$144M for Seed Gene-Editing, Major Precision-Fermented Dairy Partnership, and $8.8M for UV-Sterilized Bioreactors

Also: Cultivated meat publications increased 400% over 5 years and rose 25% from 2023 to 2024, driven by South Korea and China

Hey, welcome to issue #87 of the Better Bioeconomy newsletter. Thanks for being here!

Happy 2025! I hope you had a great start to the year and had some time to unwind and connect with your loved ones. I hope 2025 brings you meaningful progress, memorable moments, and a little peace when you need it.

As usual, if you’re working on (bio)tech-based 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! 🙂

Let’s dig into the latest updates on the intersection of biotech and agrifood!

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BIO BUZZ

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🇫🇷 Standing Ovation partnered with Ajinomoto Foods Europe to produce animal-free casein protein at industrial scale in northern France

Credits: Standing Ovation

• The production facility in Nesle is located close to major dairy industry customers described as “world leaders in the dairy industry”. It also uses local raw materials and operates using renewable energy.

• The French precision fermentation startup’s Advanced Casein powder replicates traditional dairy's sensory and functional qualities, making it suitable for use in cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, milk, and protein bars.

• Ajinomoto Foods Europe brings advanced bioreactors exceeding 100 cubic metres and efficient downstream processing, making it a key partner in the precision fermentation ecosystem and supporting the scalability of food solutions.

Source: Green Queen

🇸🇬 Prefer expanded beanless portfolio with cocoa-free chocolate to address the economic and environmental costs of cocoa production

• Cocoa prices soared in 2024, rising 3-4X, surpassing all other commodities. West African regions like Ivory Coast and Ghana, which supply most of the world’s cocoa, face weather disruptions, crop diseases, and illegal gold mining.

• The Singapore-based food tech startup¹ creates planet-friendly and cost-effective food products using its unique fermentation and upcycled ingredients. Their beanless coffee, made from waste bread and spent grains, demonstrated the potential of this approach, which they now aim to replicate with chocolate.

• The cocoa-free chocolate will primarily target B2B food producers, with limited B2C pop-ups planned in Singapore. Prefer focuses on affordability and taste to appeal to a broader market and distinguish its product from competitors.

Source: Green Queen

🇨🇳 Groundwork BioAg and ADAMA announced exclusive commercial agreement to offer mycorrhizal inoculants to Chinese farmers

• The partnership between Groundwork BioAg, the leading global producer of mycorrhizal inoculants, and ADAMA Ltd., a major crop protection company, aims to distribute Rootella® across China. This builds on the product's successful launch to Chinese distributors in 2023.

• With 127 million hectares of harvested cropland, China presents a massive opportunity for mycorrhizal inoculants. Farmers cultivating various crops—like sugarcane, potatoes, cotton, corn, and soybeans—could benefit from solutions that enhance crop productivity while reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers.

• Rootella is a biostimulant from advanced mycorrhizal fungi strains that enhances soil health and improves crop nutrient absorption. This partnership aligns with China’s 14th Five-Year National Agriculture Green Development Plan by reducing synthetic fertilizer use and promoting soil fertility and low-carbon farming.

Source: iGrow News

🇨🇭🇬🇧 Syngenta and TraitSeq partner to use AI to develop high-performance biostimulants

• The collaboration aims to analyze complex molecular interactions and evaluate biostimulant efficacy efficiently by integrating Syngenta’s biological datasets (genomics, proteomics, etc.) with TraitSeq’s AI platform.

• Biomarkers, cellular indicators of plant health, will play a central role. These markers help scientists measure how plants react to biostimulants and external stress factors like drought or temperature extremes.

• Biostimulants boost plant processes, improve nutrient efficiency, increase stress tolerance, and enhance crop quality, but their effectiveness varies with environmental factors. This variability highlights the need for advanced tools like AI to ensure consistency and efficacy.

