€22M for AI-Driven Food Safety, Lindt Invests in Alt Chocolate, and 3D-Printed Cultivated Fish Breakthrough

Also: Efforts in Nebraska and South Dakota to ban cultivated meat are facing resistance from farmers

Hey, welcome to issue #93 of the Better Bioeconomy newsletter. Thanks for being here!

If you’re working on solutions for sustainable food systems, I’d love to connect. I started this newsletter to meet folks with similar interests, so feel free to reach out to chat on LinkedIn or hop on a call—I’m always happy to discuss ideas and opportunities! 🙂

Alright, let’s dig into the latest updates on the intersection of biotech and agrifood!

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BIO BUZZ

Products, partnerships, and regulations

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🇺🇸 Legislative efforts in Nebraska and South Dakota to ban cultivated meat are facing resistance from policymakers and farmers

• While South Dakota passed laws requiring clear labelling of cultivated meat and restricting state funding (except for university research), an outright ban on its sale failed to pass the Senate with a 19-16 vote.

• Governor Jim Pillen’s aggressive push to outlaw cultivated meat in Nebraska is being met with resistance, particularly from ranchers who argue they don’t need government protection to compete with cultivated meat.

• Farmers believe that government intervention should focus on proper labelling and facility inspections rather than outright bans, leaving the competition to the free market.

Source: Green Queen

🇮🇱🇨🇭 Ever After Foods partnered with Bühler Group to produce cultivated meat on a large scale using equipment 10x smaller

• Ever After Foods’ proprietary edible packed-bed tech improves production efficiency, generating 6x more protein and 700x more lipids per cell, resulting in better taste, nutrition, and lower costs.

• Traditional stirred-tank system methods require 4,000 litres to produce 80kg of meat, but Ever After Foods' system does it with just 200 litres, reducing production costs by 90%

• Ever After Foods, which has exclusive rights to Pluri’s technology, is working with food industry leaders to accelerate the commercialization of cultivated meat. The partnership with Bühler is a key step in scaling production efficiently and making cultivated meat a mainstream reality.

Source: Green Queen

🇰🇷 Simple Planet developed a serum-free cell culture medium that can cut costs by 99%

• The South Korean startup’s patented formulation, created through probiotics recycling, is expected to cut production costs by over 99.8% compared to conventional fetal bovine serum-based media.

• The medium has been successfully tested with global research institutions. It shows enhanced myoblast cell proliferation while maintaining normal cell morphology.

• Simple Planet has also developed specialized formulations, including a bovine myoblast-specific medium, to optimize performance and cost efficiency for different applications.

Source: vegconomist

🇺🇸 Fork & Good earns its first revenue a year after hosting Europe’s first public cultivated meat tasting

• The New Jersey-based company made headlines in January last year by hosting Europe's first public tasting of cultivated meat. Now, Fork & Good has reached another milestone by generating its first revenue through a joint development agreement with an $8B global food manufacturer.

• An integrated cell manufacturing platform created by Fork & Good optimises cell lines, growth medium, and bioprocessing to minimise feedstock calorie intensity and maximise production efficiency.

• Its first scale-up factory targets $5/lb for cultivated pork. With further advancements, the company aims to reach $2/lb, making it cost-competitive with conventional pork. Fork & Good uses low-cost, distributed manufacturing, allowing it to build production sites for $10-20M instead of 100s of millions.

Source: Green Queen

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BIO BUCKS

Funding, M&As, and grants

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🇫🇷 Spore.Bio raised €22M in Series A funding to improve quality control in manufacturing using AI-based microbiology testing

Credits: Spore.Bio

• According to the Paris-based startup, the FMCG industry saw a 20% increase in recalls in 2024, resulting in significant financial losses (€9.5M per recall on average) and reputational damage for companies.

• Unlike traditional microbiology tests, which take 5–20 days, Spore.Bio’s AI-driven solution provides immediate, on-site bacterial detection in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

• To strengthen its technology and market presence, Spore.Bio partnered with the Pasteur Institute to use its biobank. The startup also acquired competitor Greentropism, incorporating its technical expertise and IP.

