June 23, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Protera, a Chile-based designer and developer of new alternative proteins created with the power of AI, announced it has closed on a $5.6 million Series A led by European life sciences-focused VC firm Sofinnova Partners. SOSV, a tech venture capital firm and existing investor, also participated in this round. 

Co-founded in 2015 by company CEO Leonardo Álvarez and company COO Francia Navarrete, Protera understands that the hard work that has gone into making enough food to meet the demands of a growing global population have led to unsustainable food systems.

The following year the company joined IndiBio, the Silicon Valley-based biology-focused accelerator. Since that time the company has developed its AI technology, becoming able to create functional, animal-free, and clean-label protein ingredients. 

To address the challenge of feeding 10 billion people by 2050, Protera’s deep learning-based technology uses predictive algorithms called MADI that learns how biology builds proteins and rapidly calculates millions of high-value, patentable enzymes and protein products.

Compared to traditional methods of physically testing each potential protein, the power of AI identifies which proteins are the most likely to have the desired traits, creating a short list from the thousands of possibilities.

This ability enables Protera to create protein-based ingredients faster and at a lower cost through fermentation, resulting in better human health, reduced environmental damage, and less food waste.

“Our products will allow manufacturers to use proteins in a myriad of applications that were thought to be impossible before,” said Leonardo Álvarez, CEO and co-founder, Protera. “We are harnessing protein engineering to address critical sustainability issues – from food to agriculture and human health.”

This funding will be used by Protera to initiate pilot trials in partnership with multinational food companies on protera guard™, a unique protein that acts to extend the shelf life of foods, and provides a chemical-free alternative to more traditional chemical agents. 

“We throw away one-third of the food we produce every year worldwide, and one of the main reasons is microbial contamination. This financing will enable us to scale up protera guard™….,” said Álvarez, adding, “We are thrilled to have Sofinnova Partners’ support and to be able to draw on its strategic counsel and deep industrial biotechnology expertise.”

“The highly entrepreneurial team at Protera leverages the convergence of recent AI developments and the opportunity to engineer biology to develop sustainable solutions in multiple verticals,” said Joško Bobanović, partner at Sofinnova Partners who has helped the firm gain a reputation across Europe as a pioneer in industrial biotech, will be joining Protera’s board of directors.

Very quickly we’ve seen AI, machine learning, and advanced biotechnology be applied to create alternative proteins in novel and exciting ways.

Last year, India’s String Bio announced it had raised an undisclosed sum in support of its work to develop next-generation proteins for the global feed and food industries by leveraging synthetic biology, fermentation technology, chemistry, and process engineering via its String Integrated Methane Platform (SIMP) to act upon methane to create value-added protein products for the animal nutrition, human nutrition, agriculture, and cosmetics industries, among others.

Another is Nature’s Fynd, which in March of this year closed on an $80 million Series B co-led by the $25 billion investment firm Generation Investment Management, which was founded by Al Gore, and the $1 billion fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. 

Based out of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, the original aim of the company was to study extremophile organisms – microbes that can live and thrive under extreme conditions, according to company CEO Thomas Jonas.

This work led the team to study microbes living in the volcanic springs at Yellowstone National Park, and to the development of an innovative fermentation technology that enables the production of protein that uses 99 percent less land and 87 percent less water than beef.

And most recently, Swedish foodtech startup Mycorena announced it had raised €1.2 million (US$1.37 million) to scale up production and advance the commercialization of its novel fungi-based alternative protein, Promyc. 

By 2050, the dietary needs of more than 10 billion people will have to be met – and met in ways that are sustainable, reduce climate change, and mitigate environmental challenges. It is companies such as Protera, and a growing field of like-minded startups, that are pioneering cutting-edge methods to do just that.

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.