Source: Business Wire

📈 Cultivated meat publications increased 400% over 5 years and rose 25% from 2023 to 2024, driven by South Korea and China

Credits: Tarika Vijayaraghavan

• Research heavily focused on bovine myoblasts, microsatellite cells, and porcine fat stem cells. However, aquatic models such as crayfish and Japanese eel gained attention, indicating a growing interest in diversifying cultivated meat products.

• First-of-a-kind research included scaffolding for cultivated dog meat, immortalized cell lines for eel meat, and optimal stem cell harvesting for crayfish. A high-throughput proteomics study identified over 900 proteins in milk cultured from bovine mammary cells.

• The emerging focus on unique products like cultivated crustaceans and non-traditional meats highlights an expansion beyond mainstream species. Asian nations are establishing themselves as leaders in traditional and innovative research on cultivated meat.

Source: Tarika Vijayaraghavan

🇬🇧 Qkine launched new growth factors by using microbial fermentation for cultivated meat applications

• The new growth factors are animal-origin-free, food-grade, and thoroughly quality-tested. The products align with evolving regulatory frameworks, particularly responding to increased human growth factor usage scrutiny.

• The UK-based company helps its customers with regulatory challenges and actively works to increase production while enhancing manufacturing efficiency. It aims to make growth factors cost-competitive for large-scale cellular agriculture applications.

• Qkine is a key partner in alt protein research hubs, including the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at Imperial College London and the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC). Qkine also contributed to establishing the £12M CARMA cellular agriculture manufacturing hub.

Source: vegconomist

⚡️ More buzzes

Credits: Victoria Mo

• 🇺🇸 Ark introduced a bioreactor simulator, allowing scientists to run high-fidelity simulations 1,000X faster than traditional experiments. By running thousands of virtual experiments simultaneously, Ark supports process optimization, scaling, and site transfers with greater confidence and precision. (Ark)

• 🇫🇷 Bon Vivant obtained self-determined GRAS status for its precision-fermented whey protein in the US. The French startup has also notified the FDA of its GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) determination to increase consumer and market confidence. (Green Queen)

• 🇺🇸 Ten Lives has introduced its first healthy and sustainable protein snack for cats. The treats use rabbit protein produced through AI-optimized precision fermentation, ensuring no animals are harmed. (Victoria Mo)

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BIO BUCKS

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🇺🇸 Seed gene-editing startup Inari raised $144M in Series G funding, bringing its total funding to $720M

• The Massachusetts-based startup uses a method known as "multiplex gene editing," which allows multiple genetic changes to be made simultaneously. This approach targets complex biological pathways that influence crop yield and resilience.

• The SEEDesign platform combines artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to create a data-driven blueprint for gene editing. The platform uncovers genetic pathways and predicts the optimal sites for DNA modifications, helping to enhance plant performance with minimal resource usage.

• The company currently works with key staple crops such as soybeans, corn, and wheat, which have the largest agricultural footprint worldwide. However, Inari claims its platform can be adapted to any crop in any region.

💰 Investors: A wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Hanwha Impact, NGS Super, and more.

Source: AgFunder

🇺🇸 Biosphere raised $8.8M in seed funding to develop UV-sterilized bioreactors to slash biomanufacturing costs

• Traditional biomanufacturing relies on steam-in-place systems, which require complex infrastructure and maintenance. Biosphere's UV technology simplifies sterilization, minimizes operational costs, and enables faster processes.

• The California-based biomanufacturing startup also secured a $1.5M contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to use its technology to produce select bioproducts.

• By eliminating the need for high-temperature steam, Biosphere introduces flexibility in bioreactor materials and design. This allows bioreactors to be optimized for specific bioproducts, reducing production costs while expanding design options to larger systems like anaerobic digesters.

💰 Investors: Lowercarbon Capital, VXI Capital, Founders Fund, GS Futures, and more.

