July 1, 2019

by Lynda Kiernan

Indian biotech company String Bio announced it has raised an undisclosed sum in support of its work to develop next-generation proteins for the global feed and food industries. The funding was provided by French investor Seventure Partners, Ankur Capital, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), KITVEN (Karnataka’s Information and Biotechnology Venture Fund), and Srinivasa Hatcheries. 

By 2050, the dietary needs of more than 10 billion people will have to be met – and met in ways that are sustainable, reduce climate change, and mitigate environmental challenges. With this in mind, String Bio’s mission is to “create robust, cradle-to-cradle solutions that address these challenges and provide us with cleaner ways of living,” according to a company statement. 

Founded in Bangalarulu in 2012 b Ezhil Subbian and Vinod Kumar, String Bio leverages synthetic biology, fermentation technology, chemistry, and process engineering via its String Integrated Methane Platform (SIMP) to act upon methane to create value-added protein products for the animal nutrition, human nutrition, agriculture, and cosmetics industries, among others.

In answer to the growing global protein gap, String Pro is the company’s first product to come to market. The company explains that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, and will be driving higher meat consumption. Additionally, the animal feed market on the supply side will be constrained by climate change and land and water availability, creating a high-growth potential market for sustainable and cost-effective protein. 

“We launched String Bio to address the impending food crisis globally,” said Vinod Kumar, co-founder and managing director, String Bio. “Our first product, String Pro, produces protein for animal feed in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly method that would enable feed producers to manufacture high-quality feed essential for animal growth.”

Alternative protein sources have been increasingly on the radar of both consumers and investors. Global protein consumption is expected to climb at a CAGR of 1.7 percent, reaching 943 million tons by 2054, according to Lux Research. Over this same time period, alternative protein sources are forecast to command up to a third of the protein market as they fill the void created by slowing growth in meat and seafood production.

Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and managing partner, Seventure Partners noted, “The disruptive approach that String Bio has developed to supply qualitative feed ingredients while giving value to one of the most powerful greenhouse gases is of high-value to address the global urgent need for alternative sources of protein.”

String Bio is not the only startup to use fermentation technology to create sustainable protein in a laboratory. In February of this year, food tech startup Sustainable Bioproducts closed a $33 million Series A from a selection of some of the top venture capital funds, and two of the largest food and agribusiness companies in the world.

Born as a research project under NASA, and based out of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, the original aim of the company was to study extremophile organisms – microbes that can live and thrive under extreme conditions.

This work led the team to study microbes living in the volcanic springs at Yellowstone National Park, and to the development of an innovative fermentation technology that enables the production of protein in a laboratory without negative environmental effects.

And Finland-based startup Solar Foods is working to produce edible protein in a laboratory from air and electricity – a process that may one day generate food for space travel. 

“Agri-tech has become a game changer in providing access to sustainable methods of producing feed and food ingredients and String Bio is disrupting the space with its innovative platform,” said Eric Savage, co-founder & CEO of Unitus Capital and String’s financial advisors for the transaction.

“We are very excited to continue our partnership with the String Bio team who are working towards building a sustainable platform to produce value-added products that have an immense impact across industries,” said Anurag Sharma, executive director, ONGC. “We believe this will be a game changer globally and solve one of the most critical problems facing the food supply chain today.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.