In 2023, greater egg costs supplied a chance for various protein corporations to point out they might compete with conventional egg producers.

A yr later, costs have calmed down, however the flurry of exercise in creating extra sustainable egg merchandise continues to thrive. One place seeing a flurry of exercise is Onego Bio, a Finland-based food-biotech firm, which makes use of the fungus Trichoderma reesei and precision fermentation to create an animal-free egg white various known as Bioalbumen.

Maija Itkonen, co-founder and CEO of Onego Bio (pronounced on-eh-go), spun off the corporate with precision fermentation knowledgeable Christopher Landowski from VTT (Technical Analysis Middle of Finland) in 2022.

Onego Bio co-founders Maija Itkonen and Christopher Landowski. Picture Credit: Onego Bio

Itkonen informed TechCrunch that the corporate’s patented fungal fermentation expertise course of allows it to supply 120 grams per liter in 250,000-liter fermentation vessels. At this capability, Onego Bio is near reaching aggressive worth factors to conventional methods of constructing egg proteins, she added.

Onego Bio claims Bioalbumen is “bioidentical” to ovalbumin, which is the foremost protein in rooster egg white. It additionally comprises all important amino acids and is high-protein: 90 grams per 100 grams of egg white. As well as, the corporate can produce it with a 90% smaller environmental footprint in comparison with eggs from chickens.

The corporate engineers Bioalbumen to have a clear, impartial taste that can be utilized to interchange eggs in quite a lot of meals, baked items, snacks and sauces. The corporate plans to promote Bioalbumen to corporations that will then create the meals merchandise.

“What we do is totally different from, for instance, the methods different corporations are engaged on,” Itkonen stated. “The microorganism grows just a little bit slower, however the productiveness is far, a lot greater. So it generates a much bigger yield, and the product is easy in that it doesn’t require specialised tools. All of it comes again to price as a result of so as to actually compete with animal merchandise, it must be on the similar worth.”

The corporate will launch first in North America. Itkonen expects Onego Bio to obtain self-affirmed GRAS (Typically Acknowledged as Protected) standing for Bioalbumen this yr and a no objections letter from the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration in 2025. It would then observe that up with growth in Europe, South America and Asia.

In preparation for this, Onego Bio just lately secured $40 million in Sequence A funding to get Bioalbumen to market and enhance manufacturing capabilities. Funds will go to develop the U.S. business staff and can accomplice with co-manufacturers whereas finalizing its personal manufacturing unit. The corporate is nearing a single Onego full-scale manufacturing unit that boasts a 2 million-liter fermentation capability, which might successfully substitute an egg farm with 6 million laying hens, Itkonen stated.

Japanese-Nordic enterprise capital agency NordicNinja led the funding with participation from fairness buyers Tesi and EIT Meals, present buyers Agronomics, Maki.vc, Holdix and Turret and a bunch of strategic companions.

The spherical additionally features a $10 million non-dilutive funding from Enterprise Finland, a public group beneath the Finnish Authorities that helps innovation to speed up systemic change to assist clear up main international challenges. Itkonen touts that Onego Bio’s Sequence A funding is “one of many largest A-rounds within the Nordics,” and brings the corporate’s complete funding to $56 million.

Tomosaku Sohara, managing accomplice of Nordic Ninja stated in a press release: “Onego Bio is taking all the correct steps to commercialize in report time … with a transparent path to industrialization, go-to-market and profitability. In lower than two years, Onego is already working with main international meals corporations and is staged to disrupt the $330 billion egg market and create system stage change, accelerating the inexperienced transition.”