Plant Cell Cultivation

PoLoPo team

© PoLoPo

PoLoPo Expands Lab Capacity, Completes Successful Outdoor Field Trial of Protein-Producing Potatoes

PoLoPo, a company specializing in molecular farming, has announced two key developments: a successful field trial producing five tons of protein-rich potatoes and the expansion of its lab capabilities to meet growing demand for protein samples. The company’s trial, which exceeded initial expectations by yielding approximately five tons of potatoes—two tons more than anticipated—marks a significant milestone in its efforts to scale production of functional proteins. These potatoes are engineered to contain both ovalbumin and patatin, a protein native to the plant. Despite being genetically engineered, the protein powder derived from these potatoes contains no genetic material and is classified as non-GMO. In addition to the field trial success, PoLoPo has upgraded its laboratory facilities, enabling it to supply hundreds of grams of protein powders …

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Shiru partners with GreenLab

Image: Shiru on LinkedIn

Shiru Partners With GreenLab to Scale Novel Food Proteins Made Using Corn-Based Expression System

AI-powered ingredient discovery company Shiru has partnered with plant biotechnology pioneer GreenLab to commercialize novel food proteins made using GreenLab’s proprietary corn expression system. The collaboration will give Shiru access to a high-yield, scalable manufacturing platform that extends beyond microbial and precision fermentation, enabling the production of functional ingredients across bioindustrial applications. The initial focus will be on CPG. As part of the partnership, Shiru’s AI technology will be used to rapidly discover high-performance proteins, while GreenLab’s corn system will help bring sustainable ingredients to market faster. Corn-based protein production can reportedly outperform traditional fermentation, reducing costs and making novel proteins more affordable for food brands. By using plants as natural biofactories, more protein can be produced with less energy, reducing environmental impact and ensuring …

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Food Brewer cocoa

© Food Brewer

Food Brewer Raises Over $11M with Backing from Lindt & Sprüngli and Sparkalis

Zurich-based food-tech startup Food Brewer has secured new investment from Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli and Sparkalis, the corporate venture arm of Puratos, as part of a CHF 5 million ($5.6 million) seed extension round. The investment brings the company’s total funding to CHF 10 million ($11.1 million), according to AgFunderNews. Food Brewer specializes in producing cocoa and coffee alternatives using plant cell culture, a process that involves selecting and cultivating plant cells in bioreactors. The startup aims to provide a climate-resilient alternative to traditional cocoa and coffee production, which faces increasing challenges due to climate change and rising raw material costs. In a statement on social media, Food Brewer said that Lindt & Sprüngli’s involvement would support its go-to-market strategy and product development …

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rice milk

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Tokyo’s Kinish Raises $800,000 USD to Scale Rice-Based Casein Production

Tokyo-based food tech startup Kinish Inc. has secured $800,000 USD (¥120 million) in a seed funding round to advance its rice-based dairy alternative technology. The funding was led by Genesia Ventures, Lifetime Ventures, Full Commit Partners, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. Kinish is working to develop a rice-based source of casein, the key protein found in milk, using plant molecular agriculture. The company’s goal is to create plant-based dairy alternatives that closely replicate conventional dairy in taste and texture, while also addressing environmental concerns tied to livestock farming. CEO Hiroya Hashizume explained that the company’s mission is rooted in both sustainability and food enjoyment. “We believe that ‘small moments of excitement’ are essential to human life, and delicious food plays a key role in that. However, …

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PoLoPo

© PoLoPo

PoLoPo Moves to Field Cultivation of Bioengineered Protein Potatoes, Boosting Capacity to Three Tons

Molecular farming startup PoLoPo has transitioned from greenhouse-scale production to large-scale field cultivation of genetically modified potatoes engineered to produce high levels of protein, including ovalbumin, a key component of egg protein. This move increases the company’s production capacity from tens of kilograms to an estimated three tons per harvest. PoLoPo’s protein-producing potato plants are part of the company’s proprietary approach to molecular farming. The plants are engineered through metabolic engineering techniques to produce and store proteins in their tubers. These proteins are then extracted and dried into functional protein powders for use in various applications, including food production. The potatoes, now being grown in fields located in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, are expected to yield three tons of product by spring 2025. …

