Big Idea Ventures

Nanoingreen specializes in transforming plant-based products into functional foods. Utilizing precision fermentation processes, they offer formulations that enhance the nutritional value of these products, preventing future health issues.

Future Biome is a biotechnology company focused on enhancing health through innovative microbiome solutions. The company specializes in developing precision fungi-based prebiotics aimed at improving gut health. Utilizing a predictive bioinformatics platform, Future Biome customizes prebiotic formulations to suit individual microbiota profiles or specific market segments, aiming for increased efficacy and predictable outcomes. Their initial product, a fungal prebiotic, has demonstrated significant improvements in microbiota function in laboratory studies, showing up to 500% enhancement with complete efficacy compared to existing market benchmarks. Future Biome plans to initiate clinical trials for this groundbreaking prebiotic in April 2024, marking a significant step towards personalized gut health interventions.

MeatOSys equips farmers with technology and supplies to cultivate meat on their farms, using cells harvested from their own animals, ensuring full traceability. This process increases meat production while reducing animal usage. The company also supplies the food industry with the resulting cultivated meat.

Perfat Technologies is a health-focused technology company that develops innovative applications for managing fat content in foods using advanced techniques like ultrasound and oleogel technologies. Their mission is to provide consumers with healthier vegetable oil options, such as rapeseed or sunflower oil, by optimizing bioprocesses to enhance sustainability and reduce production costs.

Niskus Biotec specializes in producing food ingredients that enhance the sustainability, supply chain security, and functionality of various products. The company focuses on developing functional, protein-rich ingredients suitable for a wide range of food and beverage applications, aimed at improving nutrition, taste, and texture. Niskus Biotec collaborates with agri-food companies to facilitate the development and implementation of scaled-up manufacturing processes, utilizing specially designed solid-state fermenters. This flexible, staged approach allows businesses to effectively integrate these innovative ingredients into their offerings.

Mogale Meat Co. is a privately incorporated limited liability company developing real meat products from southern Africa’s prized wild antelope, poultry and free-roaming livestock, using advanced cellular agriculture technologies. The company is focused on developing a vertically integrated pro-diversity food technology platform to make healthy and nutritious cell-cultivated meat accessible to Africa's rapidly growing population and export to global markets. Mogale is Managing Partner of MeatOurFuture – an XPRIZE "Feed the Next Billion" semi-finalist.

Cultivated Biosciences is a food production company that develops specialized fat ingredients from oleaginous yeast. These ingredients enhance the creaminess and mouthfeel of plant-based dairy products, such as cheese and yogurt alternatives.

Esencia Foods develops a unique mycelium-based fermentation platform to produce plant-based meat alternatives. Their products offer distinctive textures, clean labels, and competitive pricing.

Novel Farms, Inc. is a Berkeley, California-based company founded in 2020 that specializes in the production of cell-based meat delicacies. It focuses on developing cruelty-free, low-cost, and tunable bioscaffolds through microbial fermentation and proprietary tissue engineering technology. The company's mission is to create gourmet meat alternatives that replicate the taste and texture of conventional meats, appealing to a new generation of conscious consumers. By producing whole-muscle cuts of cultivated meat, Novel Farms aims to make synthetic meat-based delicacies accessible and desirable, transforming the consumption of cell-based meat into a sought-after culinary experience.

Algrow Biosciences develops microalgae-derived ingredients to support a more sustainable and nutritious food system. The company cultivates microalgae to produce high-value pigments and proteins for use in food and cosmetics, leveraging a fast-growing biomass that requires less land, water, and energy than traditional sources. By supplying versatile, sustainable ingredients derived from microalgae, Algrow Biosciences aims to enable diverse industries to reduce environmental impact while expanding options for nutritious and functional components.

Mycosortia transforms inedible food waste into edible alternative protein products using its proprietary microbial biotransformation technology. It supplies FibProt™, a functional protein powder, to B2B partners and formulates alternative protein foods like cookies, bars, and shakes derived from FibProt™ for B2B2C sales.

Mogale Meat Co. is a privately incorporated limited liability company developing real meat products from southern Africa’s prized wild antelope, poultry and free-roaming livestock, using advanced cellular agriculture technologies. The company is focused on developing a vertically integrated pro-diversity food technology platform to make healthy and nutritious cell-cultivated meat accessible to Africa's rapidly growing population and export to global markets. Mogale is Managing Partner of MeatOurFuture – an XPRIZE "Feed the Next Billion" semi-finalist.

AQUA Cultured Foods develops fermentation-enabled, fungi-based seafood alternatives that replicate the look, taste, and texture of traditional seafood while being 100% fish-free. By tightly controlling the growth environment through fermentation, the company aims to produce tuna, scallop, squid, and shellfish analogs at scale, offering environmentally conscious consumers a sustainable option that reduces ocean pollution and overfishing.

De Novo Foodlabs specializes in developing animal-free dairy products and proteins that offer nutritional profiles identical to cow's milk. The company employs precision fermentation technology to create innovative ingredients that are sustainable, vegan, and free from antibiotics. By integrating bioinformatics and advanced biotechnology, De Novo Foodlabs modifies the functionality of proteins and essential nutrients, ensuring that its offerings are not only healthier for consumers but also easier to produce and less harmful to the environment. This approach allows food companies to take a phased strategy in creating healthier and more sustainable products for their customers.

