Contract manufacturer organization Cauldron Ferm announces the appointment of Solugen and BASF industry veteran David Weiner as new chief technology officer.
Drawing on his extensive experience in product development and scaling innovative biotech solutions, Weiner will oversee the company’s technology R&D pipeline as the Australian company embarks on its next phase of global expansion.
Cauldron, founded in 2022 in Borenore, New South Wales, has developed a precision fermentation technology that promises to reach price parity — or even cheaper — with current goods such as dairy, egg, and silk proteins and widely used petrochemicals. The company recently closed a Series A funding round of over $6.25 million with investors including SOSV, In-Q-Tel, Main Sequence, and Horizons Ventures.
“David brings a distinguished career leading R&D programs that deliver on process optimization to scale novel bioprocesses. As Cauldron expands on key technical breakthroughs with our hyper-fermentation platform technology, David brings valuable perspectives to our leadership team,” shared Michele Stansfield, co-founder and CEO of Cauldron Ferm.
Hyper-fermentation technology
The company’s hyper-fermentation technology (an IP acquired through the 2022 acquisition of Agrotechnology) is said to offer significant gains in productivity and volumes, effectively driving down production costs, something more complex to achieve with a standard fed-batch process.
The tech, built on over 35 years of R&D, combines a proprietary growth medium formulation and smaller and more affordable bioreactors in a scalable continuous bioprocess validated with multiple organisms, including yeasts. According to the company, this continuous method improves the economics of large-scale fermentation five times compared to the current industry standard with less capital expenditure.
Furthermore, Cauldron says its licensed hyper-fermentation technology has been proven at a 10,000 L demo scale, and plans are to scale up to more significant industrial production. As explained by the CMO, in the past year, it has onboarded six clients at its 25,000 L demo facility.
Redefining biomanufacturing
Weiner has over 25 years of experience in biotechnology R&D, leading industrial biotech, ag-biotech, food and nutrition, biofuels, and pharma teams. He has previously held key positions at Solugen, BASF, Verenium Corporation, and Diversa Corporation.
At Solugen, he led a team of over 70 scientists and engineers, developing and scaling the chemoenzymatic technology that underpins the Bioforge biomanufacturing platform. At BASF, he led international R&D teams, built core technologies, and launched new bio-based products across several business units.
“Cauldron’s ability to deliver mainstream bio-products at cost parity with traditional goods offers incredible potential for the bioeconomy”
Meanwhile, at Diversa Corporation, he helped develop core technologies that contributed to Diversa’s IPO in 2000, the largest biotech IPO at the time. At Verenium Corporation, he was instrumental in merging Diversa with Celunol to form Verenium and subsequently facilitated the sale of key business units to BP and DSM.
As stated in the announcement, his ability to lead R&D programs to optimize and scale novel bioprocesses marks his career, making him a vital asset to Cauldron’s future endeavors.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to expand hyper-fermentation as a platform to scale continuous processes for the global biotech industry,” said Weiner.
“Throughout my career, I’ve seen how applying cutting-edge science to industrial solutions can drive meaningful impact at scale. Cauldron’s ability to deliver mainstream bio-products at cost parity with traditional goods offers incredible potential for the bioeconomy. We can redefine the scope of biomanufacturing,” he added.
