💪 Healthy ageing ingredients

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Bovine lactoferrin produced through precision fermentation moves towards commercial scale via industry partnerships

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• All G (Australia), which recently formed a JV with a subsidiary of Savencia (Armor Protéines) to scale production, launched its LFX recombinant bovine lactoferrin in the US with GRAS status.
  • It also secured investment to support expansion in Southeast Asia, particularly in nutrition and infant formula markets.
  • It currently produces multiple tonnes per year through a fermentation CMO in China and says discussions are underway for a second facility in Europe.
• TurtleTree (Singapore) signed an exclusive agreement with Danish biotech leader Novonesis to scale, manufacture and commercialise its recombinant bovine lactoferrin, initially targeting early-life nutrition and dietary supplements.
  • Novonesis also made a minor investment in the startup alongside the VC arm of Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals (undisclosed funding round).

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Nūmi secured €3.7M to scale its cell-culture platform for human milk bioactives

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• Nūmi, a French startup developing cell-cultured human breast milk, secured €3.7M in government funding to scale its bioprocess and prepare for industrialisation.
• The funding will also support the development of human milk bioactives, including lactoferrin, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and antibodies.

Green Queen

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💉 GLP-1 and weight management

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ProFuse Technology raised $1.5M to expand into muscle health solutions for GLP-1 users

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• ProFuse Technology, an Israeli startup originally developing media supplements for cultivated meat, raised $1.5M to pivot to a muscle health discovery platform identifying promising ingredients and therapeutics targeting ageing- and GLP-1-related muscle loss.
• Its platform uses mature human skeletal muscle tissue to screen more than 10,000 molecules per week, including hundreds of GRAS molecules for future food applications.

Comment: It is interesting to observe that many companies are still in the process of “exiting” the alternative protein ecosystem. While most players are going into more adjacent industries such as cosmetics, some, such as ProFuse, are moving towards health-related applications.

AgFunderNews

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🦠 Gut health

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Superbrewed Food launched a low-dose postbiotic ingredient targeting digestive and immune health

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• Superbrewed Food, a US startup commercially producing its whole-food SB1 protein through biomass fermentation with Döhler (also an investor) in Europe, launched Thryvia, a postbiotic derived from the same strain that targets digestive and immune health.
• The shelf-stable ingredient can be used at a low dose (200mg per serving vs 10–20g for SB1) across supplements, dairy, cereals, snacks, frozen desserts, beverages (including UHT formats) and pet nutrition.
• The ingredient is already available at commercial scale and is GRAS in the US, while novel food safety evaluations are underway in the EU and UK.

Comment: Superbrewed Food, which recently reported clinical results showing SB1 delivered muscle protein synthesis comparable to whey protein isolate, is expanding from a high-dose sports nutrition protein to a low-dose ingredient for digestive and immune health.

Green Queen

🥤 Better-for-you

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Medici Brands raised $250M to expand its better-for-you food portfolio

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• Medici Brands, the US parent company of David Protein and HallPass, raised $250M at a $2.25B valuation to expand its portfolio of high-protein and low-calorie products using plant-based fat alternative EPG.
• David Protein, launched less than two years ago with high-protein, zero-sugar bars, expanded into frozen desserts and RTD shakes and is on track to reach $300M in revenue this year.
• HallPass is its new, more affordable brand of lower-sugar and lower-calorie confectionery.
• Medici plans to launch Rowdy, a third consumer brand focused on salty snacks, later this year.

Comment: This brand's growth trajectory is quite impressive, as the products only started to sell in late 2024. It is the embodiment of a new generation of fast-emerging brands focused on a combination of a clear nutritional promise (mostly high protein, and low calories) and great taste.

**FoodBevMedia & AgFunderNews**

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