It takes a lot of infrastructure and money to build the giant bioreactors that experts say are needed to mass-produce the raw materials needed to make medicines, vaccines, cultivated meat, and more.
Matt Anderson-Baron, co-founder and CEO of Canada-based Future Fields, told TechCrunch that 10 billion liters of bioreactor capacity will be needed by 2030, but 61 million currently exist. He said it was nothing more than
Furthermore, the bioreactor product, recombinant protein, accounts for the majority of the costs associated with cultivated meat production, partly because the sector has reached prices parity with conventional meat. It’s not.
Future Fields believes they have figured out a more cost-effective and sustainable way to do this through EntoEngine. This is an approach that uses fruit flies instead of giant steel tanks for the production of recombinant proteins.
“Traditionally, growth factors and recombinant proteins are produced in microbial systems cultured in large stainless steel tanks, so they compete for the same infrastructure,” says Anderson-Baron. “What we come in is replacing bioreactors with insects. We’re genetically engineering them — insects that can be grown in simple plastic containers — and it’s very scalable It’s cost-effective and, importantly, avoids the challenges associated with that infrastructure, freeing up the supply chain for those who actually need it without creating more demand, whether it does so regardless of.”
Anderson-Baron, his wife Jalene Anderson-Baron, and co-founder Lejjy Gafour have been working on this issue for some time (Future Fields was last introduced in 2020). Build production facilities and expand teams to launch first non-meat products, including research, cell therapy and biopharmaceuticals.
Bee Partners participating in this round are Toyota Ventures, Builders VC, AgFunder, Amplify Capital, Milad Alucozai of BoxOne Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech, Siddhi Capital and Climate Capital.
Anderson-Baron declined to disclose growth metrics, but said its team doubled in size last year and has shipped animal protein products to more than 60 companies in the past year and a half.
Future Fields is building its first production facility next to its headquarters in Edmonton, Canada, which, when completed, will enable kilogram-scale recombinant protein production in just 10,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
Meanwhile, the company’s EntoEngine technology offers a suite of human recombinant protein products for medical research and biopharmaceuticals, including five proteins that support wound healing, reproductive biology, muscle and breast milk development, and stem cell research. increase.
Anderson-Baron says using flies allows for both speed and scalability. EntoEngine’s Drosophila technology allows him to produce biomass 16 to 30 times faster than conventional bioreactors, producing protein every day with the same footprint and the same infrastructure.
“This is not possible with other systems that specify bioreactors that run for weeks at a time to make a single run,” he added. “This gives us a lot more flexibility.” Importantly, we can scale up much faster and more cost-effectively by replacing stainless steel tanks that need to be plugged into the wall with insects.”
Got news tips and insider info on the topics we covered? We’d love to hear from you. You can contact Christine Hall at chall.techcrunch@gmail.com or Signal at 832-862-1051. Or contact us at tips@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us including SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.
