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 …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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% …
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 …