Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Liberation Labs comes out of stealth with a $20M funding round and a precision fermentation platform for the production of alternative proteins at scale  —  News arrives from New York that Mark Warner and his Liberation Labs team have closed a $20 million seed round of funding, for its journey into deploying precision fermentation platform for the production of alternative proteins at scale. I think it was the New York Times that dubbed this Farm to Ferm. Let’s explore that in some depth today. First, some backstory on the investors, and the use of the proceeds.

The investors

The round was led by Agronomics and Siddhi Capital and includes CPT Capital, Thia Ventures, 8090 Industries and Echo. Funds will be used for, among other things, the purchase and development of a site on which to build its first commercial-scale Launch Facility, which will have a fermentation capacity of 600,000 liters with a fully dedicated downstream process.

The Liberation Labs backstory

Readers of The Digest will not be surprised to see Warner at the helm of this enterprise. In April 2021 in these pages, Mark (with Chris Guske) wrote: “ There are storm clouds on the horizon and those of us actively entrenched in scale-up and manufacturing for Industrial Biotech see the coming apocalypse…and it will likely not be pretty…Over the last couple of decades, VCs have been showering money on start-ups, which seem to be multiplying like rabbits…entrepreneurs can hold up flasks, proudly showcasing their products, declaring commercial readiness. But there is a problem. Over the same couple of decades, “capital light” has been the scale-up/commercialization mantra: why build when one can use someone else’s facility?”

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As Warner wrote in the Digest, “Does un-utilized industrial biotechnology capacity in the US exist? Well, yes, sort of. Tate & Lyle’s Decatur, IL, refinery has large fermentation capacity, once used for producing xanthan gum and Amyris’ farnesene. But the facility has remained idle for several years with no evidence of interest to recommission it despite numerous inquiries. ADM’s Clinton, IA, facility (built to support the defunct ADM-Metabolix JV) operates at fractional capacity with the majority of commercial-scale fermentors still not commissioned. Fermic’s Hannibal, MO, facility remains idle. The issues in bringing sites back into operation are common stumbling blocks: (1) these fermentors are rather large for most early-stage companies, and (2) there needs to be a sustained commitment to bring these up to/back to operational status.”

In our view, it’s worse than that. The industrial capacity that CMOs use is old, and was built for different purposes. Is that a problem for fermenters? Can be, the age factor. But the big factor are those downstream processes, they are unique to each product, not cookie-cutter. So, yes, there is pharma capacity that could be used for contract manufacturing, but two caveats. First, the new product displaces and old one, pharma products aren’t sold for fuel prices. Second, you have to operate in an environment that’s built and maintained to high-grade pharma standards.  So, costs are likely to be sky-high. Making pharma, or $100 per kilo ingredients? That’s sounds fine. Making something for industrial or the food market? Not so hot.

So, why are things changing now, with Liberation Labs?

Times have changed

As Mark Warner tipped in The Digest a few years back, there has been “a rise in investors more interested in developing infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities, but these remain in the minority. Time is required for design, permitting, construction, and commissioning…and then the facility is not initially operated at full capacity as sales have to ramp up. This all requires deep pockets and patience.” Fermentum tried. Why different now?

First of all, investors are now seeing the logjam ahead.

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It can take up to 12 months to negotiate the deal all the way to tech transfer and operation, using contract manufacturing. So you can see, the Squeeze is Now.

What is the solution, For Liberation, the focus is on proteins — all the foodies. 

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Mark Warner, just to name the chief, headed up Solazyme’s scale-up, then Impossible Foods, and had identified this Fermentation Squeeze years ago, and has decided to do something about it. Well done.  READ MORE