Fermentation is the future! VentureLab Alumnus EV Biotech offers a solution to the issue of pollution-heavy manufacturing methods by harnessing the power of fermentation combined with state-of-the-art computational methods.
Microbial fermentation allows EV Biotech to work on a greener future while maintaining our current quality of life. It is incredible that something as small as a microorganism has the potential to change our future so drastically.
Fermentation processes can be designed to be carbon-neutral, or even carbon-negative through the utilisation of existing industrial waste-streams.
This is in contrast to many traditional production methods, which utilise emission-intensive, fossil fuel-based processes. These methods pollute our environment while trying to meet the demand of our ever growing population.
By using unique computational models to equip microorganisms with the right tools, EV Biotech is able to create accelerated microbial production methods. This approach allows us to realise the circular economy dream and reinvent everyday products while replacing pollution-heavy production methods.
Investing in a green future
EV Biotech’s investors acknowledge the change that is needed to achieve the circular economy dream. They have combined their power in this seed round, resulting in an astounding 4.5M investment! This shows confidence in the ability of EV Biotech to achieve their goal of a greener future. The seed round has been led by Future Food Fund, together with NOM, Carduso Capital, Rug Ventures, Triade Investment, Voyagers.io Climate Tech Fund, Blue Horizon, Jogchum Brinksma (Flobas Ventures), Scott Saxberg (Icebook), Hannu Ryopponen, Marc Kaptein, Andrew Nutter and Marie Outtier.
This seed investment allows EV Biotech to improve existing technology and implement client feedback to improve their products. Furthermore, EV Biotech will continue to develop in-house microorganisms to serve several markets. These funds will allow EV Biotech to pilot their in-house plug and play systems to create a microbial chassis that produces different kinds of bioplastics.
EV Biotech’s unique technology platform
Choosing and engineering the right microorganism for each product can be difficult. In traditional industry, a trial-and-error approach is necessary to create an effective microorganism. This process is time and resource intensive, resulting in a lower project success rate.
This is where EV Biotech comes in. EV Biotech has developed a unique technology platform that accelerates the development of novel and existing industrial fermentation processes by combining computational and laboratory approaches. Their scientists employ data science and in-house developed models, including data-driven AI models, to identify impactful R&D steps that have the highest potential for success. Their technology platform connects strain design and testing with in-house industrial scale bioprocess models to predict future profitability, potentially saving millions of euros in R&D costs for both the company and its clients.
“Combining the digital twins of the enzymes, organisms and bioprocesses is the enabling technology to design effective fermentation processes” – Linda Dijkshoorn, CEO
Commercial validation
EV Biotech’s unique technology platform offers the possibility to produce green products such as proteins, food ingredients, flavours, fragrances, cosmetic ingredients, materials, bio-pesticides and much more. Their strategy gives the unique advantage of getting them on the market faster and at a competitive price.
Within the past few years, EV Biotech’s platform has been commercially tested. There have been seven different client projects concerning production methods for alternative proteins, small molecules and bioplastics . In addition to these projects, EV Biotech has developed an in-house bioplastic-producing microbial chassis that is able to produce bioplastics efficiently, accumulating up to 80% of its biomass. They plan to pilot this microbial chassis this year, and aim for an entry to market within 3 years. This is a stark 70% time-to-market improvement compared to traditional trial-and-error strain design approaches.
“Using modelling to guide our lab experiments saves at least 60% of the time and cost” – Agnieszka Wegrzyn, CTSO
Products and co-development
The real magic of EV Biotech’s methods lies within the quick feedback loop from laboratory to computer and back. When a microorganism is developed in the lab, vast amounts of information are gathered, including growth, performance, transcriptomics and metabolomics datasets. These complex datasets are directly integrated with our existing computational models. This allows EV Biotech to very quickly perform design-build-test cycles, helping to select the most impactful R&D steps.
“We can calculate what the risks and benefits of a project are, which also tells us which ones are not worth spending our and the client’s time and resources on!” – Agnieszka Wegrzyn, CTSO
EV Biotech offers modular support and (co-)development opportunities to address the key challenges in all stages of industrial strain development and optimisation. The models and algorithms developed by EV Biotech offer insight within all of these stages, informing not only on the technical feasibility of a project but also the economic feasibility. This means that clients can come to EV Biotech wherever they are within their project and timeline.
“Anything sustainable should be profitable” – Linda Dijkshoorn, CEO
Source: EV Biotech