Source: AgFunder

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GEEK ZONE

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🌾 Scientists achieved high-frequency apomixis in rice with clonal progeny rates exceeding 95%

(A) Comparison of the wild type and the progeny (tetraploid and diploid) of apomicts. Scale bar, 10 cm. WT, the wild type. Credits: Song, Minglei et al.

• Researchers engineered high-frequency apomixis (asexual seed reproduction) in hybrid rice by enhancing BABYBOOM1 (BBM1)-induced parthenogenesis and simultaneously inactivating three genes (PAIR1, REC8, and OSD1) using CRISPR/Cas9.

• Importantly, many synthetic apomictic hybrids achieved fertility rates comparable to wild types while preserving essential agronomic traits, overcoming longstanding challenges in engineered apomixis.

• The SunTag BBM1 activation system enhanced apomixis induction efficiency, reaching 95%-100% diploid progeny rates in specific lines. This study outlines a high-frequency synthetic apomixis method that maintains fertility and agronomic traits in hybrid rice.

Source: Cell

🌱 Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria enhance maize growth and stress resilience under combined drought and heat conditions

• The study showed that microbial diversity, achieved through a mix of PGPR strains, creates a more robust rhizosphere that outperforms single inoculations. This supports plant development through enhanced nutrient availability and resistance to environmental stressors.

• PGPR was shown to modulate stress-response genes like CAT2 (Catalase 2) and DHN2 (Dehydrin 2). These genes aid in managing oxidative stress and dehydration during environmental stresses, promoting overall health and yield.

• Inoculated maize exhibited increased shoot/root biomass, moisture retention, and relative water content (RWC) under combined drought and heat conditions compared to controls (shoot dry weight: +47.9%, root dry weight: +33%, RWC: +35.4%, moisture content: +258.7%)

Source: Frontiers in Plant Science

♻️ Nonsterile solid-state fermentation converts food waste into valuable bioactive compounds, enabling sustainable waste valorization

• The study explored using the fungus Trichoderma asperellum R to convert food and green waste into valuable compounds. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) was conducted under nonsterile conditions, reducing costs and making medium-scale fermentation more feasible for food waste management.

• The fermentation enriched the substrates with valuable metabolites, including vanillic acid (used in food and soil applications), limonoids (with antioxidant and anti-cancer properties), and trimethoxybenzaldehyde (with herbicidal potential).

• High cellulase activity in fruit scrap fermentation shows effective cellulose degradation, enhancing polysaccharide extractability. This outcome highlights SSF as a sustainable method to valorize waste into bioactive materials, supporting environmentally friendly waste management.

Source: Plants

🧬 Recombinant porcine FGF1 produced in E. coli promoted muscle stem cell proliferation for cultured meat production

• Scientists developed a method for producing recombinant porcine fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) in Escherichia coli. The process yielded 48 mg of purified recombinant porcine FGF1 (rpFGF1) per litre of culture.

• Adding rpFGF1 improved porcine MuSC proliferation under serum-free conditions, demonstrating its use in reducing reliance on animal-derived components in cultivated meat production.

• rpFGF1 induced mitochondrial changes through ERK-dependent phosphorylation of DRP1 at Ser616, which led to mitochondrial fission and mitophagy. These cellular changes enhanced mitochondrial health, supporting higher muscle stem cell proliferation rates.

Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

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EAR FOOD

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🎧 Where is agriculture headed in 2025? Insights from 7 agritech podcasts

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BETTER BIOECONOMY EXCLUSIVE

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💬 My recent conversations with bioeconomy innovators

• Founder of Media City Scientific, Katie Bashant Day: A Scientist-Founder’s Journey to Make Biotech Research Reliable and Ethical

• Innovation Specialist at The Good Food Institute India, Devika Suresh: Laying the Foundation for Smart Protein Leadership in India

• Biotech consultant and ex-CSO of Vow, James Ryall: Bridging Science and Business to Support Startups Using Biomanufacturing

Check out more conversations!

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1. Disclaimer: Better Bite Ventures, where I work, is an investor of Prefer.