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California Cultured cell cultivated chocolate

© California Cultured

Chocolate Giant Puratos Makes Strategic Investment in California Cultured’s Cell-Based Cacao

California Cultured, a startup pioneering plant cell culture to produce cacao, has received an undisclosed investment from Sparkalis, the food tech venture arm of the Belgian international group Puratos. The new capital will fund the startup’s scaling operations at an upcoming new facility (currently under construction) to bring a cell-based cocoa powder product to the market. Filip Arnaut, managing director of Sparkalis, commented: “At Sparkalis, we seek out visionary startups like California Cultured that are creating transformative solutions for the food industry. Their innovative approach to cocoa production aligns perfectly with our mission to foster a healthier and more sustainable future for the global food ecosystem. We are thrilled to support their journey in the world of chocolate.” Uniting forces to address commodity challenges The …

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GALY, a plant-cell culture startup based in Brazil and Boston, USA, has raised $33 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round to advance its proprietary platform for cultivated cotton from lab to pre-industrial scale.

© GALY

GALY Raises $33M From Bill Gates’ BEV, H&M, and Inditex to Advance Climate-Resilient Cultivated Cotton

GALY, a plant-cell culture startup based in Brazil and Boston, USA, has raised $33 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round to advance its proprietary platform for cultivated cotton from lab to pre-industrial scale. Additionally, the funds will support expanding R&D efforts to improve the quality of “GALY Cotton” and develop other sustainable alternatives to traditional crop-derived commodities. The funding round was led by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), with participation from two fashion giants, H&M Group and Inditex. Other participants included Indorama Ventures, Endeavor Scale-up Ventures, and Unreasonable. Previous investors Material Impact, John Doerr’s family office (Eighty Eighty Group), Artesian, BRINC, and Reaction Global also backed the sustainable cotton, bringing GALY’s raised capital to $65 million. Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of GALY, shared, …

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Frank Jaksch, CEO of Ayana Bio

Frank Jaksch ©Ayana Bio

Op Ed: Frank Jaksch, CEO of Ayana Bio – Regulation of Ultra Proccessed Foods, Navigating Potential Paths Forward

Frank Jaksch is the CEO of Ayana Bio, the Boston-based company working on the production of cacao bioactives and agriculture-free saffron amongst other developments. Ayana Bio is one of an emerging group of plant cell cultivation tech firms cultivating plant cells in controlled environments, such as bioreactors, to ensure a climate-proof supply of crops such as cacao, coffee, and other at-risk crops such as cotton and spices. Jaksch has more than 25 years in life sciences and food, beverage, and dietary supplement consumer products, building dietary supplement and food ingredient company ChromaDex from the ground up and taking the company public on Nasdaq. Jaksch sits on the board of directors for the Natural Products Association and is a recognized global expert on natural products chemistry, …

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A photo of a pizza slice

© Ergo Bioscience

Ergo Bioscience Creates “Animal Proteins, Without Animals” for the Next Generation of Plant-Based

Ergo Bioscience, recognized in 2022 by FoodBytes! from Rabobank as one of the 15 most disruptive food tech startups worldwide, specializes in developing complex animal proteins such as bovine myoglobin and casein through plant cell culture. Founded in May 2020 with pre-seed investment from CITES, the startup boasts a team of 12 scientists dedicated to innovation and biotechnology to create animal-free ingredients. With biotech research in Wilmington, Delaware, laboratories in Sunchales and Santa Fe, Argentina, and a new subsidiary in Canada, Ergo believes in the potential of plant cells to bring sustainability to the food industry and beyond. Plant cells instead of microbes Ergo has developed a platform called EUKARYA that “programs” plant cells with multiple simultaneous genetic modifications to make them express complete structures …

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Pluri develops cell-based coffee at industrial scale

