCs and indoor air pollution

    Neoplants says the funding enables it to further develop its tech that uses living organisms to fight back against man-made environmental toxins. VOCs are present in materials used in furniture, household cleaning products, paint, varnishes, adhesives, upholstery, and flooring and can pollute indoor air for years. Indoor air pollution can often be five times higher than outdoor air.

    According to the World Health Organization, poor air quality from VOCs is responsible for roughly 11 percent of lung cancer deaths, 23 percent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) deaths, and 12 percent of ischaemic heart disease and stroke.

    The engineered Neo P1
    The engineered Neo P1 | Courtesy Neoplants

    “For too long, the advance of technology has been at the expense of our environment,” Lionel Mora, Neoplants CEO and co-founder, said in a statement. “Our team views nature as the world’s most powerful technology. It is critical that we use that human talent for innovation to partner with, and enhance, our natural world rather than just consuming it.”

    “But we did not want to create an R&D lab with the promise of discoveries far in the future – we are a product company. That means we’re pragmatic and action-oriented, and while our mission is global in scale, we chose to start with indoor air pollution as a first use case and a way for everyone to join us today,” Mora said.

    Fighting man-made chemicals with nature

    “Neo P1 is not only the first bioengineered plant designed to be a powerful, natural air purifier, but it is also a way for everyone to join our mission, improve their health, and bring the future of carbon capture into their homes,” said Mora.

    Engineering houseplants
    Engineering houseplants by Neoplants

    To create Neo P1, Neoplants engineered the plant to better metabolize VOCs into plant matter. Neoplants worked with Ecole Mines-Télécom of Lille University in France. Neoplants CTO and co-founder Patrick Torbey, Ph.D says the tech is necessary as “nature cannot evolve fast enough to keep up with the damage done by machines.”

    “[W]e need to put nature back at the heart of technological development,” he said. “We see bioengineering as a way of empowering nature to evolve alongside human technology. The more we uncover the code of the living organisms around us, the more we are amazed at its elegance and complexity, crafted by billions of years of evolution. Our team is committed to building a green and vibrant future here on earth, where plants are upgraded as frequently as our phones, where people can see and feel the benefits of nature as clearly as any piece of technology.”

    Lead image courtesy of Neoplants.

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  • Cresilon Closes $25 Million Series A for Biotech Hemostatic Gel That Works Instantly

    Cresilon has raised $25 million for its life-saving gel
    3 Mins Read

    Brooklyn-based Cresilon has developed an innovative hemostatic gel for wound treatment in animals. With its $25 million Series A funding, the company is working to bring the life-saving tech to humans.

    Cresilon’s plant-based gel technology has revolutionized wound treatment. The new funding, led by Paulson Investment Co., will accelerate its plans to expand its placement and bring the product to human markets.

    “We are extremely pleased with the progress that Cresilon has made in terms of market penetration, operational expansion, and strategic initiatives, and we will continue to invest in our business to further accelerate that progress,” Joe Landolina, CEO and Co-Founder of Cresilon, said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate the continued support of our investors as we continue to advance our mission of saving lives.”

    “We are pleased to have facilitated this significant capital raise during a period of time of extreme market volatility,” said Thomas Parigian, Senior Managing Partner at Paulson Investment Company. “The strong demand for investment in Cresilon despite market conditions is a direct reflection of the strength of the company’s leadership and the developing global footprint of its innovative and disruptive technology.”

    Developing the human market for Vetigel

    Cresilon uses a novel tech for Vetigel, the first hemostatic gel approved for the pet market. But the company says it has wider applications, including for emergency and surgical treatments. The funding will now help the company enter the human market following its 510(k) premarket notification to the FDA submitted last December.

    Cresilon founder Joe Landolina
    Cresilon founder Joe Landolina

    Traditional hemostatic technologies work either by absorbing blood through dense gauze or sponges. There are also biochemical options that use active ingredients such as thrombin or fibrin to promote clotting. Both of these techniques require the addition of sustained pressure. This is not always feasible for some wound types and situations.

