MISTA brings together food giants and startups for biomass fermentation breakthrough

MISTA, a food innovation platform, and a Givaudan entity, has announced that biomass fermentation will be the theme of the 2024 MISTA Growth Hack. Alongside this, 14 early-stage food-tech companies that were selected to participate have also been unveiled. The hands-on program brings together experts from across the corporate global food system to develop integrated solutions to deliver more nutritious, affordable and sustainable foods. Accenture, the Good Food Institute (GFI) and SOSV are presenting partners of the MISTA Growth Hack 2024. Protein Production Technology International is delighted to be the official media partner for this year's Growth Hack.

“The food system needs new solutions to feed the 8.5 billion people that will populate the Earth in 2030,” commented Céline Schiff-Deb, Chief Science Officer for MISTA. “Fermentation biomass is an approach that grows microbial cells (think microalgae, fungi, yeast or bacteria) that are packed with healthy nutrients, including proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals. These cells are fed simple nutrients and multiply in the controlled environment of a fermenter (for example, brewing beer). By leveraging this millennia-old technology, we can produce vast amounts of nutritious, affordable and sustainable ingredients that can improve the nutritional and sensory performance of foods, beverages and snacks.”

The participating startups were selected because each is building unique technologies to leverage the benefits of a broad range of organisms, approaches and carbon feedstocks (e.g., sugar, agricultural side streams and CO2). The 2024 cohort for the MISTA Growth Hack consists of 14 leading start-ups from across the globe: Arborea, California Cultured, Calysta, EQUII, Ingrediome, MOA Foodtech, Nutrition From Water, Revyve, Sempera Organics, Solar Foods, Solmeyea, Superbrewed Foods, The Better Meat Company and The Protein Brewery.

Each startup will anchor a technical team to develop a food or beverage prototype highlighting the benefits of their hero ingredients in concrete and delicious applications. Each technical team will feature a unique mix of experts from several large corporate MISTA members, including AAK, Buhler, CJ CheilJedang, Danone, Givaudan, Ingredion, JPG Resources and SIG. These teams will work to combine their individual companies’ expertise and solution sets into a distinctive and collaborative approach designed to disrupt conventional development processes.

“MISTA's cross-value chain ecosystem is curated to connect innovators and opportunities, delivering new potential to evolve people, teams and companies,” added Scott May, Founder and Head of MISTA. “The MISTA Growth Hack demonstrates how we collaborate to bring the largest players in the food system together with an amazing array of early-stage companies, bringing new ingredients and technologies to life. The experiences and reflections emerging from the MISTA Growth Hack transform how we integrate these new ingredients and technologies to deliver solutions that nourish and delight people and the planet”.

The individual teams will meet virtually to refine ideas and approaches over the coming months. In early November, each team will meet physically to finalize the projects at either the MISTA Innovation Centre in San Francisco or Givaudan’s Zurich Innovation Centre in Kemptthal, Switzerland.

This highly collaborative effort will culminate in a two-day event in San Francisco on 19/20 November 2024. On day one, MISTA will host a technical symposium that will bring together experts from around the globe. They will discuss topics to highlight opportunities to accelerate the adoption of food products derived from biomass fermentation. The second day of the event will feature the presentation of the findings from each of the 14 discovery teams, featuring the unique technologies of the individual startups. Immediately following the pitches and discussions, the attendees will be invited to sample the culinary output of each of the teams.