Innovate UK-backed partnership harnesses AI to scale cultivated meat quicker, better and at lower cost
London, 13th December 2023 - AI bioprocess optimisation software company New Wave Biotech and cultivated meat growth media company Multus are collaborating to scale the production of cultivated meat more quickly and effectively using the latest in AI technology.
According to a comprehensive UK study, high meat consumption is responsible for four times the amount of human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a non-meat diet. A recent study by CE Delft also found that, compared with farming animals, cultivating meat from cells could:
Cut the climate impact of meat by up to 92%
Reduce air pollution by up to 94%
Use up to 90% less land
The cultivated meat industry has potential to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of meat production and increase food security. This is why Multus is pioneering the production of the key ingredients required to accelerate the affordable scale-up of cultivated meat. New Wave Biotech is collaborating with Multus to dramatically reduce the cost of cultivated meat, helping replace intensive animal farming and transition to a sustainable global food system.
New Wave Biotech develops AI Bioprocess Optimisation software to help synthetic biology innovators such as Multus get their products to market quicker, better and at lower cost. According to BCG, 90% of technologies in the synthetic biology industry fail to scale viably. This is because R&D is often too expensive and slow – typically taking 3-10 years to get from lab to market, with experiments costing $10k-100k each. New Wave Biotech’s software enables synbio innovators to virtually experiment on thousands of processes for cost, quality and sustainability, learn from real life data and recommend improvements. This creates a step-change in how SynBio R&D is done, taking it from a slow, iterative process to a rapid one led by data and insights.
The main challenge facing cultivated meat companies is scaling effectively with the cost structure to compete with traditional meat producers. Growth media are the nutrients required to grow cells, which form the main cost of cultivated meat production.To combat this issue, Multus specialises in developing next-generation growth media using AI, lab automation and novel ingredients.
As Multus expands production, they are now teaming up with New Wave Biotech to harness the speed and accuracy of AI Bioprocess Optimisation software to scale and improve the economics of using precision fermentation to produce some of the key ingredients for cell cultivation. New Wave Biotech’s software will help Multus eliminate unviable processes from the start, accelerate R&D, lower development costs and ultimately help improve their unit economics.
Zoe Law, CEO and Co-Founder at New Wave Biotech explains: “We and Multus are committed to creating a step-change in how Research & Development is done in the cultivated meat industry. This market is expected to reach $25 billion by 2030 and completely transform the sustainability of our food systems, but too often these game changing innovations fail to scale and actually reach the shelves. Working with Multus, we can leverage the power of AI and synthetic biology to unlock these barriers and transform our food systems.”
Cai Linton, CEO and Co-Founder at Multus concluded: “Cultivated meat is transitioning the global food industry towards sustainability. We are excited to be working with New Wave Biotech to accelerate solutions to the challenges of scale and cost in our supply chain. Combining AI and real-world data collection to produce cheaper and more scalable growth media ingredients helps us put our customers one step closer to making widely available and affordable cultivated meat a reality.”
The project is being funded through an Innovate UK Engineering Biology grant. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £6.7 million in Engineering Biology collaborative R&D competition as part of UKRI’s National Engineering Biology Programme (NEBP). This aims to deliver business led research and development that will lead to new engineering biology products, processes or services and de-risk the adoption of new engineering biology technologies that offer high market potential. The current NEBP themes are: food systems, biomedicine, clean growth and environmental solutions.
Both New Wave Biotech and Multus are supported by alternative protein global investment leader Big Idea Ventures.
About New Wave Biotech
New Wave Biotech is on a mission to unleash the power of biotech to create a more sustainable future. With their AI Bioprocess Optimisation software, they enable alternative proteins, biochemicals and other synthetic biology products to reach price parity and replace animal and petrochemical products. The startup has been growing at speed since their inception just a year ago – they have launched their product, signed paying customers, secured funding from Innovate UK and built a fully remote team based across the UK, Sweden and Brazil. Their innovative approach has also seen them being featured in the GFI State of the Industry: Fermentation as a key scientific innovation, as well as being selected as a finalist for the Royal Society of Chemistry Awards and UKBAA DeepTech and Diversity Awards. For more information, contact hello@newwavebiotech.com.
About Multus
Multus specialises in growth media development and supply for cultivated meat companies. The company uses a groundbreaking combination of artificial intelligence, high-throughput lab automation and manufacturing to develop and supply high-performance growth media quicker, cheaper, and more safely. Companies partner with Multus to accelerate product development and make breakthroughs towards affordable and profitable scale-up. For more information, reach out to info@multus.bio.