AI-powered ingredient discovery company Shiru has partnered with plant biotechnology pioneer GreenLab to commercialize novel food proteins made using GreenLab’s proprietary corn expression system.
The collaboration will give Shiru access to a high-yield, scalable manufacturing platform that extends beyond microbial and precision fermentation, enabling the production of functional ingredients across bioindustrial applications. The initial focus will be on CPG.
As part of the partnership, Shiru’s AI technology will be used to rapidly discover high-performance proteins, while GreenLab’s corn system will help bring sustainable ingredients to market faster. Corn-based protein production can reportedly outperform traditional fermentation, reducing costs and making novel proteins more affordable for food brands. By using plants as natural biofactories, more protein can be produced with less energy, reducing environmental impact and ensuring a reliable supply.
“We’re fundamentally changing how the industry approaches protein production,” said Maurice Moloney, president and CSO of GreenLab. “Corn is a powerful and efficient system for expressing proteins, and by working with Shiru, we’re taking the next step in creating truly scalable, commercially viable, and sustainable ingredients for CPG companies worldwide.”
Unlocking new protein production methods
Last year, Shiru launched what it claimed was the world’s first protein marketplace and discovery platform. Called ProteinDiscovery.ai, the platform catalogs millions of molecules by sequence, metadata, performance, and functional use.
A few months later, Shiru partnered with Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America to develop and commercialize sweet proteins that could replace sugar and sweeteners in beverages and specialty products. In November, Shiru raised $16 million to support its expansion into areas such as flavor innovation, skincare ingredients, advanced materials, and agriculture.
“This partnership brings together some of the best natural protein compounds with a highly productive agricultural production platform to manufacture proteins that are not only sustainable but also scalable and commercially viable,” said Dr. Jasmin Hume, founder and CEO of Shiru. “While we continue to leverage precision fermentation in our screening efforts at Shiru, we’ve always acknowledged that scaling our ingredients can be done via microbes or crops. By integrating GreenLab’s corn expression platform with our AI-driven ingredient discovery, we’re unlocking an entirely new way to produce high-performance food proteins that nourish billions without exhausting the planet’s resources.”