    Landolina, who grew up with a love for chemistry, began looking into wound healing and plant-based materials as a teenager. His experimenting led him to submit the idea to New York University’s business plan competition in 2010 while he was still a freshman. Cresilon’s technology pulls from that early research, bridging two plant-based polysaccharides that in gel form, stop bleeding on contact, without the need for pressure. The gel allows the body to naturally form its own clots.

    Penetrating ballistic-like brain injury research

    The new funding follows Cresilon’s announcement last month that it partnered with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR)—the largest biomedical research facility administered by the Department of Defense. That Cooperative Research and Development Agreement will see Cresilon support development of technologies to treat soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injuries sustained during battle.

    There is currently no treatment for addressing penetrating ballistic-like brain injury. Since Cresilon’s hemostatic gel technology works in seconds without applying manual pressure, it could prove life-saving on battlefields.

    soldier
    Courtesy Obed Hernández | Unsplash

    “Cresilon is extremely proud and honored to be supporting the DoD and WRAIR in this critically important work,” Landolina said of the partnership. “This collaboration is a testament to the potential of our technology, and we are truly hopeful that it can make a difference in the treatment of TBI and in the precious lives of our soldiers.”

    According to a report from Baylor University Medical Center, more than half of people with traumatic injuries, including hemorrhaging, die within minutes of the accident or injury. Nearly 2 million people worldwide die from hemorrhaging every year.

    “There is a strong need for a broad indication hemostatic device that works quickly, effectively, and across multiple types of bleeds,” Landolina told MedGadget in April. “Existing technologies currently on the market require long periods of manual pressure, are difficult to apply, and are poorly suited to work on all types of bleeds.”

    Lead image courtesy Cresilon.

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  • Investments In APAC Agrifood Tech Set a New $5 Billion Record, According To New Report

    4 Mins Read

    Last year was a banner year for agrifood tech companies across Asia Pacific. And 2022 is following with notable achievements, with more than 360 investment deals in the first half of the year totaling more than $5 billion, according to the latest AgFunder report, produced in partnership with Thai Wah, Omnivore, and AgriFutures Australia.

    While investments were down in the first half of 2022 by 47 percent in line with the slowing of venture capital, Asia Pacific is still driving the global shift to a more sustainable food system, with investments into the sector totaling more than $15 billion last year, bringing the region’s ten-year investment total to more than $55 billion. This accounts for 30 percent of all global food tech and ag tech investments.

    Investing in APAC food tech

    India is leading the APAC region with 225 deals, followed by 104 in China, 63 in Singapore, 57 in Indonesia, and 55 in Australia. All totaled, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, and Bangladesh saw 105 deals. Deals across food innovations, farm tech, and agribusiness marketplaces led the funding, with bioenergy and biomaterials, farm robotics, and mechanization tech rounding out the top categories.

    Last year’s investments were up 67 percent over 2020 numbers. Almost half of that went to China. And declining investments this year point back to China, the report says, with Chinese startups raising less than $1 billion in the first half of 2022 compared to $5 billion during the same time period last year.

    Courtesy Starfield Foods

    But despite China’s decline, the rest of the region is on the upswing this year, raising $3.9 billion in the first half of 2022, a 15 percent increase over 2021. Some APAC countries like India could see record-setting years, AgFunder reports. India has already seen nearly $3 billion in investments in the first half of the year.

    The report also notes that even without China’s large funding numbers last year, the region broke investment records, totaling $8.1 billion, which was more than double 2020’s numbers.

    “Early on we saw the potential of the region, with its booming population growth and emerging centres of technology innovation, as a destination for agrifoodtech venture investment,” Michael Dean, AgFunder founding partner and Asia-Pacific head said in a statement accompanying the report.

    “We established our GROW Accelerator and Singapore-based venture impact funds to assist institutional and corporate investors in the region to access the disruptive technologies that have the potential to drive efficiencies, profitability and sustainability for decades to come,” he said.

    spread vertical farm
    Spread’s indoor vertical farm, courtesy

    Median deal sizes increased last year, hinting at inflated valuations for early-stage companies. “The median decrease at late and growth stages in H1-2022 is indicative of the expected decline in funding for the year, particularly from China,” AgFunder says.

