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 …
Impossible Foods and Motif FoodWorks Settle Heme Patent Tech Dispute
Impossible Foods and Motif FoodWorks have announced a joint settlement agreement regarding the legal battle over a patent infringement of heme technology using yeast and precision fermentation. Under the deal, Impossible Foods would acquire Motif FoodWorks‘ heme-related business. The agreement also stipulates neither party can renew allegations or bring the issue back to court, reported AFN. With this settlement, Impossible Foods, which produces the protein soy leghemoglobin found in soy, …
21st.BIO’s Precision Fermented Whey for Animal-Free Dairy Obtains US GRAS Status
Danish fermentation upscaling partner 21st.BIO announces that it has earned self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status for its precision fermented beta-lactoglobulin, BLG Essential+. The GRAS milestone assures that 21st. BIO’s animal-free whey is safe for human consumption, allowing its commercialization within US territory. According to the biotech company, beta-lactoglobulin, the predominant protein in milk’s whey, has garnered significant interest from producers due to its high nutritional quality and beneficial properties …
Nebraska Governor Signs Executive Order Against Cultivated Meat, Aims for Full Ban in 2025
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from procuring cultivated meat products. The order also bars entities that contract with the state from “discriminating against natural-meat products” by choosing cultivated foods. Pillen now reportedly hopes to bring in legislation in 2025 that would prohibit any sale of cultivated meat products in Nebraska. Speaking at a news conference at Oak Barn Beef in West Point, he …
Pharmaceutical Giant Zydus & Perfect Day Partner to Make India an Animal-Free Protein Hub
Pharmaceutical giant Zydus Lifesciences has announced an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in Sterling Biotech, a manufacturing company based in Mumbai, purchased by the Californian biotech Perfect Day from bankruptcy for $78 million in 2022. Both Zydus and Perfect Day will have equal representation on Sterling Biotech’s Board post-transaction. It is worth highlighting that India is the world’s largest milk producer, contributing 25% of global milk production. According to …
US Defense Department Backs The Better Meat Co. with $1.4M for Advanced Biotech Development
The Better Meat Co., a food tech company based in Sacramento, has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) as part of the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). This funding will support the company’s production of its proprietary mycoprotein ingredient, Rhiza. The DBIMP, which aims to strengthen the United States’ bioeconomic capabilities while enhancing the DoD’s advanced defense capabilities, recently announced seven awards …
Mission Barns Revamps Single-Cell Suspension Pharma Bioreactors to Scale Cultivated Meat Production
Cultivated fat startup Mission Barns has engineered a new bioreactor to optimize cultivated meat production, aiming to replace the single-cell suspension bioreactors traditionally used in the pharmaceutical industry. “We’ve invented a novel bioreactor that allows us to scale the production of cultivated meat, whether it’s pork, beef, chicken, fat, or muscle,” Mission Barns explains in conversation with Cultivated X. Founded in Berkeley by Eitan Fischer, former director of cellular agriculture at fellow …
Optimized Foods Leverages Mycelium Technology to Advance Cultivated Caviar and Plant-Based Fats
California-based Optimized Foods, a food technology company specializing in mycelium-based products, is leveraging its proprietary MycoCarrier™ platform to create sustainable and nutritious alternatives to conventionally animal-based foods. The company’s innovations include Cultivated Caviar, a fish-free substitute for traditional caviar, produced through advanced biomanufacturing techniques. Mycelium, the root structure of fungi, is at the core of Optimized Foods’ approach. The MycoCarrier™ platform uses spherical mycelium to convert agricultural byproducts into high-value …
Pythag Tech Launches the “Clean Meat Terminal,” All-in-One Platform for Deep Industry Data
New York’s Pythag Tech, a technology company dedicated to “all things cultivated meat,” announces the launch of a market intelligence platform — the Clean Meat Terminal (CMT) — designed specifically for the cellular agriculture industry. CMT is said to offer a comprehensive, reliable, all-in-one source of deep industry data, aiming to simplify the navigation of the sector’s complex landscape. It caters to anyone invested in cultivated meat from investors seeking …
Calysta’s Protein for Pet Food, Made with Microbes, Carbon, and Renewable Energy, Arrives in Europe
FeedKind Pet, an air-based protein for pet food claimed to be nutritious and super sustainable, will soon be available to pet food manufacturers across Europe to cater to consumers looking for high-quality, health-supporting, eco-friendly pet food products. The multinational biotechnology company Calysta, its developer and producer, announces it has shipped the first large batch of FeedKind Pet to its warehouse in Poland. The shipments originated from Chongqing, China, produced by Calysseo, …