• Growth factors are among the most expensive inputs in cultured meat production for industry leaders. Traditional recombinant proteins are often developed using microbial or mammalian systems, which increases costs and limits scale.

•  BioBetter uses genetically engineered tobacco plants as biological factories to produce animal-free growth factors on an industrial scale. By shifting production to plants, BioBetter avoids fermentation limitations and significantly enhances yield economics.

• This novel approach aims to reduce costs by up to 300% for growth media elements, which are the primary leverage for companies striving to achieve price parity. For cultivated meat companies, this technology lowers OpEx and improves supply chain resilience.

• The start-up focuses on producing growth factors for cell-based bioprocesses and cultured meat while reducing costs associated with them.

• The issue of complexity and expense persists for market players with basal growth media formulations, even with inexpensive growth factors, because they are not sourced from food-grade systems but from pharmaceutical-grade cell culture systems.

• To address this issue, the start-up uses metabolic modeling and data science to develop animal-free culture media optimized for high cell density. Multus specifically designs media formulations for cultivated meat economics.

• This fast-growing startup reduces the cost bottleneck for market players by enabling rapid propagation at lower input costs and high cell densities. This capability estimates that production costs could drop below $ 6/kg by 2030.

Overall, for producers striving to scale beyond pilot facilities, the technology provides an economically viable manufacturing pathway through redesigning growth media for scalability.

Moreover, it is challenging to align R&D pipelines, find suitable partners, and ensure smooth technology integration for businesses. Stellarix, with its strategic partner scouting, R&D, and sustainability consulting services, helps integrate all advanced concepts from using cutting-edge technologies to structural improvements in cell-cultured meat into companies.

•  Most cultured meat companies rely on adapted pharma bioreactors that weren't designed for energy efficiency, food-scale economics, or continuous production. This is a pressing issue for them.

• Ark Biotech offers a wide range of bioreactors with sensors and integrated software systems designed for cultivated meat. The platform emphasizes real-time monitoring, energy efficiency, and process optimization at various volumes.

• This innovative start-up accelerated the move from R&D to large-scale manufacturing. Ark helps producers cut CapEx and improve process control, enabling them to increase output without proportional increases in cost.

• The primary focus of this start-up has been on process optimization and advanced bioreactor equipment.

• Scaling is hindered by fragmented systems and manual control procedures, resulting in variability, a significant risk factor for food manufacturers and players in the alternative protein segment.

• Unicorn Biotech develops automated and modular Biomanufacturing systems integrated with a cloud platform. These systems allow producers to control, mimic, and modify processes across facilities with minimal labor.

• This startup provided a scalable blueprint for companies that helps with quick facility replication, cost control, and regulatory compliance. Automation decreases operational risks and enhances throughput. Automation reduces operational risk while improving consistency and throughput.

• The start-up is making waves by automating scale with modular Biomanufacturing of cell-based meat.

• The cultivated meat industry needs growth factors that are sustainable, completely free from animal-derived components, and affordable. However, scaling up while maintaining sustainability remains a significant challenge.

• This high-growth, innovation-driven start-up uses engineered camelina plants to produce recombinant growth factors, leveraging a protein-engineering approach that cumulatively enables scalability with precise molecular control.

• Core Biogenesis's groundbreaking technology helps companies build a robust upstream supply chain by consistently delivering animal-free inputs at scale. This technology reduces reliance on complex fermentation infrastructure and ensures alignment with ethical and sustainability standards.