Dutch fermentation startup Farmless has secured a €1 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Farmless produces functional proteins with a complete amino acid profile for the F&B industry. Its air-based fermentation process uses microorganisms powered by CO2, hydrogen, nitrogen, and renewable energy-produced feedstock rather than sugar to produce protein “dramatically” more efficiently than animal farming.
“We’re on a mission to ferment proteins without agricultural land, making food and protein production dramatically more efficient”
With the funds, the startup will demonstrate and optimize its fermentation method for protein production in a First of a Kind (FOAK) facility. In December 2023, the startup raised €4.8 million to build a pilot brewery in Amsterdam featuring R&D facilities, a food application kitchen, and offices.
“We’re on a mission to ferment proteins without agricultural land, making food and protein production dramatically more efficient. Our impact is ultimately constrained by how fast and cost-effective we can scale our protein breweries,” Farmless shared on social media.
Protein-producing powers
Founder and CEO Adnan Oner established Farmless in 2022, leveraging microbial fermentation to create abundant and sustainable food supplies while contributing to global environmental efforts and carbon reduction.
The company claims its production method — independent from traditional agriculture, climate, or regions — is carbon neutral and significantly land-efficient, using 5000 times less land than beef production.
Competitors in air-based fermentation include Solar Foods, which launched a commercial-scale facility in Vantaa, Finland this year; the Austrian startup Arkeon Biotechnologies, which runs a pilot plant in Vienna‘s Seestadt Innovation Hub; the multinational biotechnology company Calysta, which produces its fermentation-derived proteins through the Chinese company Calysseo (a joint venture between Calysta and Adisseo); and the US company Air Protein, which has an “Air Farm” facility in San Leandro, California.
“If we unlock the protein-producing powers of the microbial kingdoms, we can create a future worth getting excited about. We can have an abundant, cruelty-free food supply and rewild the world, restore forests — all while drawing down gigatonnes of CO2 from the air,” Oner commented when the company raised funds to build its pilot facility.