    The report notes China’s market is cooling, particularly following the $3 billion raise for Xingsheng Youxuan, a food delivery startup. The country is seeing investments in a standout category that may prove to have longer legs than food delivery: farmtech. China closed $605 million in farm tech deals in 2021, a 60 percent jump over 2020. Ag Biotech, supply chain tech, and robotics are particular strengths, the report notes.

    India is leading the sector

    But the category leader is India, AgFunder says. “India is by far the most advanced farm tech ecosystem in AsiaPacific with startups operating in every farm tech category.”

    According to the report, funding for farm tech in the region reached $2.2 billion in 2021, double 2020 levels, with a 17.5 percent increase in the total number of deals.

    Shaka Harry
    Courtesy Shaka Harry

    India is also the leader in farm management software with startups dating back to the beginning of agtech globally, reads the report. The country also closed the most deals (25) in this
    category in 2021.

    AgFunder’s report comes on the heels of the Good Food Institute India’s 2022 Summit focused on bringing smart protein and tech to the country. India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world next year, and climb to more than 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.66 billion by 2050. Its agricultural sector is buoyed by smallholder farms, which make up the bulk of the sector. There are an estimated 90 million to 150 million farmers across India.

    “The challenges we face before us, in terms of food safety and security are growing,” Varun Deshpande, President, GFI Asia, said during the event. “We think that smart protein—meat, eggs, and dairy made from plants, cells, and microorganisms—is one of our best bets for a more sustainable, secure, and just food supply.”

    Lead image courtesy Canva.

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  • Nourish Ingredients Closes USD$28.6 Million Series A for Microbial Fermentation Fats

    Nourish Ingredients
    3 Mins Read

    With backing led by Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka Shing’s VC Horizon Ventures, Australian food tech startup, Nourish Ingredients, has raised more than AUD$45 million (USD$28.6 million) in a Series A.

    The microbial fermentation-focused Nourish also received funding from Main Sequence Ventures and Hostplus to further its development of fats and oils for the alternative protein sector. The raise is an important milestone, says CEO James Petrie, that will help the company to fast-track and scale production and product development” of its animal-free fats. The new funding follows a $14 million Seed round last year.

    Nourish is working to scale its production in partnership with several universities and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. Nourish founders Dr. James Petrie and Dr Ben Leita are both former CSIRO scientists.

    Nourish co-founders Dr. James Petrie and Dr. Ben Leita
    Nourish co-founders Dr. James Petrie and Dr. Ben Leita | Courtesy Nourish

    The company is differentiating itself from the sea of alternative meat producers by focusing on fats made with precision fermentation. That decision, according to the founders, came about as certain animal-based fats can’t be replicated with plants. To recreate the taste and performance of these fats, Nourish turned to microbes in a technique similar to how Perfect Day produces its animal-free dairy-identical whey.

    Fat is a key component to recreating animal products. Category leaders including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have relied on coconut oil.

    “The first generation of alternative proteins made waves, mostly with vegans and vegetarians,” Petrie said in a statement.

    “By overlooking fats, the market has missed the most essential element to the taste experience. That’s where Nourish comes in. We’re not just mimicking meat — we’re creating animal ingredients but from an animal-free source.”

    Impossible Foods uses coconut oil to create a fatty taste and texture in its burgers
    Impossible Foods uses coconut oil to create a fatty taste and texture in its burgers | Courtesy Impossible

    Petrie says feedback from the company’s alt-protein food partners has been very positive. “Nourish’s products have a transformative impact on their products — they haven’t tasted anything like it before. Our main challenge is to scale fast enough to meet their expectations but we are also deeply invested in pushing the boundaries of alt-protein taste and experience into new spaces,” Petrie said.

