It’s early days, says the Good Food Institute (GFI), but microbial fermentation is rapidly emerging as the “third pillar in the alternative protein industry [alongside cell-cultured and plant-based]," attracting $435m in investment capital in 2020 alone.
Ingredients
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Brightseed, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to aid food companies in the discovery of new nutritional compounds in plants, announced today that it has raised $27 million in new funding. The round was led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and brings the total amount raised by Brightseed to $52 million.
Canola is the third largest oilseed crop after soybeans and cottonseed, with an established supply chain (for oil crushing) featuring protein with a highly attractive nutritional profile and great functional properties. So why has taken so long for canola protein to be commercialized?
Malaysian insect-protein firm Ento has opted to shift its food production focus from whole-insect snacks to a ‘proteinisation’ focus in the hope of increasing consumer acceptability and encouraging mass consumption.
Oliver Zahn began his professional career studying the stars. The founder of Climax Foods, a startup that’s using data science to replace animal proteins with plant-based substitutes, spent years at the University of California at Berkeley with his eyes fixed firmly toward the heavens before taking up with Pat Brown and Impossible Foods as the company’s leading data scientist. That experience focused Zahn on more terrestrial concerns and undoubtedly led the founder down the path to launching Climax Foods.
Solar Foods, producing a unique single-cell protein out of thin air, has closed its series A financing round with €15M new financing. Today’s announced investment extends the Series A financing round to total €18.5M, including the €3.5M convertibles raised in late 2019. The largest food-tech financing round in Finland to date was led by Fazer Group with Bridford Investments Limited, Agronomics Limited, Lifeline Ventures and CPT Capital.
Despite their ability to create matter out of thin air, algae and cyanobacteria have long been neglected by the biotech industry. Recently, however, they have started to gain traction in new market niches.
Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, one of the world's top suppliers of plastics and chipmaking materials, has expanded into the supply chain for the growing market for plant-derived meat.
Merit Functional Foods announces today a new partnership with Bunge Limited that will bolster its mission to provide plant-based protein ingredients with unmatched purity and quality. Bunge Limited, a leading international agribusiness and food company, has made a $30 million (CAD) capital investment in Merit, giving the global ingredient supplier a minority interest in the Canadian-based company.
Hormel Ingredient Solutions announced the launch of a new line of plant-based ingredient solutions available to food manufacturers across the country. “These new products are designed to help food manufacturers incorporate more plant-based foods into their offerings for the growing number of consumers interested in adding these items to their diets,” said Paul Sheehan, director of sales for Hormel Ingredient Solutions. The new plant-based offerings are powered by pea protein.
Avena Nordic Grain, part of Finnish food industry group Apetit, has developed a new, sustainable, plant-protein-fibre ingredient: BlackGrain from Yellow Fields. FoodNavigator learns more about the unique ingredient’s nutritional and functional characteristics.
Directory
Brightseed
Plant-Based Ingredients Research
United States 2017
Climax Foods
Plant-Based Ingredients Research
United States 2019
Arbiom
Plant-Based Ingredients Feed
United States 2017
NovoNutrients
Cultivated Ingredients Feed
United States 2009
Tiamat Sciences
Cultivated Ingredients Cell Culture Media
Belgium 2019
Berkeley Alt Meat Lab
Cultivated Plant-Based Algae Fungi Meat Dairy Eggs Seafood Ingredients Research
United States
Shiru
Plant-Based Fungi Ingredients
United States 2019
Merit Functional Foods
Plant-Based Ingredients
Canada 2019