Farmsow is a B2B ingredients company that develops alternative healthy ingredients. Its platform uses net-zero technology to upcycle agricultural sidestreams and applies industrial fermentation to create substitutes for tropical oils and animal fats for a range of applications. The company aims to close the sustainable nutrition gap by enabling cleaner and healthier lifestyles through its processes, including synthetic biology-enabled methods.

The Frauxmagerie specializes in crafting plant-based cheese products. Their offerings include aged and fresh cheese alternatives made from just five natural ingredients: cashews, nutritional yeast, vegan probiotics, salt, and bacterial cultures.

Jellatech is a biotechnology company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with research and development operations in Wageningen, Netherlands. The company focuses on producing high-quality, pure, animal-free collagen and gelatin through innovative cellular agriculture techniques. By cultivating cells in bioreactors, Jellatech aims to eliminate the dependency on animals for these essential ingredients, catering to clients across various sectors including food and beverage, medical, pharmaceutical, and personal care industries. Jellatech's commitment to providing safe and sustainable alternatives positions it as a forward-thinking leader in the biotechnology field.

incrEDIBLE reinvents the way we eat or pack our food by replacing single use plastics with edible cutlery. Our edible spoons are vegan, natural and made with non-gmo grains. They can stay firm for up to 30 minutes in hot foods and come in 2 shapes and 5 flavors! Did you EAT your SPOON today? PS: More incrEDIBLE shapes like edible straws, edible sporks are on the way!

New Breed Meats specializes in plant-based meat products designed to mimic the appearance, cooking experience, and taste of animal-derived meats. Their products are free from the top eight allergens, soy, gluten, and GMOs.

AQUA Cultured Foods develops fermentation-enabled, fungi-based seafood alternatives that replicate the look, taste, and texture of traditional seafood while being 100% fish-free. By tightly controlling the growth environment through fermentation, the company aims to produce tuna, scallop, squid, and shellfish analogs at scale, offering environmentally conscious consumers a sustainable option that reduces ocean pollution and overfishing.

Cellcraft is a Cambridge-based B2B cultivated meat company building a scalable manufacturing platform for cultured meat. It combines AI-driven software, advanced technologies, and targeted raw materials to help food producers locally manufacture cultivated meats more sustainably. The company applies tissue engineering and biomimetic systems to harvest animal cells in controlled environments, enabling commercial-scale production of cultured meats tailored to local tastes and specifications. By enabling local production, Cellcraft addresses global food security and sustainability challenges and aims to democratize access to sustainable protein.

Meat.The End specializes in developing protein texturizing technologies for plant-based meat alternatives. By innovating extrusion processing methods, they aim to replicate the texture, flavor, and appearance of animal proteins, enhancing the eating experience of plant-based products.

Angie's Tempeh is a manufacturer of plant-based protein products. It specializes in producing tempeh through a precise fermentation process, resulting in a firm texture and mushroom-like aroma.

Blue Ridge Bantam is a pioneering cultured meat company based in the South, specializing in turkey, which is recognized as America's original source of protein. The company focuses on advancing avian cell-based technology with the aim of facilitating a shift towards meat products that are not only healthy and flavorful but also sustainable. Blue Ridge Bantam utilizes a biotechnology approach to produce cell-based poultry meat by harvesting tissue and fat cells from animals and cultivating them in a bioreactor. This process yields a product that mirrors the biological composition of traditional meat while integrating cultivated fat cells with plant proteins to create a hybrid offering, catering to the growing demand for sustainable meat alternatives.

MeliBio, Inc. is a technology-driven company based in Oakland, California, founded in 2020 by Aaron M. Schaller, PhD, and Darko Mandich. The company specializes in producing vegan nectar products that serve as a molecularly identical alternative to traditional honey. By employing advancements in plant biology, precision fermentation, and synthetic biology, MeliBio creates honey without the involvement of bees, aiming to mitigate the negative impact of commercial bee farming on biodiversity. In 2023, MeliBio launched its consumer-facing brand, Mellody, further expanding its market presence. Recognized by TIME as one of the Best Inventions of 2021, MeliBio is committed to providing sustainable and innovative solutions in the food industry.

The world's first Restorative Food company that revives your health, restores farmer livelihoods and rejuvenates the planet! We use sustainable indigenous ingredients to create nutritionally-rich avatars of familiar foods! Our first product range is inspired by traditional Indian dairy favourites.

Grounded Foods Co. is a West Hollywood-based company that specializes in producing plant-based cheeses crafted from cauliflower and hemp seeds. Founded in 2019 by behavioral economist Veronica Fil and international award-winning chef Shaun Quade, the company employs a proprietary fermentation process that utilizes imperfect vegetables to create products that closely resemble the flavor and texture of dairy cheese. Their product lineup includes gruyere style cheese, camembert style cheese, marinated hemp seed feta, and hemp seed cream cheese, all designed to offer high nutritional value while promoting environmental sustainability. Grounded Foods sells its offerings through both retail stores and online channels, aiming to provide consumers with viable dairy-free alternatives.

Confetti Snacks is a Singapore-based producer of plant-based snacks derived from nutrient-dense vegetables and upcycled ugly produce. Its products feature heritage Singaporean flavors and authentic spices, delivering vegan snacks rich in minerals and fiber. Packaging uses environmentally friendly materials, including 100% home-compostable packets. The company emphasizes sustainability and social impact, channeling a portion of proceeds to alleviate global hunger and malnutrition.