    Following the company’s Seed round last year, Petrie told TechCrunch that the company exists to help improve the growing roster of meat alternatives. Until they do improve, you really cannot see market ignition,” he said. “You’re reaching through, not only to the vegans and vegetarians, but also reaching through to the carnivores and getting them to keep coming back to the foods. That’s our mission.”

    Nourish is anticipating 2023 launches for its fat in alternative protein products in Australia and other parts of the world.

    “We are still doing R&D and have a pipeline of products,” he said. “We also need to accelerate the conversion of our MVP to the point of which we have realistic quantities that people can actually do something meaningful with.”

    Lead image courtesy Nourish.

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  • WNWN Launches Cacao and Palm Oil-Free Daim-Style Candy Bars

    Waim bars
    2 Mins Read

    From the first company to make chocolate without both cacao and palm oil, WNWN has introduced its second product, called the Waim! Bar—a knock-off of the popular European Mondelez Daim bar.

    The new limited-edition candy bars are covered in chocolate that’s cacao-free, made by fermenting plant-based ingredients for a sustainable alternative to chocolate.

    “The Waim! bar is our take on an iconic European candy bar, but without the catastrophic impact on people and planet,” WNWN CEO and cofounder Ahrum Pak, said in a statement.

    Daim Bars are made with conventional chocolate and palm oil | Courtesy

    Pak says the global chocolate habit is contributing to “deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, CO2 emissions, child slavery, and unfair trade practices.”

    The new plant-based bars produce 80 percent fewer CO2 emissions than conventional chocolate. It also helps ensure a chocolate experience without child labor. WNWN says the cacao industry exploits more than one million child laborers in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

    To achieve its cacao-free chocolate, WNWN uses British barley, the same ingredient in beer and whiskey, along with carob, a long-time knock-off for chocolate.

    Like traditional chocolate, WNWN ferments and roasts its ingredients along with proprietary processes to recreate that flavor, texture, and mouthfeel of conventional chocolate.

    Waim bars
    Waim bars, courtesy WNWN

    By eliminating palm oil, a common ingredient in chocolate, WNWN further reduces its environmental impact as palm oil is a leading cause of deforestation and CO2 emissions. A recent report found palm oil among the top three agricultural commodities driving global deforestation.

    Beyond chocolate, WNWN is working to create future-proofed foods that are resilient to climate change, biodiveristy loss, and from “production monopolies that pay unfair wages and foster poor working conditions,” the company says. These include coffee, tea and vanilla, which WNWN says each have “supply chains mired in unethical and unsustainable practices.”

    The new bar comes less than a year after WNWN’s launch. The Waim! bar is available on the WNWN website while supplies last.

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  • Kombucha-Based Leather and Plastic Manufacturer Bucha Bio Closes $1.1 Million Seed Round

    Bucha Bio extruder
    3 Mins Read

    Texas-based Bucha Bio says it has closed an oversubscribed Seed funding round, raising $1.1 million for its biobased materials produced by a kombucha-based bacterial nanocellulose along with plant-based materials to replace leather and plastic.

    The new funding round was led by New Climate Ventures, Lifely VC, and Beni VC, along with Prithvi VC, Asymmetry VC, and investors from the Glasswall Syndicate, including Alwyn Capital, as well as Chris Zarou, CEO & Founder of Visionary Music Group.

    Bio-based materials

    Shorai and Hikari are Bucha Bio’s two biobased materials currently in development. The company says it will be introducing its Hikari material later this year. It has a translucent aesthetic and unique processing capabilities that allow it to function as an alternative to animal leather, plastic leather, and other types of synthetic materials.

    “The time for rapid growth for biomaterials is now. Bucha Bio’s team and technical development are advancing hand in hand with the demands of brand partnerships, and we are excited to support them as they capitalize on this global opportunity,” Eric Rubenstein, Founding Managing Partner at New Climate Ventures, said in a statement.

    Bucha Bio
    Bucha Bio team | Courtesy

    Zarou said he’s excited about the early market traction and the vision of the Bucha Bio team. “Their next-gen biobased materials are game-changing, and their goals align with my personal vision for a more sustainable future within the entertainment industry and beyond.”