© Pluri

Coffee Without Beans, Chocolate Without Cocoa – The Companies Making Plants from Cells (and why we need them)

Plant cell cultivation is revolutionizing the production of various crops by growing plant cells in controlled environments, such as bioreactors, to produce plant-based products. Why do we need plant cell cultivation technology? Demand for commodities like coffee and chocolate continues to grow as Earth’s populace continues to hurtle towards a figure of 9.8 billion projected for 2050. Meanwhile, the area of land suitable for growing such crops is rapidly shrinking. Plant cell cultivation bypasses the need for extensive farmland, reduces water usage, and minimizes environmental impact. With the ongoing effects of climate change and the increasing scarcity of arable land, these innovations are crucial for maintaining the future supply of essential crops. Around the world, innovators are creating methods which aim to ensure human beings …

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A petri dish with plant ingredients

© Ayana Bio

Plant Cell Culture Company Ayana Bio Appoints Jill Zullo, Formerly of Cargill, to Board of Directors

Plant cell culture technology company Ayana Bio announces the appointment of Jill Zullo, PhD, described as “an experienced commercial leader with deep technical roots in biotechnology”, to the company’s Board of Directors. Zullo is the former president and CEO of NatureWorks and Global Managing Director Biointermediates at Cargill. According to the company, the appointment “further underscores the focus on establishing Ayana Bio as a leader in the plant cell culture space and assembling a board of directors with diverse backgrounds of expertise to guide the company to commercial success.” Ayana Bio uses plant cell cultivation to grow plant materials, with a focus on creating ingredients that leverage plant bioactives for health and wellness products. A spinoff from Boston’s Ginkgo Bioworks, Ayana recently partnered with Wooree …

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GALY banner

© GALY

Inditex, Owner of Fashion House Zara, Invests in GALY’s Cultivated Cotton from Plant Cells

Spanish multinational clothing company Inditex, owner of Zara and Massimo Dutti, among other fashion brands, has announced a minority stake investment (the sum has not been disclosed) in GALY, a Brazilian and US biotech producing cultivated cotton from plant cells. GALY was founded in 2019 by Luciano Bueno, a former Deloitte executive. The startup has raised over $33.5 million from notable investors such as Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator and current CEO of OpenAI, John Doerr from VC Kleiner Perkins, and investment funds such as Material Impact, Agronomics, and Brinc. According to Reuters, Inditex CEO Oscar Garcia Maceiras says the move aligns with the company’s goal of using 25% new-generation materials by 2030. Inditex has already invested in the sustainable material companies Findland’s Infinite …

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© Kokomodo

Kokomodo Creates Cultivated Cacao, Preserving Climate-Proof Supplies for the Future of Confectionery

Climate change poses a significant threat to the future supply of cacao (the unprocessed version of cocoa), with the majority of farmland predicted to become unfit for production by 2050. Recent severe weather events have negatively impacted cacao harvests in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s biggest producers, causing significant shortages and high prices. But Kokomodo, a startup leveraging plant cell technology to “cultivate cocoa’s future” aims to ensure a stable, year-round cacao supply of sustainable premium cocoa. To do so, Kokomodo is developing a platform to produce cacao locally with cells and advanced bioreactors independently from land (deforestation), climate, and tropical regions. The startup, which operates a pilot-scale lab in Israel, not exactly a tropical country with cacao bean plantations, has already developed its first …

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Pluri announces that it has secured a patent from the Israel Patent Office for its System for its 3D bioreactor plant cells technology.

