Fermented Protein’s $150B Potential, AI Decodes Soil Microbes, and Yeast Converts CO₂ to Starch-Rich Micrograins
Also: South Korea’s largest Muslim organisation issued a fatwa saying cultivated meat can be Halal
Hey, welcome to issue #97 of the Better Bioeconomy newsletter. Thanks for being here! 👋🏾
This week, McKinsey put fermented proteins in the spotlight with a $150B projection by 2050 but scaling remains the key hurdle. The Better Meat Co inked its biggest deal yet, bringing hybrid meat products closer to the mainstream. PoLoPo’s molecular farming smashed expectations with a bumper crop of protein-rich potatoes. Elsewhere, researchers reprogrammed yeast to churn out carbon-negative starch, opening new doors for sustainable food manufacturing.
Alright, let’s dig into the latest updates on the intersection of biotech and agrifood!
BIO BUZZ
Products, partnerships, and regulations
🌏 McKinsey report: Fermented novel proteins could represent 4% of total protein production by 2050 with a market size of $150B
To get there, the industry needs $250B in investments to scale fermentation technology and bring down production costs. Current costs of fermentation-based proteins are significantly higher than traditional proteins, creating barriers to adoption.
Redesigning bioreactors and optimizing fermentation processes can reduce production costs by up to 50%. Startups are also shifting from batch to continuous fermentation, which improves efficiency and reduces operational downtime.
Consumer interest is promising, with 49%-67% open to trying novel foods. But for these products to truly take off, big investments beyond venture capital are needed. Sovereign funds and strategic investors will be key in driving industry growth.
Source: McKinsey
Thoughts 🤔
The report makes it clear: the bottleneck isn’t demand, it’s scale (and some innovation). Production costs are still 5–10x higher than conventional proteins, and hitting cost parity requires more than better microbes. It demands systems-level change: public-private investment in biomanufacturing, ingredient standardization, and new distribution models. Fermentation is moving from product novelty to platform utility. As companies shift from brand-led to ingredient-led strategies , fermentation could underpin entire categories, from protein and fats to functional ingredients.
🇺🇸 The Better Meat Co signed its largest LOI with a major South American meat producer to supply 30 tonnes of Rhiza mycoprotein per month
With this letter of intent and existing agreements in North America and Asia, the company is on track to generate $13M in annual revenue. To meet demand, it plans to raise $15M for an asset-light expansion from its current 9,000-litre fermentation capacity to 150,000 litres through a contract manufacturer.
Demand for the company’s rhiza mycoprotein far exceeds current capacity, and even a 5x increase wouldn’t be enough. Produced using continuous fermentation, it is 50% protein by dry weight, has more fibre than oats, more potassium than bananas, and contains no cholesterol or saturated fat. At scale, it is cost-competitive with commodity beef.
Rhiza enhances both animal-based and plant-based products. Blind taste tests favoured mycoprotein-blended meatballs over 100% beef ones, making it a promising, cost-effective and nutrition-packed alternative.
Source: Green Queen
Thoughts 🤔
By blending fungi-derived protein into their products, big players can reduce costs and environmental impact without asking consumers to change their behavior too much. The Better Meat Co.’s ingredient approach (selling Rhiza as B2B ingredient) seems to be paying off. It’s a way to mainstream alt protein through the meat aisle rather than competing directly against it. The hybridization approach is starting to gain momentum. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, we’ll see more “meat-plus” foods (meat enhanced with plant or fungal proteins) to reduce cost and improve sustainability.
🇮🇱 PoLoPo’s molecular farming yielded 5 tons of protein-rich potatoes in a successful field trial, exceeding expectations by 2 tons
These potatoes are engineered to produce ovalbumin (an egg protein) and patatin, a naturally occurring potato protein. Although the potatoes are genetically modified, the final protein powder contains no genetic material and is classified as non-GMO.
In addition to the field success, the Israeli startup has expanded its lab operations. With the upgraded facilities, PoLoPo can now produce more functional protein powder, helping meet demand from food industry partners.
The company is working with CSM Ingredients to develop baking applications and will replant in spring to maintain year-round production, also testing adaptability across growing conditions.
Source: vegconomist
Thoughts 🤔
Achieving successful open-field cultivation of a transgenic protein crop is a major milestone. It shows that molecular farming is not just a controlled lab concept but a scalable and agronomically viable platform. If ovalbumin can be economically produced in potatoes, it could become a cheaper and more sustainable source of egg protein, requiring less land and water and eliminating the need for chickens. The fact that the final protein is classified as non-GMO could ease regulatory and consumer acceptance. If yields are sufficient, compared to fermentation, using crops and sunlight to grow proteins may significantly lower production costs by turning farmland into functional protein factories.