    Demand for sustainable materials across all industries is on the rise. According to the Material Innovation Initiative, the biomaterials sector has seen more than $2.3 billion in investments since 2015. Specifically, companies are looking at ways to replace materials with heavy carbon footprints including plastic and leather.

    Some bio-based materials can come from plant materials such as agricultural waste; Ganni, the Danish luxury fashion label recently released a tracksuit using bio-based fiber made from banana crop waste, for example. Bucha bio uses bacteria from the popular wellness drink kombucha to lay the foundation for its nano biomaterials, which include nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanocomposites, and nanocoatings, among others.

    Road to net-zero

    “Prithvi Ventures invested in Bucha Bio to help them achieve gigaton scale GHG emissions reduction, using a price parity roadmap.” said Kunal Sethi of Prithvi Ventures.

    Bucha Bio lab work
    Bucha Bio lab work | Courtesy

    Biomaterials can help emissions-heavy sectors like the fashion and automotive industries achieve net zero emissions. Companies are already exploring a range of options. German automaker BMW recently detailed its plans to shift toward more sustainable leather and other climate-friendly interior materials.

    Bucha Bio’s new funding will go to support Bucha’s development and market plans, scaling products to bring to market by next year. It’s also developing including biofibers, biopackaging, and hard biocomposites. The company is also building new headquarters in Houston, which will house a materials development laboratory, prototype manufacturing, and administrative offices.

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  • Perfect Day’s Latest Precision Fermentation Product? It’s the Technology Itself

    3 Mins Read

    Perfect Day, the pioneer in animal-free whey created through precision fermentation, has launched Nth Bio—a spin-off platform under the Urgent Company umbrella that will leverage its expertise and technology services for collaboration and hire.

    The Nth Bio name is taken from the math term the nth degree, meaning “to any required power”. And Perfect Day co-founder and CEO Ryan Pandya says that’s exactly the reason the company chose it.

    Nth Bio

    “It’s our commitment to creating a kinder, greener tomorrow through collaboration—taken to the nth degree. We look forward to continuing this work from our Salt Lake City base, supporting innovative, mission-aligned companies with Nth and extending our impact into new industries,” Pandya said in a statement.

    Nth builds on Perfect Day’s continued success. In the first half of 2022, the company produced more animal-free whey protein than it did in all of 2021. It says it has “unlocked the capacity to produce thousands of metric tons” through its four commercial-scale facilities around the world. Those products should begin rolling out early next year. Perfect Day’s ingredients are currently found in ice cream, milk, and cheese, among other categories.

    Perfect Day Raises $350M in Late-Stage Funding Round As Brand Prepares to IPO
    Courtesy Perfect Day

    The Nth team has been operating in stealth mode for the last two years working on its IP licensing, engineering, and scaling technology. It says it’s the only enterprise biology company in the world offering “end-to-end expertise and services from the earliest stages of molecular development to commercial-scale manufacturing, and the many steps in-between.”

    Kicking off the launch of Nth Bio, the company has partnered with Onego Bio, Ltd., the newly formed food tech startup that landed $1.1 million earlier this year, working to develop egg whites using precision fermentation.

    “Onego Bio is a serious, new player in the field, with top-notch technology skills and world-class experts that share our kinder, greener mission,” Pandya said. “We believe their animal-free egg white products will play a significant role in transforming our food chain.”

    Animal-free egg whites

    Onego Bio is using a novel technology to create precision fermentation ovalbumin—a protein found in egg whites. According to the company, global egg production has nearly doubled over the past two decades. The category is expected to reach close to 140 million tons by 2030.

    The company says with help from Nth Bio it can meet the growing demand for eggs with a more sustainable and ethical option. It says it plans to launch its first product, called Bioalbumen, for U.S. food service and confectionery use in the near future, eventually launching branded retail consumer products.

    egg white
    Courtesy Onego Bio

    “We are thrilled to announce the partnership with Nth Bio,” said Maija Itkonen, CEO of Onego Bio. “Perfect Day has been an enormous trailblazer in the global animal-free protein business, gaining GRAS status in the United States, and successfully communicating the no-compromise impact potential that its technology empowers to a larger audience. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with Perfect Day to follow in their footsteps with our own Onego Bio products.”

