A possible solution to the biggest problem of cell agriculture - how to develop an economic, human and growth material for cultivated meat - could have come from a conversation lined up in a Tim Hortons in Alberta.
Matt and Jalene Anderson-Baron's husband and wife duo waited for Timbits and coffee and talked about the technology behind their startup, Future Fields, when Jalene suggested a possible new growth medium.
Matt Anderson-Baron had hit a wall in his quest and the couple, who represented two thirds of Future Fields' founding triumvirate, were out for a snack. Together with co-founder Lejjy Gafour, the three friends had left to launch a startup from Canada that could do something about the world's dependence on animals for proteins.
They recognized that the problems associated with raising animals were unsustainable on a scale necessary to meet global demand for meat. So the three turned their attention to cell-based alternatives to the meat market.
"Iit was just our interesting crazy side project that we never thought of turning into a business, "said Jalene Anderson-Baron." This has turned into a successful business idea over the past year. "
Initially, the trio had hoped to launch their own cultured meat brand to sell laboratory-grown chicken to the world, but after four months of experimenting in the laboratory, Matt Anderson-Baron and the rest of the team decided to rotate and start working. a new growth serum. All thanks to Tim Hortons.
"ORyour MVP was a chicken nugget. It worked out at around $ 3,000 per pound ... which obviously isn't a profitable business model. Since the goal was to produce a price comparable to meat, "said Anderon-Brown." We focused on a new medium that would be economically viable. We initially meant it for something we just used. At the beginning it didn't we realized the novelty of our product and how it would have been beneficial for the sector. About eight months ago we decided to rotate and make that product our growth medium ".
Now, as it prepares to leave the Y Combinator accelerator program, the company has some paid contracts in place and will launch the first two pilot product lines of its cell growth material for shipment within the next month.
The potential demand for the company's product is enormous. Alpha Meats, Shiok Meat, Finless Foods, Memphis Meats, Meatable, Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Future Meat Technologies, Lab Farm Foods and Eaat are all companies that develop laboratory-grown meat and fish alternatives. All in all, these companies have raised over $ 200 million. Some of the biggest names in traditional meat production like Tyson Foods are investing in meat alternatives.
"It's about getting the price on a large scale. Companies that use smaller volumes are reducing it from 10 to 100 times less. We can do it. But our superpower is producing the medium of growth on a large scale and is making it 1,000 times fewer, "said Matt Anderson-Brown. " We are talking about $ 2 to $ 3 per liter on a large scale. "
The founders of Future Fields have not said much about the technology they are using, except to say that they are genetically modifying a specific organism by inserting the genetic code for specific protein production into their unidentified cell line to produce different growth factors.
The University of Alberta it is not unique in the development of a Health Accelerator program, but its equity-free approach offers start-ups and aspiring bioengineering entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop their businesses without fear of dilution.
Future Fields has already collected a small pre-seed round of $ 480,000 from an undisclosed group of angel investors and the Grow Agrifood Tech Accelerator from Singapore.
And the company has the ability to produce a few hundred liters of its growth factor, according to Gafour, and is working on plans to increase production to reach tens of thousands of liters per month in the coming year.
For Gafour and his compatriots, the cellular agriculture industry has already reached a turning point and the next steps concern less scientific discovery and radical innovation and more on iteration and commercialization.
"With the inclusion of a medium growth solution, the key pieces are in place, and now it's a matter of understanding the efficiency of being able to scale it down," said Gafour.
However, there are other components that need to be developed for the industry to truly cut costs to a point where it can compete with traditional meat. Companies have yet to develop a scaffold to support the growth of protein cells in the muscles and adipose tissues that give the meat its flavor. The bioreactor design also needs to improve, according to Matt Anderson-Baron. "It's the wild west. There are still many things to do. "
And there are also many companies working on these technologies. Glycosan, Lyopor and Prellis are working on the construction of tissue scaffolds that can be used for the development of animal organs.
"Our vision was to accelerate this sector and advance the sector," said Jalene Anderson-Baron. "At first we didn't realize the potential of our technology. We thought everyone would get over that block at the same time. While we were talking to other companies and talking to investors who had been in contact with other companies, we realized that this was the key piece for moving the industry forward. "