🇰🇷 South Korea’s largest Muslim organisation issued a fatwa saying cultivated meat can be Halal as long as it meets certain requirements
The Korean Muslim Federation (KMF) says cultivated meat is permissible under Sharia law if it's sourced and produced accordingly. With Halal consumers making up a quarter of the world’s population, the Halal meat market is expected to hit $1.6 trillion by 2032.
This is only the second fatwa worldwide allowing cultivated meat under Islamic law, after a similar ruling by Singapore’s Islamic authority in 2023.
Korean biotech startup Simple Planet is ramping up its push for Halal certification of its cell-cultured meat. Last month, it signed an MoU with Thailand’s Halal Science Center to apply Halal Good Manufacturing Practices to its production process.
Source: Green Queen
Thoughts 🤔
Gaining a Halal endorsement removes a key barrier for marketing cultivated meat in Muslim-majority regions and to Muslim consumers worldwide. It shows that religious authorities are engaging with food tech innovations and can find them permissible, which could influence other countries’ Islamic councils to follow suit. As the alt protein industry matures, engagements like this fatwa suggest that stakeholder acceptance (beyond just consumers and regulators) is being actively negotiated, clearing a path for cultivated meat to integrate into mainstream food globally.
🇺🇸 Savor debuts a new kind of ‘butter’ made without cows, plants, or microbes
Savor is taking a thermochemical route to create designer fats, offering a potential alternative to animal and tropical fats. The process uses carbon and hydrogen combined under high heat and pressure to produce fatty acids. These are then assembled into triglycerides customized for different food applications.
Their butter alternative has self-GRAS status and targets the baking, dairy, and confectionery industries. A cocoa butter version is also in the works to broaden its market impact.
With $33M in funding from major investors, like Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Savor has already developed fat prototypes that replicate milkfat, cocoa butter, lard, tallow, and vegetable oils.
Source: AgFunder
Thoughts 🤔
By using thermochemical synthesis to assemble triglycerides from basic molecules (like carbon and hydrogen), Savor is essentially introducing a “precision chemistry” model to food. Food isn’t just going bio, it’s going post-bio. Companies that can engineer flavor, mouthfeel, and functionality at the molecular level, whether biologically or chemically, will define the next wave of clean-label, climate-smart food manufacturing.
🌏 MIT Tech Review Insights report: How AI can enhance production and innovation to meet the world’s growing need for nutritious food
AI and machine learning are streamlining food R&D by replacing slow trial-and-error methods with data-driven simulations. This shift speeds up the search for ideal ingredient mixes and genetic traits, cutting development time from years to months and reducing costs from around $4M to $1.2M in some cases.
Still, challenges remain. Inconsistent data formats, privacy issues, and outdated systems make it hard to connect data across farms, labs, and manufacturers. Creating secure, interoperable systems is a key focus.
Collaboration between large companies and nimble startups is driving innovation. Initiatives like Shoots by Syngenta and AI platforms from PIPA and Ayana Bio are helping both groups tap into the power of advanced AI.
Source: MIT Technology Review
Thoughts 🤔
AI is dramatically shortening innovation cycles in food and ag. Developing a new crop variety or plant-based product used to take years of trial and error, now, AI-driven simulations can compress that timeline. Another exciting aspect is the democratization of data. AI tools can empower smallholder farmers with insights once reserved for large agribusinesses, somewhat leveling the playing field and enabling smarter, more resilient agriculture.
🇳🇴 NoMy and Fenja BioSolutions partnered to industrialize mycoprotein production in Norway and the EU
Norwegian companies Norwegian Mycelium (NoMy) and Fenja BioSolutions have formalized a collaboration aimed at scaling up industrial-level mycoprotein production, contributing to Europe’s alternative protein landscape and enhancing regional protein self-sufficiency.
NoMy’s technology turns local residues from agriculture, aquaculture, and the food industry into high-quality protein, helping cut waste and lower environmental impact.
By combining NoMy’s biotech innovation with Fenja’s expertise in process development, the partnership supports domestic bio-industry growth and contributes to building a circular, more resilient bioeconomy in Europe.