    Nth Bio says the inaugural partnership underscores its commitment to “impact through collaboration.” It says its unmatched expertise and potential for impact can’t be maximized alone. Perfect Day is no stranger to partnerships. Much of its success is owed to high-profile collaborations including a launch with Mars, General Mills, and a forthcoming project with Nestlé.

    “By giving access to essential tools and infrastructure, Nth allows partners like Onego to accelerate the things our world needs to move in a more sustainable direction,” the company said. “The best way to change the world for the better is to work with others to create broader impact. The potential is exponential.”

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  • Mark Cuban and Emily Ratajkowski Back Prolific Machines’ $42 Million Raise to Scale (Cheap) Cultivated Meat

    Mosa Meat FBS

    3 Mins Read

    Emerging from stealth mode, the celebrity-backed Prolific Machines is about to bring down the price of cultivated meat significantly.

    Profilic Machines’ $42 million was raised a year ago and comes from a long list of seed and an oversubscribed Series A investors including Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban and model and actress Emily Ratajkowski.

    The seed was led by Arvind Gupta at Mayfield, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the Series A round. Funding also came from David Adelman, The Kraft Family, David Rubenstein, Michael Rubin, Breyer Capital, The SALT Fund, Purple Orange Ventures, Fred Blackford, Jake Poliskin, Matt Katz, Baruch Future Ventures, Kevin Love, Tobias Harris, Meek Mill, Ciara and Russell Wilson, Maverick Carter, Sean Feeney, Michael Schulson, Mark Bucher, and RJ Melman.

    The company is now preparing for its Series B, which will aim for $170 million to further accelerate its tech.

    Funding the future of food

    With the growing demand for sustainable protein, cultivated meat development has taken a starring role in the future of food. President Biden’s recent endorsement and funding for biotech are expected to accelerate U.S. approval for cultivated meat. But for a number of producers, cost is still an issue, often the core barrier to entry. Prolific Machines is emerging with tech it says can help scale up production and scale down costs at the same time.

    Prolific Machines Team
    Prolific Machines Team | Courtesy

    “You have to use these growth media proteins which are some of the most expensive things — one of the proteins we are replacing is like 30,000 times more expensive than a gram of gold,” Prolific Machines co-founder and CEO Deniz Kent told TechCrunch. “It’s really hard to scale anything for this reason because you have to use these proteins.”

    Cultured meat uses cell samples taken from live animals. But from there, the cells are grown in lab settings, often bioreactors, where they’re fed a diet of nutrients. This had first been fetal bovine serum (FBS), a controversial ingredient. But a growing number of producers have supplanted the ingredient for plant-based media that’s often less expensive than FBS.

    Price parity

    Prolific Machines says its unique approach can do for cell-cultured meat what Henry Ford did for automobiles: make it cheaper.

    “Back then, nobody really owned cars apart from super-rich people. What really changed things was Ford,” Kent said.

    “They built the assembly line for cars and found a way to manufacture cars at a price that normal people could afford. That transformed the industry because then you went from hundreds of car companies to only three companies having over 70% of the market.”

    Upside Foods’ EPIC factory, Courtesy

    Its tech brings prices down and increases availability by eliminating the need for growth media entirely. It plans to bring products to market and license its tools to companies already in the space—and there are many. Data from the think tank the Good Food Institute shows more than 100 cultivated meat and seafood startups launched last year alone, a number up 25 percent from 2020.

    “I never intended to invest in another cultured meat company, but when Deniz showed me what they were doing, I was blown away by the creativity in their approach to reinvent the assembly line for food production,” Gupta said in a statement. “It is my goal to help reverse climate change by partnering with incredible teams, and I am convinced Prolific Machines will be a winner in the race for sustainable food production.”

