Liberation Labs

Liberation labs

© Liberation Labs
Fermentation

Precision Fermentation Firm Liberation Labs Secures $50.5M to Scale Production

Liberation Labs has closed a $50.5 million convertible note round, bringing its total raised capital for this financing effort to $75 million. This latest investment includes $31.5 million in new funding and $19 million from insider bridge notes raised earlier in 2024. Key investors in the round include NEOM Investment Fund (NIF), Galloway Limited, and Meach Cove Capital, alongside existing backers Agronomics, New Agrarian Capital, and Siddhi Capital. The funding will support the completion of Liberation Labs’ first commercial-scale precision fermentation biomanufacturing facility in Richmond, Indiana. Expected to be operational this year, the plant will have a 600,000-liter fermentation capacity and a fully dedicated downstream process (DSP). It is designed to produce bio-based materials for food, chemicals, and industrial applications, aiming to address a supply …

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San Francisco-based The EVERY Company has received a $2 million award from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to explore establishing a precision fermentation facility in the US.

© The Every Company
Fermentation

US DoD Injects Millions into The Every Co. & Other Biotechs, Says the “Next Industrial Revolution Will Be a Biomanufacturing Revolution”

San Francisco-based The Every Company has received a $2 million award from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to explore establishing a precision fermentation facility in the US. With the funding, EVERY will conduct a feasibility study for a manufacturing site for its two main fermentation-derived ingredients: OvoBoost, a highly soluble protein for protein-boosting, and OvoPro (ovalbumin) for egg and egg white replacement in food and beverages. In addition, the biotech company will develop military applications using OvoBoost to provide high-quality nutrition via concentrated formats. Co-founder and CEO Arturo Elizondo commented, “Our technology allows us to bring novel applications to market using our soluble protein. Imagine a glass of water that looks and tastes like water but contains 20 grams of protein. That’s what our …

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Liberation Labs, planned precision fermentation manufacturing facility now under construction,

© Liberation Labs
Investments & Finance

Liberation Labs to Advance Precision Fermentation Facility with $3.5M Fundraise

US biomanufacturing company Liberation Labs has raised $3.5 million via a Secured Promissory Note (“Note”), including a $2.0 million subscription from the VC firm Agronomics Limited (LSE: ANIC). With this note, Agronomics’ total investment in the precision fermentation company amounts to $19.6 million, holding 37.5% on a fully diluted basis. Other participants in the fundraising, each contributing $0.5 million, include New Agrarian Company Limited (an affiliate of Agronomics), Galloway Limited, and Jim Mellon in his personal capacity. The Note, a form of convertible debt, will finance the construction of Liberation Labs’ first facility in Richmond, Indiana, before an intended $37.5 million Series A (“Qualified Financing”) round. The plant is scheduled to be operational in Q1 2025, offering a fermentation capacity of 600,000 L. For more …

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Future of Foods Podcast: Mark Warner, CEO of Liberation Labs

Alex Crisp, Host of Future of Foods Interviews, talks to Mark Warner CEO of Liberation Labs about building massive capacity for producing ‘hero’ proteins without using animals. Going forward much of our milk and eggs could come from precision fermentation facilities such as those being constructed by Liberation Labs. The Indiana-based biomanufacturing firm says that it “works with biotechnology’s visionaries to commercialize the bioproducts of the future – foods, materials, and yet to be discovered breakthroughs that will make all of our lives better.” Liberation Labs received $10 million from Agronomics this April for its previously announced commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility in the Midwest Industrial Park in Richmond, Indiana. The plant is due to be fully completed by the end of this year, explains Warner, who …

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liberation labs precision fermentation plant

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Agronomics Invests $10M in Liberation Labs to Advance its 600,000 L Precision Fermentation Facility

