New Wave Biotech and Multus collaborate using AI to transform food production

AI bioprocess optimization software company, New Wave Biotech, and cultivated meat growth media company, Multus, are collaborating to scale the production of cultivated meat more quickly and effectively using the latest in AI technology.

According to a comprehensive UK study, high meat consumption is responsible for four times the amount of human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a non-meat diet. A recent study by CE Delft also found that, compared with farming animals, cultivating meat from cells could cut the climate impact of meat by up to 92%, reduce air pollution by up to 94%, and use up to 90% less land.

The cultivated meat industry has potential to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of meat production and increase food security. This is why Multus is pioneering the production of the key ingredients required to accelerate the affordable scale-up of cultivated meat. New Wave Biotech is collaborating with Multus to dramatically reduce the cost of cultivated meat, helping replace intensive animal farming and transition to a sustainable global food system.

New Wave Biotech develops AI Bioprocess Optimization software to help synthetic biology innovators such as Multus get their products to market quicker, better and at lower cost. According to BCG, 90% of technologies in the synthetic biology industry fail to scale viably.

This is because R&D is often too expensive and slow – typically taking three to 10 years to get from lab to market, with experiments costing US$10,000-100,000 each. New Wave Biotech’s software enables synbio innovators to virtually experiment on thousands of processes for cost, quality and sustainability, learn from real life data and recommend improvements. This creates a step-change in how synbio R&D is done, taking it from a slow, iterative process to a rapid one led by data and insights.

The main challenge facing cultivated meat companies is scaling effectively with the cost structure to compete with traditional meat producers. Growth media are the nutrients required to grow cells, which form the main cost of cultivated meat production. To combat this issue, Multus specialises in developing next-generation growth media using AI, lab automation and novel ingredients.

As Multus expands production, they are now teaming up with New Wave Biotech to harness the speed and accuracy of AI Bioprocess Optimisation software to scale and improve the economics of using precision fermentation to produce some of the key ingredients for cell cultivation. New Wave Biotech’s software will help Multus eliminate unviable processes from economics.

“We and Multus are committed to creating a step-change in how Research & Development is done in the cultivated meat industry," commented Zoe Law, CEO & Co-Founder at New Wave Biotech. "This market is expected to reach US$25 billion by 2030 and completely transform the sustainability of our food systems, but too often these game changing innovations fail to scale and actually reach the shelves. Working with Multus, we can leverage the power of AI and synthetic biology to unlock these barriers and transform our food systems.”

“Cultivated meat is transitioning the global food industry towards sustainability. We are excited to be working with New Wave Biotech to accelerate solutions to the challenges of scale and cost in our supply chain. Combining AI and real-world data collection to produce cheaper and more scalable growth media ingredients helps us put our customers one step closer to making widely available and affordable cultivated meat a reality.”

The project is being funded through an Innovate UK Engineering Biology grant. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £6.7 million in Engineering Biology collaborative R&D competition as part of UKRI’s National Engineering Biology Programme (NEBP). This aims to deliver business led research and development that will lead to new engineering biology products, processes or services and de-risk the adoption of new engineering biology technologies that offer high market potential. The current NEBP themes are: food systems, biomedicine, clean growth and environmental solutions.

Both New Wave Biotech and Multus are supported by alternative protein global investment leader Big Idea Ventures.