    Prolific Machines is building a 25,000-square-foot headquarters in Emeryville, California—not far from cultivated meat producer Upside Foods ‘Epic’ facility that can produce 400,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year. The facility should be done by next spring.

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  • With Greenwashing Crackdowns, H&M, Decathlon Retract Eco Statements

    H&M bag
    3 Mins Read

    As authorities crack down on greenwashing, frequent offenders H&M and Decathlon say they’re adjusting or removing sustainability claims.

    In recent announcements, both fast fashion brand H&M and sportswear retailer Decathlon said they will be more clear in their consumer communications about sustainability metrics. The announcements follow a report by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which found the companies made “unclear and insufficiently substantiated sustainability claims.”

    “Consumers that wish to make sustainable choices must be able to have confidence in the veracity of the claims that businesses make on their products or websites,” Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh, board member of ACM, said in the report’s release.

    Misleading claims

    According to the report, both retailers touted terms such as ‘Ecodesign’ and ‘Conscious’ without backing up those claims.

    Higg Index | Courtesy

    In June, the Norwegian Consumer Agency pointed to H&M and Norrøna, saying that the companies’ use of the Higg Index was insufficient to support their environmental claims.

    That tool, which was created by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), provides a standardized measurement for the environmental impacts on a range of textiles but it only measures the fabric before it is finished. That “measurement” is based on impact averages. The Norwegian Consumer Agency (Forbrukertilsynet) went as far as to say it believed Norrøna was “breaking the law” with its misleading claims.

    The Norwegian Consumer Agency said Norrøna used the Higgs Index to make claims about organic cotton used in its t-shirts having a smaller environmental impact, but had not provided any evidence to back up the claim.

    “We have concluded that the use of Higg MSI in marketing to consumers is misleading in this case, and thus illegal. We asked Norrøna to remove or change the marketing of environmental benefits based on Higg MSI,” the agency said.

    Higg responds

    SAC says it put the brakes on its consumer-facing transparency program following the backlash over the misuse of its data and the misleading brand claims.

    HM | Courtesy

    “When the clothing industry and others use environmental claims in marketing, it is important that the environmental claims are correct,” Trond Rønningen, director of the Norwegian Consumer Agency, said. “It is a basic principle that marketing should be truthful and give the most balanced and precise impression of any environmental benefits. If not, consumers risk making purchasing choices on the wrong basis.”

    Following the latest claims from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, H&M told Fashion United that it has made the decision to remove H&M’s “Conscious Choice” indicator from its online shop worldwide. “This work is in progress and will be finalised by the end of October.”

    “We are pleased to see that these companies have acknowledged that they should have informed consumers more clearly about the sustainability aspects of their products, and that they will adjust various sustainability claims and their substantiation,” van den Bergh said.

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  • Biden’s Biotech Moonshot Lights the Way for Regulatory Approval of Cultivated Meat

    4 Mins Read

    Biotech is a priority for the Biden Administration, as the President signed an executive order earlier this week implementing support for the emergent category. Funding amounts were not disclosed but Biden says biotech holds the potential to fight cancer and make alternatives to emissions-producing products including oil-based chemicals, plastics, and textiles, as well as animal-free meat and dairy products.

    Calling it a cancer ‘moonshot’, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston earlier this week, he compared biotech to the former president’s moon landing initiative. Biden says he hopes to cut cancer deaths by 50 percent over the next quarter-century.

    Photo by Talha Hassan on Unsplash

    “Today I’m setting a long term goal for the Cancer Moonshot – to rally American ingenuity, we engage like we did to reach the moon, but actually cure cancers…once and for all,” Biden said. The president’s son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

    “Today’s action is going to ensure that America leads the world in biotechnology and biomanufacturing, creating jobs, reducing prices, strengthening supply chains so we don’t have to rely on anywhere else in the world,” Biden said.

    Biotech revolution

    In a press call with White House staff, a senior administration official said the announcement and order come as the global industry is “on the cusp of a revolution powered by biotechnology.” 

    “Analyses and facts suggest that before the end of the decade, engineering biology holds the potential to be used in manufacturing industries that account for more than one third of global output.  That’s equivalent to almost $30 trillion in terms of value, the White House official said.