Agronomics Limited (LSE: ANIC), the UK’s leading VC company focused on cellular agriculture and biomanufacturing, has invested $10 million in its portfolio company, Liberation Labs Holdings, a US biotechnology firm focused on large-scale precision fermentation manufacturing. The investment was part of a $12.5 million financing round, which was made through a Secured Convertible Promissory Note (SCPN) using Agronomics’ existing cash resources. Previous investor Siddhi Capital also joined the round to help fund the ongoing construction of Liberation Labs’s facility in Richmond, Indiana. Agronomics has invested $17.6 million in Liberation Labs, including $7 million to join the CDMO company on its mission to propel fermented proteins and other bio-based solutions. According to the announcement, Agronomics now holds a 37.5% stake in Liberation Labs. Jim Mellon, Executive …

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3D rendering of facility Liberation Labs

3D rendering of facility © Liberation Labs
Manufacturing & Technology

Liberation Labs to Launch Biomanufacturing Workforce Program with Ivy Tech Community College in Richmond, Indiana

Liberation Labs, a large-scale precision fermentation contract manufacturer, and Ivy Tech Community College-Richmond have joined forces to create a novel biomanufacturing workforce training program.  The initiative aims to equip approximately 30 employees with the necessary expertise in precision fermentation to work at Liberation Labs’ plant in Richmond, Indiana, USA, which is set to commence operations later this year. The recruitment will begin in Spring 2024, with training starting in late Summer before employees join the facility. Liberation Labs’ technical team will work with Ivy Tech curriculum designers and instructors to create a program that combines specific skills with the educational expertise in education of Ivy Tech Community College: training in biotechnology and fermentation, covering key principles, manufacturing practices, and safety protocols.  “Best of all, we will …

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Liberation Labs facility indiana

© Liberation Labs
Investments & Finance

Agronomics Secures $25M USDA Backing for Liberation Labs Biomanufacturing Facility

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted a $25 million loan guarantee to support Agronomics, a leading cellular agriculture and cultivated meat investment firm, in the completion of a large-scale biomanufacturing facility in Indiana.  Allocated for the finalization of Liberation Labs’ 600,000-liter bio-protein facility, the funding will support a resolution to the industry’s fermentation production capacity deficit. With commercial production scheduled to begin Q1 2025, the facility aims to efficiently produce novel proteins, including those that replicate the characteristics of egg and dairy proteins. Executive Director of Agronomics, Jim Mellon, expressed optimism about Liberation Labs’ cutting-edge fermentation infrastructure, stating, “Liberation Labs is developing state-of-the-art purpose-built fermentation infrastructure which will transform the existing fermentation capacity and help build a future in which precision fermentation …

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Liberation Labs co-founder and CEO Mark Warner. © Liberation Labs
Investments & Acquisitions

Agronomics Invests $7M in Precision Fermentation Manufacturer Liberation Labs

Agronomics has invested $3.5 million in the seed round of Liberation Labs, a company working to commercialise precision fermentation on a large scale. The venture capital firm previously invested $3.5 million in the funding round’s first tranche in October, meaning it has now contributed a total of $7 million to the $20 million raise. Additionally, Agronomics made a $627,000 investment as part of Liberation’s previous funding round in June. Precision fermentation manufacturing facilities There is currently a bottleneck in the food fermentation industry, caused by a lack of suitable production plants. As Liberation CEO Mark Warner told Elysabeth Alfano on The Plantbased Business Hour, many of the sites currently available are actually intended for the pharmaceutical industry. The company is working to change that by …

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Plantbased Business Hour

Will Precision Fermented Proteins Suffer the Same Fate as Plant-Based Foods, Lacking Production Capacity? Mark Warner of Liberation Labs

Scaling fermented proteins isn’t as easy as one might think and the need for scaling is immense.  Will fermented proteins go the way of plant-based foods and suffer a production bottleneck unable to supply demand? CEO of Liberation Labs, Mark Warner, discusses the scaling potential of novel, fermented proteins with Elysabeth Alfano on this episode of The Plantbased Business Hour. Specifically, they discuss Why do we need to commercialize purpose-built manufacturing facilities and industrial biotech scale for precision fermentation? Can’t we repurpose pharmaceutical assets? What kind of demand and consumer acceptance will we see of fermented proteins inputs? What kind of financing is available to build out the infrastructure necessary for fermented proteins? Will governments invest in alt proteins like they did in alt energy? What is …

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