Utah Startup Melazyme Raises $2M Seed Round to Produce Fermentation-Derived Melanin and Brazzein
Melazyme, a precision fermentation startup based in Utah, has closed a $2 million seed round led by SeaX Ventures, with additional participation from Stellaris Venture Partners and Plug and Play Ventures. The capital will go toward platform development, production scale-up, and early commercial deployment. The company was founded in 2025 by Perumal Gandhi, co-founder of Berkeley, California-based Perfect Day, and Bonney Oommen, formerly of Perfect Day, where he served as …
StrainX Bioworks Raises $13M to Scale Precision Fermentation Food Ingredients in India
Indian synthetic biology company StrainX Bioworks has raised $13 million as it exits stealth and moves into commercialization, with plans to supply high-value food and nutritional ingredients to global markets through precision fermentation. The round was led by Prime Venture Partners and Leo Capital, with participation from Good Startup, Sparrow Capital, Sun Icon Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, and WindT (IIT Delhi) Angels. Good Startup, a fund focused exclusively on biology-first deep-tech …
Mosa Meat Joins APAC-SCA to Deepen Asia-Pacific Regulatory and Industry Ties
Netherlands-based cultivated beef company Mosa Meat has joined the Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA), adding one of the sector’s longest-standing players to a regional body that connects startups, researchers, investors, and policymakers across the APAC region. Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch noted, “Joining the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture is an exciting milestone for Mosa Meat as we deepen our engagement with international markets. The Asia-Pacific region is a …
Agronomics Backs SuperMeat With $5M as Cultivated Chicken Push Targets Switzerland
London-listed investment company Agronomics has led a US$6 million initial closing of a Series A-4 round in Israeli cultivated meat company SuperMeat, contributing US$5 million of that total through the issue of new Agronomics shares rather than cash. Affiliated entity New Agrarian Company provided the remaining US$1 million in cash, with Milk & Honey Ventures and existing investors also participating. The round is targeting a total of US$10 million. The …
AI-Integrated Fermentation Capacity Expands at Praj Matrix as India Targets Bio-Based Economy
Indian industrial biotech company Praj Industries has launched an Advanced Precision Fermentation Lab at its Praj Matrix R&D centre in Pune, India, alongside a formal research partnership with BRIC-NCCS (Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council – National Centre for Cell Science). The facility is designed to support high-capacity, AI-enabled fermentation processes across sectors, including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, biofuels, and beverages, with a stated focus on reducing scale-up risks and improving process …
Celleste Bio Uses Single Cocoa Bean to Make Chocolate Bars via Cell Culture Technology
Israeli food technology company Celleste Bio has produced what it describes as the world’s first chocolate bars made with cell-cultured cocoa butter, developed in partnership with Mondelez International. The bars, nearly a dozen in total, were formulated by Mondelez using cocoa butter produced through Celleste’s proprietary cell suspension culture technology. According to the company, the cultured cocoa butter is bio-identical to conventionally sourced material, matching the same texture, melt profile, …
Ajinomoto Finds Plant-Based Fix for One of Cultivated Meat’s Biggest Cost Problems
Japanese food and amino acid company Ajinomoto Co. has developed a technology that could help lower one of the biggest cost barriers in cultivated meat production, by replacing an expensive ingredient used in the cell-growing process with a cheaper, plant-derived compound. Growing meat from animal cells requires a nutrient-rich liquid called culture media, which feeds and supports cell growth throughout production. One of the most expensive ingredients in that liquid …
Parima Becomes First Cultivated Meat Company to Secure Regulatory Approval for Two Species
France-based cultivated protein company Parima has received authorization from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for its cultivated duck, becoming the first cultivated meat company to hold regulatory approval for two animal species. The clearance follows the company’s cultivated chicken approval in Singapore in October 2025, which was originally submitted by Vital Meat prior to its merger with Gourmey to form Parima. Both products are produced from avian cells grown in …
Investment Climate Podcast: Del Afonso of Harmony Baby Nutrition Shares How to Get Funded in 2026
In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2026 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through …
New GFI Report Identifies Critical Skill Gaps in India’s Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat Value Chains
The Good Food Institute India (GFI India) has released a comprehensive analysis of India’s smart protein talent landscape, revealing a mismatch between the country’s educational output and the industry’s current and future workforce needs. Despite India producing nearly 250,000 graduates annually in relevant disciplines, the smart protein sector continues to face a shortage of job-ready, sector-specific talent, particularly in high-growth areas such as bioprocessing, cell culture, extrusion technologies, analytical methods, …