1955 Capital leads Series A for sustainable foods specialist

Additional participation came from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which is backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Jack Ma, among others, and the venture investing arms of food and agribusiness giants Danone and Archer Daniels Midland. Several family offices also made contributions, including several based in Hong Kong.

Sustainable Bioproducts’ technology originated from research into extremophile organisms – typically bacteria and algae – that live in volcanic springs in Yellowstone National Park. Initial funding was provided by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, and other government agencies.

The team was assessing extremophiles across numerous applications, but NASA was interested in the context of producing food that could be used in space travel. This led to the development of an innovative fermentation technology, which can grow protein with great nutritional value and minimal impact on the environment.

Thomas Jonas, the current CEO, joined Sustainable Bioproducts in 2014, having previously led a division of consumer packaging conglomerate MeadWestvaco in Hong Kong. He helped develop the research to the point that it became apparent the technology could be economic and scalable for terrestrial products.

“We have witnessed incredible growth in the demand for new proteins in recent years and believe Sustainable Bioproducts has the most compelling and efficient solution to satisfy this demand,” said Andrew Chung, managing partner of 1955 Capital, in a statement. “This demand will not only come from the West, but from the developing world where the need for protein will become more severe.”

Chung invested in a variety of sustainable food companies in his previous role at Khosla Ventures, including Impossible and Just, which focus on burgers and eggs, respectively. Both received backing from Asian investors based on their growth potential in the region.

Most sustainable food specialists fall into one of two camps: they use naturally occurring plant-based products as the base ingredients to recreate the functionality of products like meat; or they cultivate stem cells from animals to replicate meat.

By using extremophiles as a starting point, Sustainable Bioproducts occupies a different category. Investors believe it has advantages in terms of ease of scalability and breadth of application. The company could feasibly provide in ingredients to other food companies, develop its own branded products, or collaborate with traditional industry players to make existing products more sustainable.

The Series A round gives Sustainable Bioproducts the bandwidth not only to push closer towards commercialization but also to identify partnership opportunities in different markets. Asia is expected to feature strongly in this process, due to Jonas’ experience in the region as well as the various food supply and agricultural safety issues it faces.

1955 Capital was established in 2015 and concentrates on investments in energy, healthcare, food, agriculture, education, and sustainable manufacturing. Previous deals involving the likes of sustainable agrochemicals developer Crop Enhancement and energy storage specialist Gridtential were both in part predicated on Asian expansion.

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