💰 Investors: Singular, Point 72 Ventures, 1st Kind Ventures, Station F, LocalGlobe, No Label Ventures, and Famille C (Clarins Family Office)

Source: EU-Startups

🇪🇸 MOA Foodtech secured a €2.3M grant and a €12.5M equity commitment from the European Innovation Council

• The equity funding is contingent on matching co-investment from private investors. The funds will support the Spanish startup’s AI development, proprietary ingredient expansion, and industrial scaling. and scale up production to an industrial level.

• The startup uses AI and biotech to turn food industry byproducts like distillers' grains and crop residues into valuable ingredients. These ingredients are used in plant-based foods, meat products, baked goods, snacks, soups, and even pet food.

• MOA Foodtech has a library of over 300 microbes, mainly yeast. Their AI platform, Albatross, fine-tunes fermentation by adjusting feedstocks in real-time and reducing ingredient development from 6 months to under 2 weeks.

Source: AgFunder

🇨🇭 Food Brewer received strategic funding from Lindt and Sparkalis to develop plant cell culture-based cocoa

• Key investors, including Lindt & Sprüngli and Sparkalis (Puratos’ corporate venture arm), joined the Zurich-based startup's CHF 5M ($5.6M) seed extension round. This investment reinforces confidence in Food Brwer’s innovation of cultivating cocoa cells in bioreactors, allowing for consistent cocoa production.

• Currently operating an 800-litre bioreactor, the company plans to expand production by modifying brewing facilities or partnering with manufacturers. It’s working with Krones, a major brewing equipment supplier, to adapt existing brewing technology rather than using costly pharmaceutical-grade systems.

• Food Brewer is preparing to enter the US market, with plans to file for GRAS approval with the FDA this year. If approved, the company aims to launch its cocoa products by late 2026.

Source: AgFunder

🇩🇪 Kynda raised €3M in seed funding to expand the production of mycoprotein-based meat made from upcycled food waste

Credits: Kynda

• The round included funding from the poultry giant PHW Group, Wiesenhof's parent company. The German startup will use the funds to expand its factory, which is set to open in Q2 2025. The facility will have a 30,000-liter fermentation capacity and can produce 2,000 tonnes of mycelium protein yearly.

• Kynda’s fermentation technology reduces production time to 48 hours, compared to the 7-10 days industry standard. The process uses waste from the food industry, like soy, oat, and rice pulp, to create a cost-effective, sustainable protein source.

• PHW’s involvement will help Kynda expand its fermentation capacity to 70,000 litres, allowing it to meet the growing demand for manufacturers looking for affordable, nutritious protein sources.

💰 Other investors: Enjoy Ventures, Clima Now, C.E.L.L. Investment

Source: Green Queen

🇯🇵 Kinish raised ¥120M in seed funding to develop dairy proteins in rice grains using molecular farming

• The fresh funding will accelerate the Tokyo-based startup’s research on rice-based casein, a major dairy protein, and expand into the US market. As part of its R&D efforts, Kinish is collaborating with Shizuoka University to develop specialized plant factories for efficient rice cultivation.

• By using plant molecular farming and vertical farming, Kinish grows dwarf rice plants (20cm tall) in stacked layers within controlled environments. This method cuts cultivation time by over half compared to traditional rice farming.

• The company’s first product is a rice-based ice cream (without casein), but it aims to develop casein-rich rice for commercial production, eventually expanding into cheese and ice cream formulations using rice-derived milk proteins.

💰 Investors: Genesia Ventures, Lifetime Ventures, Full Commit Partners, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital

Source: Green Queen

🇺🇸 Jord BioScience raised $7M in Series B funding round to advance the development of microbial solutions for agriculture

• The US-based company leverages a microbial bank with 6,500+ isolates collected from diverse global soils to enhance major crops like corn, soybeans, canola, and wheat.

