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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