Source: Norwegian Mycelium (NoMy)
BIO BUCKS
Funding, M&As, and grants
🇬🇧 Elaniti raised €1.5M to accelerate AI and DNA sequencing to decode microbial composition for better soil health
The UK startup’s AI-powered decision tool decodes soil microbes using DNA sequencing. It provides farmers with insights to increase productivity while lowering their dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Soil’s biology is often overlooked in agriculture. While chemical and physical soil traits are tracked, microbial life, which plays a huge role in soil health and yield, remains largely untapped.
With the new funding, Elaniti plans to grow its team and fast-track the launch of its predictive analytics platform while continuing to work closely with agribusiness partners to ground its tech in real-world use.
💰 Investors: biotope, Planetary Impact Ventures, PINC (Paulig Group’s CVC arm), and Innovate UK (non-dilutive funding)
Source: Tech.eu
Thoughts 🤔
Elaniti is providing a tool that could become as routine as soil nutrient testing, effectively adding a “microbial lens” to precision agriculture. It uses two powerful technologies – genomic sequencing (which has become faster and cheaper) and AI – to translate complex data into farm advice. This shows a maturation of agtech: we’re moving beyond sensor gadgets into biotech-infused digital agriculture.
GEEK ZONE
Scientific research papers
🍚 Engineered yeast turns CO₂ into starch-rich micro-grains through low-carbon microbial manufacturing
Researchers reprogrammed oleaginous yeast to produce starch-rich micro-grains by modifying starch biosynthesis and gluconeogenesis pathways, and optimizing cell structure. The result is efficient carbon-neutral starch production using acetate made from CO₂.
The modified Yarrowia lipolytica strain reached starch levels of up to 47.18% of its dry weight and a spatial-temporal productivity of 243.7 g/m²/day, ~50x higher than traditional crops like wheat or maize.
In terms of fermentation efficiency, the yeast shows a volumetric productivity of 160.83 mg/L/h, which is said to be an order of magnitude higher than that of other microbial production platforms.
Source: Nature Communications
🦠 Mannose increased lipid production in microalgae by up to 80% without compromising growth or nutrient starvation
Mannose is a simple sugar closely related to glucose. The study found that Mannose induces lipid accumulation in Chlorella sorokiniana by 80.1%, and this effect was consistent across different cultivation conditions.
Notably, the mannose was not metabolized, suggesting it acts as a regulatory signal rather than a nutrient. Unlike common approaches that rely on nutrient deprivation, especially nitrogen starvation, mannose triggered lipid production without stressing the cells. This avoids growth limitations seen in other methods.
The researchers also identified two SBP1 transcription factors that were consistently activated by mannose. This indicates a possible role in controlling carbon flow and lipid production, offering new opportunities for future metabolic engineering.
Source: Journal of Advanced Research
💊 Microalgae-based systems removed pharmaceuticals from wastewater while supporting nutrient recovery and biomass productivity
A study found that microalgae systems offer a sustainable alternative for wastewater treatment. They effectively remove pharmaceutical pollutants and recover valuable nutrients, supporting both urban and agricultural systems.
The presence of selected pharmaceuticals like sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and others didn’t affect microalgae biomass production or chlorophyll fluorescence. Nutrient recovery also stayed consistent, showing a linear link with productivity.
The resulting biomass retained very low levels of pharmaceuticals (less than 3%, with a maximum of 6% for trimethoprim), pointing to effective breakdown of these compounds. The harvested biomass also showed promise as a biostimulant for use in agriculture.
Source: Journal of Environmental Management
EAR FOOD
Podcast episode of the week
🎧 Oobli’s playbook for turning a novel ingredient into a commercially viable B2B platform
Hosts: Alex Shandrovksy
Guest: Ali Wing, CEO of Oobli
Raising capital has slowed across food tech, but Oobli secured investment from Ingredion Ventures in about six months, which was helped by regulatory momentum, strategic fit, and early signs of commercial traction. Having multiple “no questions” GRAS letters also signalled that the company was ready to scale.
Sweet proteins are ~2,000x sweeter than sugar by weight, which means Oobli can deliver sweetness with very small inputs. This creates a highly efficient, scalable model compared to more biomass-heavy ingredients.
Oobli’s DTC chocolate line isn’t just about sales it serves as a strategic channel to educate consumers, validate product appeal, and generate data that helps build confidence among B2B partners and investors.
When working with CPGs, Oobli starts the conversation with taste, followed by cost and then health or climate benefits. While sustainability matters, Ali makes clear that taste and margins are what ultimately drive decisions.
Rather than focusing on fermentation yields or capacity, Oobli uses cost of goods (COGs), unit economics, and margin contribution metrics that align with how CPGs evaluate new ingredients. This is a necessary shift for startups looking to transition from innovation to commercialization.
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