• Product development trials are currently underway in the US, Argentina, and Brazil to test solutions across various farming conditions and environments.

• By optimizing the plant-microbe ecosystem, Jord BioScience aims to reduce dependency on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, thereby improving long-term soil health and sustainability in farming.

💰 Investors: Silver Blue LLC, Discovery Capital Funding, and more

Source: AgTechNavigator

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GEEK ZONE

Scientific research papers

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🐟 Scalable production of muscle and fat microtissues using edible porous microcarriers for 3D-printed cultured fish fillets

h = Photograph of biotech-5JGC-7000ASC System with a 5 L glass vessel. i = Photographs of scaled-up and matured microtissues as raw material for cultured fish fillets product manufacturing. Credits: Zhou et al. (2025)

• The study introduced edible porous microcarriers (EPMs) to enhance cell expansion for cultured fish meat. Developed using NaCl-controlled ice crystal growth, these EPMs allow better adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of muscle satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells from large yellow croaker.

• After 16–17 days of cultivation, muscle satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells expanded 499x and 461x, respectively, compared to their initial seeded numbers. The resulting mature cell-laden microtissues were used as bioink for 3D printing cultured fish fillets.

• The 3D-printed cultured fish fillets closely matched the moisture content (~70%) of natural fish, though their chewiness and cohesiveness were slightly lower. Nutritionally, they contained ~69% less fat, ~88% less cholesterol, and 8.5g more protein per 100g than native fish.

Source: Nature Communications

🌾 Alginate bead-encapsulated auxin-producing rhizobacteria increased wheat growth by up to 70%

• Encapsulating auxin-producing plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in alginate beads significantly improved Triticum aestivum (wheat) growth. Seed germination increased by 70-80%, while root and shoot length rose by 60-70% compared to untreated controls.

• Due to environmental stressors, the direct application of PGPR in soil results in low survival rates. Encapsulation of PGPR in alginate beads provides a protective medium, ensuring better bacterial survival, sustained release, and enhanced plant growth in both laboratory and field conditions.

• Isolated rhizobacteria exhibited plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits, including the production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), ammonia (NH₃), and siderophores. The selected strains showed high plant growth-promoting efficiency and could be further developed as commercial biofertilizers.

Source: ACS Omega

🧪 Scientists developed a synthetic small molecule to replace bFGF, a costly and unstable growth factor in cell culture

• The team developed a synthetic small molecule, guanylhydrazone-based small molecule (TCB-32), which mimics the function of bFGF by activating the FGFR1 signalling pathway and promoting cell proliferation.

• Unlike bFGF, which is highly variable and unstable, TCB-32 showed better thermal stability, maintaining its activity for over 13 days. Further refinements led to three improved versions, which were even more effective at boosting cell growth.

• Producing synthetic small molecules like TCB-32 eliminates batch-to-batch variability, reduces dependency on expensive protein-based growth factors, and provides a scalable alternative for applications like cultivated meat.

Source: bioRxiv (pre-print)

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EAR FOOD

Podcast episode of the week

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🎧 How AI will enhance functionality, accelerate development, cut costs, and drive sustainability in food tech

Host: Alex Crisp
Guest: Dominik Grabinski, Founder and CEO of AI Bobby

• AI's role in food tech is similar to its impact in pharmaceuticals: it accelerates research, improves precision, and unlocks new discoveries. While some fear AI as a disruptor, it primarily acts as an enabler, streamlining protein development by analyzing complex molecular structures and optimizing functionality.

• General AI tools like ChatGPT lack the domain-specific knowledge required for food science applications. Companies like AI Bobby are developing fine-tuned models trained on extensive protein functionality data, making AI a practical tool for accelerating R&D in alternative proteins and precision fermentation.

• AI’s effectiveness in food tech depends on access to quality data, yet proprietary research and IP concerns impede collaboration. Cultivated meat and growth media research remain siloed, slowing progress. To accelerate innovation, a balance between competition and industry-wide cooperation is needed.

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BEFORE YOU GO

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