Led · Seed · Oct 2025

Founded in 2022 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Asterix Foods builds plant cell culture systems designed to overcome the high capital costs and scalability bottlenecks of traditional precision fermentation. Its compact, low-CAPEX bioreactors operate at room temperature, cut energy and water use, and can run multiple production lines to manufacture diverse bioactive proteins year-round with minimal downtime. Because the units are modular and resource-light, facilities can be deployed on non-arable land and co-located with manufacturing hubs to reduce logistics costs and emissions. The company currently runs a pilot facility in central Tel Aviv that showcases this flexible approach. A multidisciplinary team of eight Ph.D.-level researchers in biotechnology and engineering leads product development. With fresh capital, Asterix plans to expand the pilot plant and start sending product samples to select customers, moving toward commercial-scale production.

Participated · Series B · Nov 2024

Shiru operates ProteinDiscovery.ai, an AI-driven ingredient discovery platform that hosts a database of 33 million natural molecules from plants and microbes and connects corporate partners to novel, high-performance ingredients. The platform is designed to shorten R&D timelines, reduce development costs, and accelerate time to market for flavor, skincare, agricultural, and advanced-materials applications. Shiru has commercial partnerships with companies such as Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition and Griffith Foods and has launched patented products including OleoPro™ and its active protein, uPro™. The company says it powers discovery across multiple molecular classes and plans to expand its ingredient portfolio and commercial offerings beyond proteins. Shiru is based in Berkeley, California, and is led by Founder and CEO Dr. Jasmin Hume. As of the announced round, the company has raised a total of $36 million. Shiru, founded in 2019 by Dr. Jasmin Hume, develops plant-based ingredients using precision fermentation to replicate the taste, texture and functionality of animal-derived proteins. The company offers a catalog of six colorless, flavorless ingredients that can be added to baked goods, sauces, burgers and yogurt. Its targets include replacing common animal proteins and functional additives such as methyl cellulose. Shiru says its ingredients achieve similar cost and versatility at scale to animal analogs and aims to have ingredients ready for customers by early next year. The company forecasts first commercial products containing its ingredients could appear on grocery shelves as early as 2023. Shiru is Emeryville-based, currently employs 22 people and plans to double headcount while moving into new Alameda headquarters and scaling manufacturing. Shiru is a computational biology company that produces novel, functional proteins for food applications leveraging molecular design. Led by Jasmin Hume and based in San Francisco, the company uses computational approaches to create ingredients aimed at reducing reliance on animal-based foods. Their core products are designed proteins intended to be sustainable and nutritious alternatives to animal-derived ingredients. Shiru raised $3.5m in seed funding to support its growth. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations. Investors in the round include Lux Capital, Y Combinator, S2G, CPT Capital and others.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2024

Savor uses a thermochemical process to convert point-captured carbon, green hydrogen, and methane into alkanes and then transforms those into fatty acids, which are purified and assembled into short-, medium-, and long-chain triglycerides (SMLCT) for food and cosmetic applications. Its products are chemically identical to conventional fats and include EcoButter, which was named one of TIME’s best inventions and is self-affirmed as GRAS. Savor has commercialized its CO2-derived butter in San Francisco, where it is used at the One65 patisserie and in baked goods at Jane the Bakery. The company is scaling production from only a few tonnes a year toward a target of a couple hundred tonnes with this new funding, and plans a future Series B to finance a 10,000-tonne facility. The firm emphasizes supplying domestically produced, climate-friendly specialty fats to food manufacturers in the US and Europe.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

CellRev has developed a suite of technologies that offer scalable, quality-controlled, efficient, and affordable processes for adherent cell culture. The platform is designed to make adherent cell culture a viable commercial option for cell and gene therapies and cultured meat. Its processing platform is gaining interest worldwide and the company plans a full launch in 2024. Dr Martina Miotto established CellRev while completing her PhD in Corneal Tissue Engineering and Chris Green is chief executive. The company recently secured external funding to support commercialization. Management says 2024 will be a defining year with a significant product launch and major customer collaborations in the pipeline. CellulaREvolution, founded in 2019, is developing a synthetic peptide coating to eliminate the need for animal-derived serum and a continuous culturing process to cut cell-cultivation costs. The company has built bioreactors designed for continuous growth, and preliminary data indicate these could produce twice as many cells in a given time using a smaller bioreactor than conventional batch culturing. These technologies target two major industry pain points: serum dependence and high cultivation costs. CellulaREvolution reports several ongoing collaborations with cultured meat companies to test specific cell lines, with positive early results. Management has said it is keen to transition some collaborations into sales. The company recently raised external funding to support these development and commercialisation efforts.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2023

Wanda Fish Technologies develops whole-cut cultivated bluefin tuna filets by growing muscle and fat cells in bioreactors to replicate texture, flavor and nutrition without slaughtering fish. The company has produced a 3D filet prototype differentiated into both muscle and fat tissues and says its proprietary technology can precisely control fat levels to create cuts including toro. Wanda Fish holds an exclusive licensing and sponsored research agreement with Tufts University and is working with David Kaplan at Tufts’ Center for Cellular Agriculture. Co-founded in 2021 by CEO Daphna Heffetz (PhD, former biotech executive), Malkiel Cohen and Yaron Sfadyah, the startup is still early stage but progressing toward scalability. The $7M seed will be used to optimize technology and accelerate scale-up of the cultivated whole-cut filet prototype, with plans to begin regulatory approvals in early 2025 and to sell into restaurants in 2026. Wanda Fish develops cultivated seafood, aiming to produce sustainable fish fillets from fish muscle and fat cells using a non-GMO cell-culture platform. The company has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Tufts University to access IP developed by David Kaplan and will support a two-year research programme into fish cell production. Wanda is working with Israeli and U.S. teams — the Israeli team is led by Malkiel Cohen, PhD, while the U.S. contingent falls under Kaplan — and is finalising a prototype fillet. The startup says it uses animal-free growth mediums, custom scalable bioreactors, and aims to reproduce native nutritional, flavor and textural properties while avoiding contaminants like microplastics and mercury. Wanda raised $3 million in a pre-seed round and received support from the Israeli Innovation Authority to advance its R&D. No timetable for prototype completion or product launch has been disclosed.