Big Idea Ventures (BIV) announces the launch of Nexture Bio, Inc., a new biomaterial company developing novel scaffoldings for whole-cut products and other technologies to support the cultivated meat industry.
Nexture Bio is the third company launched by BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners Fund (GFRP), an RBIC-licensed investment fund that collaborates with universities across the US to commercialize intellectual property innovations in food, protein, and agriculture. Its focus is to create new companies to provide growth capital to small businesses in rural areas of the country.
GFRP’s new biomaterials company will use intellectual property licensed from various universities to develop solutions to enhance the taste and texture of cultivated meat products.
“Our fund’s mandate is to create companies that provide solutions to the most challenging areas in Food and Agriculture. Nexture Bio plans to address the challenges in the cultivated meats industry using innovative technologies and a dedicated team that prioritizes both technology and the consumer,” shares Frank Klemens, Managing Director of the GFRP Fund.
Supporting the industry
Additionally, BIV announced that the board of directors of Nexture Bio has appointed Teryn Wolfe as Chief Executive Officer.
Previously, Teryn was the CEO of Matrix Food Technologies, a technology company based in Ohio that specializes in extracellular matrices for the alt protein industry. She has over 15 years of expertise in business, social impact, environmental protection, and academia.
“The cultivated meat industry has made incredible progress over the past few years regardless of a plethora of obstacles, technical challenges, and frankly – undeserved pessimism. I firmly believe that to maintain progress and reach our collective industry-wide goals, we need to focus on enabling technologies like extracellular matrices – or, scaffolds,” comments Teryn Wolfe.
“I am delighted to be joining Nexture Bio and working alongside an experienced, world-class team to develop technologies that will support the industry’s ability to scale, diversify, and provide the world with more sustainable sources of animal protein,” she adds.
