Startup Liberation Labs is one step closer to easing crippling capacity constraints holding back precision fermentation – one of the most promising technologies in the fast-growing alternative protein market – with an infusion of $30m in equipment financing...
Rotterdam-based Fooditive is boldly going where no food company has gone before to try and solve current food system challenges and drive system transformation.
After eight years of research and development, Joywell Foods has rebranded as Oobli, and unveiled the first food products – chocolate bars boasting 70% less sugar – to feature the sweet protein brazzein.
Precision fermentation specialist Perfect Day has completed its acquisition of Indian firm Sterling Biotech Limited (SBL) – which will double its production capability in the near-term - and secured the green light from the Food Safety and Standards Authority...
Utilized in everything from lipsticks and moisturizers to baked goods and confectionery, palm oil comes with environmental and societal costs – displacing tropical forests across Asia, Latin America and West Africa, and destroying the habitats of endangered...
Buoyed by a $120m series B funding round, Israeli startup Remilk is building what it claims is the world’s largest precision fermentation facility in Denmark. FoodNavigator-USA visited the firm’s HQ in Rehovot last week to taste some animal-free dairy...
Billed as the “world’s first protein-boosted hard juice,” BUILD by Pulp Culture adds an intriguing new twist to the functional beverage space with a 4.9% ABV fermented juice laced with adaptogens, probiotics,* and a highly-soluble, ‘near invisible’ animal-free...
Novozymes is increasing its investment into alternative proteins, specifically its portfolio of enzyme solutions that can be used for the production of alternative protein food and beverage products, which it is expecting to become a significant driver...
New Culture, a startup producing casein proteins (minus the cows) via microbial fermentation to make mozzarella and other dairy products has announced a strategic partnership with global ingredients giant ADM to scale up its animal-free dairy operation.
Fine chemicals co DIC and San Diego-based startup Debut Biotech are developing a vibrant natural red color that is heat-stable, light-stable, and stable across a wide pH range, using a novel hybrid approach combining microbial fermentation and ‘cell-free’...
Bay area startup Zero Acre Farms - which is deploying microbial fermentation to produce oils and fats it claims can outperform rivals in the nutrition and sustainability stakes – has launched direct to consumer with a ‘cultured’ cooking oil boasting a...
From fermented dairy proteins to cellular agriculture and molecular farming, Spanish dairy major Pascual has its finger on the pulse when it comes to innovation in next generation dairy. But why should a traditional dairy processor invest in this space?
US retail sales of frozen meat alternatives were up a solid +10.1% to $76m in May 2022 vs May 2021, with volumes fairly flat at -0.8%; but sales of refrigerated meat alternatives continued their precipitous slide last month, with dollar sales slumping...
Mars is dipping its toes into the emerging animal-free dairy space with the launch of a lactose-free milk chocolate brand called CO2COA featuring Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa and Perfect Day’s non-animal whey protein, which is made by genetically...
Growing food from microbes – whether it’s meat alternatives or high-intensity sweeteners - is more efficient and in many cases more sustainable than raising animals or growing crops. But if we want to build a truly circular economy, says Hyfé Foods co-founder...
While much of the press coverage in food tech is devoted to brands making meat, egg, and dairy alternatives, these technologies will only be scalable – and sustainable - if we pay the same level of attention to the enabling technologies underpinning them,...
Superbrewed Food has secured self-affirmed GRAS status for a new whole food, non-GMO ingredient - marketed as a ‘postbiotic cultured protein’ – that founder Dr Bryan Tracy is billing as “the most nutrient dense protein source on the planet,” with 80%+...
When Ginkgo Bioworks’ head of codebase Dr Patrick Boyle was working on his doctoral research between 2006-12, he was “basically ordering DNA one gene at a time,” he recalls. “I think I ordered less than six total genes for my entire PhD.” Today, the Boston-based...
Fat is mission-critical to the appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and texture of meat. And if you want to formulate meat alternatives that look, cook, smell, and taste like the real thing, plant-based fats will only get you so far, claims San Francisco-based...
The draw of industrial biotechnology is compelling: beef without the cow, eggs without the chicken, almost every animal-based product that society has relied on for centuries having a non-animal replacement in the works. Maybe it’s just me, but with...
San Leandro-based Geltor – which has developed a computational biology platform to create ‘designer’ functional proteins via precision fermentation – has completed its first commercial-scale manufacturing run of PrimaColl ‘animal-free’ vegan collagen...
Fungi-fueled Meati Foods – which raised some eyebrows in December after its new president (ex-General Mills president Scott Tassani) suggested the startup could generate a cool $1bn in sales by 2025 from mycelium-based meat alternatives – has seen a surge...
Microbes from yeast to fungi are now routinely used to produce some ingredients more efficiently than plants or animals. But next-gen ‘cell-free’ processes that deploy some of the biomolecular machinery inside the cell wall, could slash R&D lead times...
'Animal-free’ protein startup The EVERY Company - which deploys synthetic biology to genetically engineer microbes to produce high-value ingredients such as egg proteins (without chickens) via precision fermentation - has closed a $175m series C...
