Israeli Startup Asterix Foods Emerges With $4.2M to Revolutionize Food Industry
Israeli startup Asterix Foods has emerged from stealth with $4.2m in funding to revolutionize the global food industry. The company uses plant cell culture to produce highly functional, bioactive glycoproteins, a more sustainable and scalable alternative to animal-based proteins.
Asterix Foods' unique approach involves using plant cells to produce proteins that are secreted into the media, simplifying harvesting and downstream processing. This method allows for easier scaling and is cheaper than precision fermentation using microbial hosts. The company's internal machinery is better suited to produce the kind of highly functional, bioactive glycoproteins that Asterix is focusing on. The funding round was led by CPT Capital and supported by Grok Ventures, ReGen Ventures, and SOSV. Asterix Foods aims to create an approach where proteins are secreted into the media for easier harvesting and simplified downstream processing. The company's growing system uses cheap plastic bags that can be scaled rapidly, reused, and sterilized with gamma radiation. Asterix Foods' founder and CEO, Dan Even, PhD, participated in the 13th cohort of IndieBio's accelerator program. The company believes plant cell culture can be scaled more cheaply and rapidly than precision fermentation using microbial hosts.
Asterix Foods plans to expand its team and establish pilot scale production to distribute samples to industry players. The company's long-term vision is to license its patent-pending technology to ingredient companies, dairy companies, or other food companies for manufacturing. Asterix Foods is targeting a wide range of potential customers, including food manufacturers, restaurants, ingredient suppliers, and retailers, all seeking sustainable, high-quality protein sources.