    “Living factories — cells — and biomass can be used to make almost anything that we use in our day-to-day lives, from medicines to fuels to plastics.  And this allows the U.S. to leverage innovation — this innovation — to strengthen our economy and society.”

    Photo by Alejandro Barrón from Pexels

    The administration says it’s also looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation, “including through new technologies that protect crops from disease, enhance seeds and fertilizers and foods made with cultured animal cells.”

    Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president & CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, welcomed the move.

    “We commend the administration for launching this initiative, particularly the actions to streamline regulatory regulations for biotechnology products, expand market opportunities for biobased products, work for international alignment of regulatory standards, and invest in training and education pathways to ensure an adequate, diverse biotech workforce,” McMurray-Heath said in a statement.

    Biotech ag

    “This announcement puts in place steps that will help the soy industry continue to use soybeans to develop innovative, sustainable products that can help lower greenhouse gas emissions and create more jobs for not only agriculture but all Americans,” American Soybean Association President Brad Doyle said in a statement.

    “We are also pleased to see included measures that support agricultural biotechnology regulatory reform, along with quite a few other provisions.”

    Upside Foods’ EPIC factory, Courtesy

    The move is also expected to speed regulatory approval for cultivated meat in the U.S and around the world. The industry raised $1.38 billion last year, according to the Good Food Institute. Last year saw the launch of more than 100 cultivated meat and seafood startups—a number up nearly 25 percent over 2020. Twenty-five countries now have at least one cultivated meat company.

    U.S.-based Upside Foods, which has raised more than $600 million and is now valued at more than $1 billion, opened a $50 million California factory last year that it says can produce 400,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year. Currently, only Singapore has approved the sale of cultivated meat products for Bay Area’s Eat Just Good Meat.


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  • Compostable Seaweed-Coated Coffee Balls Are Coming for Your Nespresso

    2 Mins Read

    Your coffee habit is on notice. Swiss retail giant Migros says it is launching a proprietary coffeemaking system aimed at replacing single-use coffee pods.

    Launching in Switzerland and France, Migros’ CoffeeB Coffee Balls were five years in the making. Designed to replace single-serve plastic coffee pods, they are encased in a thin protective layer that doesn’t dissolve during the brewing process. It is fully compostable in about four weeks and will decompose in most home composting systems.

    Courtesy Migros/CoffeeB

    That compostable layer is made from a seaweed-derived material that the company says is tasteless and colorless.

    CoffeeB is not the first company to look to seaweed and algae packaging to solve the single-use problem.

    In 2017, Skipping Rocks Lab debuted the Ooho water pod—an algal membrane-coated sphere delivery mechanism to replace bottled water. The product created a buzz—2019 London marathoners were treated to the pods.

    No-capsule coffee

    “We believe that our no-capsule system is the future of portioned coffee and that regular aluminum and plastic capsule systems will be phased out over time,” Frank Wilde, head of CoffeeB and former Nespresso executive told Daily Coffee News.

    “The reason is simple: CoffeeB solves the capsule waste problem, and tastes just as good as traditional capsule coffee. The transition will however take time and, similar to the trend towards electric cars, a radical change won’t happen overnight,” Wilde says.

    Courtesy Migros/CoffeeB

    While they’re plastic-free, the new coffee balls do require their own machine, though. Called The Globe, it can brew one 5.3- to 5.9-gram ball of pure ground coffee, which is roasted by Swiss brand Café Royal.

    “The Coffee Balls are only compatible with the Coffee B Globe machine since we had to develop a completely new brewing technology,” Caroline Siefarth, who led the company’s research and development process for CoffeeB, told Daily Coffee News. “It is a completely different system to existing coffee capsules.”

    Like the Coffee Balls, the Globe machine is made from recycled materials and features a modular design to allow for parts replacement, unlike many conventional machines.

    The post Compostable Seaweed-Coated Coffee Balls Are Coming for Your Nespresso appeared first on Green Queen.

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