When it comes to proteins, says Christian Koolloos, chief business development officer at Dutch startup The Protein Brewery, boring is good. In fact, the blander the better: “Fermotein [his firm’s fermented fungi protein] is extremely boring in its profile...
Shiru - an Emeryville, CA-based startup producing proteins via microbial fermentation to create label-friendly alternatives to everything from methylcellulose to gelatin and casein - has closed a $17m Series A round* led by S2G Ventures that will help...
Hormel Foods is dipping its toes further into the meat alternatives space via its venturing arm 199 Ventures, which is teaming up with The Better Meat Co. to bring new products to market featuring the latter’s Rhiza mycoprotein ingredient, a filamentous...
‘Animal-free’ protein startup Clara Foods has rebranded as The EVERY Company and unveiled EVERY ClearEgg, a highly soluble, "nearly invisible" functional egg protein, its second product produced via precision fermentation using genetically engineered...
Meat, egg, and dairy ‘alternatives’ usually come with qualifying language (plant-based eggs; meatless nuggets, oatmilk). But what should we call next generation products that are not simply mimicking the real thing, but in many cases, are the ‘real’ thing,...
Join Noblegen, Plantible Foods, Superbrewed Food, Mattson and Lever VC to discuss the future of protein
Plant-based proteins such as soy and pea continue to dominate the so-called ‘alternative protein’ category, but they’re not the only game in town. New options are now emerging from ‘animal-free’ collagen and whey to a novel set of proteins produced naturally...
Nature’s Fynd - a Chicago-based startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – has raised $350m in a Series C round (taking its total financing to >$500m) as it gears up to launch...
Israeli firm NextFerm Technologies – one of a flurry of players developing new protein sources from microbes - is gearing up for the 2022 commercial launch of ProteVin, a vegan, non-GMO, yeast-based protein, following successful testing at pilot scale...
Canadian startup Noblegen has opened a CAD$500m Series C capital raise as it seeks to commercialize a suite of products from the ‘ancient microorganism’ euglena gracilis, which can produce everything from proteins that behave like animal proteins, to...
San Francisco-based Change Foods – one of a new breed of startups making 'animal-free' dairy ingredients using microbes instead of cows – has closed an oversubscribed $2.1m seed funding round,* and plans to launch its first consumer products...
“Global and local” dairy companies have approached Imagindairy - one of a clutch of startups using microbes (not cows) to produce milk proteins – about developing ‘animal-free’ dairy milks and other products, says the Israeli company, which lags some...
New Culture – one of a cluster of startups in the emerging ‘animal-free’ dairy space* engineering microbes to produce dairy milk proteins, without cows – is aiming to launch animal-free Mozzarella in late 2023.
Thanks to advances in synthetic biology, with the right set of instructions, an army of microscopic little food factories (yeast, fungi, bacteria, algae etc) can now make animal proteins without animals, from collagen and egg albumin to whey protein if...
Bay area startup Clara Foods has teamed up with ZX Ventures, the innovation arm of the world’s largest brewer AB InBev - which knows a thing or two about large-scale fermentation - to help realize its dream of making ‘animal-free’ egg proteins using microbes...
Berkeley-based startup Perfect Day has underscored its sustainability credentials with the release of a lifecycle assessment suggesting its ‘non-animal’ whey protein - produced by microbes - produces up to 97% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than...
Armies of microscopic single-celled microbial food factories (yeast, bacteria, fungi, algae) are now routinely deployed to produce high-value food ingredients more efficiently than plants or animals. But next-generation ‘cell-free’ biomanufacturing processes...
Dairy-free cheeses featuring a novel bacterial protein could hit the market by the end of the year, adding an intriguing new dimension to the burgeoning dairy-alternative space, says microbial fermentation specialist Superbrewed Food (formerly known as...
‘Animal-free dairy’ ice cream brand Brave Robot – which launched in July 2020 - will be in 5,000 stores across the US by Earth Day 2021 (April 22), says brand owner The Urgent Company.
Geltor – which has developed a computational biology platform to create a range of ‘designer’ functional proteins via microbial fermentation - is gearing up for the commercial launch of the world’s first ingestible ‘animal-free’ vegan collagen for the...
Nature’s Fynd - a Chicago-based startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – has raised a further $45m and hired a clutch of food industry veterans as it gears up to launch its first...
From a flurry of startups using microbes – instead of plants or animals – to produce proteins, to AI-driven platforms exploring ‘the dark matter of nutrition,’ and real honey produced without bees, check out our gallery of foodtech companies to watch...
Cincinnati-based Graeter’s Ice Cream, a 150-year-old family-owned company, and Perfect Day, a San Francisco-based startup producing animal-free milk proteins via microbial fermentation, have partnered to launch “Perfect Indulgence”, a line of frozen desserts...
Change Foods – one of a new breed of startups making real dairy ingredients using microbes instead of cows – is setting up shop in California, with ambitions to launch its first consumer products in the US market in 2023.