© Pluri

Pluri Receives First-Ever Patent for 3D Bioreactor Technology in Plant Cell Cultivation

Pluri (Nasdaq:PLUR) (TASE:PLUR), parent company of the recently launched cell-based coffee biotech PluriAgtech, announces that it has secured a patent from the Israel Patent Office for its “System for 3D Cultivation of Plant Cells and Methods of Use.” Pluri claims this is the first-ever patent approval for 3D bioreactor technology in plant cell cultivation. Pluri’s 3D technology enables the cultivation of plant cells in bioreactors to develop sustainable and disease-free plant material for various sectors, from sustainable agriculture to healthcare.   According to the company,  approximately one-fifth of the 50,000 medical plants used today are on a list of threatened species, while climate change and restricted access to fresh water threaten temperature-sensitive crops such as coffee and cacao. Yaky Yanay, Pluri’s CEO and President, commented: “PluriAgtech’s patented …

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Food Brewer Secures Over CHF 5M for Cell Cultured Cacao & Coffee

Food Brewer AG, a biotech startup leveraging plant cell culture headquartered in Campus Horgen, Zurich, Switzerland, has raised over CHF 5 million in a seed round.  Various investors, including family offices from Switzerland and the USA, the Zürcher Kantonalbank, and chocolate manufacturer Max Felchlin AG, backed the startup’s biotechnological approach to making alternatives to cocoa, coffee, and sustainable fats.  With the new funds, Food Brewer will invest in R&D for its cell lines, expand to a production facility, and develop its business model, reported Startupticker. The challenges of agriculture Founded in 2021 by Yannick Senn, Géraldine Senn, Christian Schaub, Corinne John, Stefan Bingisser, and Klaus Kienle, the startup focuses on developing a platform for large-scale production of key commodities harnessing the potential of plant cell culture. By utilizing new …

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Pluri develops cell-based coffee at industrial scale

© Pluri

PluriAgtech Introduces Cell-Based Coffee to Provide an Alternative to Traditional Production

Israeli biotechnology firm Pluri, formerly Pluristem, (Nasdaq, TASE: PLUR) has launched PluriAgtech, a subsidiary leveraging plant cell culture to grow sustainable coffee and break away from traditional farming methods.  As global warming continues to impact the coffee industry, shrinking viable land for cultivation and increasing demand leads to higher prices and less production.  According to the company, by 2050, land for coffee production will be reduced by half, and 30% must shift to higher altitudes since Arabica plants are temperature-sensitive. Moreover, the rising demand for coffee significantly impacts the environment, resulting in deforestation and increased water and pesticide use.  PluriAgtech claims it can produce high-quality “real” coffee at scale while reducing water usage by 98% and growing areas by 95%, thus preventing deforestation and making …

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California Cultured

© California Cultured

California Cultured Signs 10-Year Agreement with Japan’s Largest Chocolate Company for Cell-Cultured Cocoa

California Cultured, a West Sacramento-based startup specializing in plant cell culture, has announced a partnership with Meiji Ltd. Co., Japan’s largest chocolate company. This collaboration involves the integration of California Cultured’s cell-cultured cocoa products into Meiji’s lineup of packaged goods. Part of the co-branded collaboration includes a 10-year commercial agreement positioning California Cultured as the supplier of its “Flavanol Cocoa Powder” to Meiji. California Cultured uses cellular agriculture to create cultured chocolate and coffee, addressing several critical issues associated with the chocolate industry, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss. The company gained financial backing from CULT Food Science Corp in 2022, which has furthered its mission by diversifying CULT’s cell-based food portfolio and aiding the advancement and commercialization of California Cultured’s products. Alan Perlstein, founder …

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cultivated coffee

Cultivated Coffee © California Cultured

California Cultured Develops Cultivated Coffee to Address Industry’s Ethical Issues

California Cultured, a startup best known for developing cell-cultured chocolate, has revealed it is now working on cultivated coffee. Cell cultivation is usually thought of as a way to produce more ethical versions of traditionally animal-derived ingredients. But certain plant-based ingredients are also associated with ethical issues, such as deforestation and slavery. And while some ingredients can be produced using precision fermentation, others — such as chocolate and coffee — are too complicated for this technique to be viable. This is where the often overlooked idea of plant cell cultivation comes in. Speaking to FoodNavigator USA, California Cultured co-founder and CEO Alan Perlstein explained that the technology is already in use on a large scale to produce the breast cancer drug Taxol. This means the …

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