Participated · Seed · Feb 2023

Michroma uses precision fermentation and filamentous fungi as “biofactories” to produce natural food colorants and, later, plant-based flavorings. Its first product, Red+, is a red colorant engineered to be temperature-resistant and stable across the food pH spectrum, surviving pasteurization, cooking and extrusion. Red+ has been prototyped with large food companies and can also be used to color cultivated meat. The company plans to expand its palette from warm colors (orange, yellow) toward blue and white while selling flavorings in combination with its colors. Michroma is negotiating with suppliers and intends to submit petitions to the U.S. FDA and the European Food Safety Authority; the regulatory process is expected to take at least two years. The startup currently has about 15 employees and plans to grow to 35, funded in part by recent seed financing that brought its total venture capital to $7.4M. Michroma develops sustainable, vegan, fungus-based natural colorants intended to replace synthetic petroleum-derived dyes and insect-derived cochineal (red 80). Founded in early 2019 in Argentina, the startup moved to San Francisco in September and is participating in IndieBio's accelerator. Its platform uses a GRAS fungal strain grown in bioreactors to produce intense, stable red, orange, and yellow pigments while reducing water use and carbon footprint compared with crop-derived colorants. The company argues vegetable-based alternatives like beetroot extract underperform on pH and temperature stability and impart flavor, making them difficult for industry use. Michroma says it already can effectively produce red, orange and yellow and is working to optimize and scale production while developing green and blue variants. Financially, Michroma has received early backing and plans further fundraising to accelerate scale-up.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2020

TurtleTree leverages proprietary cell-based technology to produce milk ingredients with demonstrated benefits for immune function, gut health and cognitive development. Led by CEO Fengru Lin and Chief Strategy Officer Max Rye, the company is focused on scaling research and production. It plans to launch lactoferrin, a bioactive protein, as its first commercial product. TurtleTree intends to expand its portfolio of food items and continue technology development. The company also plans to grow its R&D team to support commercialization. TurtleTree recently raised funding to advance these efforts. TurtleTree Labs is a Singaporean foodtech startup that cultures milk in the lab using mammalian cells, initially targeting a human-free version of breastmilk and animal-free growing-up milk for toddlers. The company pursues a B2B model and reported working with four or five of the world’s largest infant milk companies. By June it had reduced the price of its cultured milk to $30 per liter from around $180 per liter at the end of 2019. The latest funding will support R&D into milk component compounds, including functional bioactive proteins and complex sugars with potential gut and brain health benefits, and development of high-value nutraceutical products for adults and the elderly. TurtleTree says it received government permission to continue R&D during Singapore’s Covid-19 circuit breaker and is working closely with regulatory agencies as it seeks approvals similar to the recent clearance for a cultured protein product in Singapore. Co-founders Fengru Lin and Max Rye frame the company’s vision as creating a sustainable, cruelty-free food system and expanding beyond infant nutrition into broader human nutrition and the dairy industry. TurtleTree Labs develops real milk produced from mammalian cells rather than from animals, focusing on cell‑based dairy products. The company is co‑founded by Max Rye and Fengru Lin and is based in Singapore. It has a team of more than 20 full‑time scientists and engineers working on product development. TurtleTree intends to use the new funds to continue to expand its development efforts. Financially, the company completed a $3.2M seed funding round in 2020 and previously raised an initial investment in 2019 led by Lever VC. The funds are intended to support ongoing R&D and scaling of its cell‑based milk technology. TurtleTree Labs develops real milk grown from animal cells using stem cell technology, aiming to recreate milk inside the lab. The company describes itself as the world’s first cell-based milk company. Its core product is lab-grown milk intended to replicate dairy composition and quality while avoiding animal agriculture. TurtleTree says the recent pre-seed funding will be used to hire additional scientists and build more prototypes. The team positions the technology to disrupt a multi-billion dollar dairy industry, reduce carbon footprint, and provide safer, more reliable dairy products. The company was co-founded by CEO Fengru Lin, CSO Rabail Toor, and Chief Strategist Max Rye and is based in Singapore.