Dairy main Pascual launched its incubation programme for cow-free dairy innovation in partnership with meals tech accelerator Eatable Adventures in 2021.
On the time, Pascual Innoventures – the open innovation arm of Spain-headquartered Pascual – mentioned that by supporting mobile agriculture-derived dairy, the corporate is supporting expertise ‘complementary in progress and in functions inside the broad trade’. The next yr, molecular farming tasks have been added to the beforehand dairy-focused agenda.
However for Mylkcubator’s third version, Pascual is increasing its scope even additional. Whereas biosynthetic dairy merchandise are nonetheless very a lot on the desk, so are new applied sciences which have an ‘impression on tangential areas’ for Pascual.
Discovering synergies with Pascual’s core enterprise
As an organization, Pascual doesn’t solely work in dairy by way of its Leche Pascual division, but additionally has a powerful presence in juice by way of Bifrutas and Pascual Important labels.
The enterprise additionally performs in soy drinks by way of its Vivesoy model, and boasts a major presence in espresso by way of labels Mocay, Pascual Profesional, and Café Jurado.
The newest version of Mylkcubator – coined ‘Mylkcubator: Greater than Milk’ – has been designed to align with these classes. Innovators working throughout options to espresso, egg, lipids, cocoa, sodium and sweetener replacements, in addition to practical elements, are inspired to use.
“We now have expanded our applied sciences past dairy product era into different areas resembling egg manufacturing, espresso, lipids, and cocoa, utilizing different approaches that leverage varied applied sciences and elements – sodium substitutes sweeteners, and practical elements – as a result of we purpose to hunt future-oriented options for our firm’s core enterprise resembling espresso, and the elements we use in our merchandise,” Gabriel Torres, director of Pascual Innoventures, informed FoodNavigator.
The result’s an incubator which claims to be the primary international programme devoted to advancing mobile agriculture applied sciences and fermentation methods within the different meals trade.
What’s Mylkcubator on the lookout for in every new space?
In keeping with Mylkcubator, the purpose of the programme is to help tasks creating technological advances within the fields of cell cultures and fermentation methods which can be producing a ‘disruption’ within the agri-food system.
Working with ‘specialised professionals’ from the Pascual workforce and companions’ community, this system is designed to assist start-ups interact in collaboration fashions starting from sweat fairness and CAP to business agreements, co-creation, expertise licensing, funding, and industrial scale-up.
To throw a highlight on the incubator’s new areas of curiosity, within the egg options house Pascual and Eatable Adventures are on the lookout for applied sciences starting from precision fermentation for proteins, modern functions of algal proteins, and new approaches utilizing fungal fermentation and plant-based elements.
In alt espresso, Mylkcubator is on the lookout for entrepreneurs working with espresso processing robotics, plant-based blends for coffee-like flavours, genetic modifying for improved espresso bean properties, and expertise that repurposes espresso waste. In options to cocoa, the incubator is on the hunt for applied sciences resembling oat and vegetable fermentation, lab-grown cocoa cell cultivation, and using cocoa fruit residues to create drinks.
Different areas of curiosity embrace lipid options to palm oil and others linked to environmental degradation. Applied sciences may vary from yeast fermentation for dairy fats to omega-3 microencapsulation, slow-release wholesome fat, fats cell cultivation, fermentation of plant by-products for biomass and lipid separation, and exact CO2 fermentation for lipid manufacturing.
Within the practical elements class areas of curiosity embrace precision fermentation, enzyme developments, exosome extraction from milk whey, practical ingredient growth with RNA expertise, and design utilizing proteomics and computational biology.
Sodium and sweetener replacements are additionally on their radar, from pure sweeteners made out of plant proteins to using fermentation to domesticate particular fungi strains, and creating blends with compounds resembling stevia, erythritol, or xylitol.
Dairy makes a splash in Mylkcubator 2021-2022
Now in its third yr, Mylkcubator boasts a formidable line-up of alumni. Altogether, its two cohorts of start-ups have generated $14.4m (13.55m) of funding.
In 2021, Mylkcubator targeted on mobile agriculture for the dairy trade, from cell-based to fermentation and utilized applied sciences. The cohort included Barcelona-based Actual Deal Milk which makes casein and whey by way of precision fermentation, and India-headquartered Zero Cow Manufacturing facility, which claimed on the time to be creating the world’s first A2 milk protein by way of microbial fermentation.
One other start-up from Mylkcubator’s first cohort is South Africa-based De Novo Dairy (now De Novo Foodlabs), which is equally leveraging precision fermentation expertise to provide animal-free dairy. US-based M2 Elements – a subsidiary of 108Labs – which is working to cut back the price of cell-cultured dairy manufacturing, additionally took half.
In 2022, Mylkcubator expanded its attain to incorporate molecular farming tasks. The cohort included Portugal’s PFx Biotech, which develops human milk proteins to be used in paediatric and superior vitamin; and Dutch molecular farming start-up Miruku, which produced proteins and fat in crops.
Israeli start-up Maolac additionally took half within the second cohort. The beginning-up makes practical elements from bovine colostrum which can be bioequivalent to these present in breast milk.
Argentinian start-up Ergo Bioscience, which expresses myoglobin and casein from carrot cell cultures, was additionally chosen, as was Nutropy, a French firm creating caseins and dairy fatty acids with precision fermentation.
Pascual Innoventures selected to put money into De Novo Dairy, Zero Cow Manufacturing facility, Ergo BioScience, and Maolac.
