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Image Credits:Onego Bio / Onego Bio’s animal-free egg protein, Bioalbumen.
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Onego Bio co-founders Maija Itkonen and Christopher Landowski.Image Credits:Onego Bio
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In 2023,higher egg pricesprovided an chance for alternate protein company to show they could contend with traditional egg manufacturers .
A year later , prices have calm down , but the flurry of activity in make more sustainable nut ware continues to thrive . One place reckon a hatful of activity is Onego Bio , a Finland - based food - biotech company , which uses the fungus Trichoderma reesei and preciseness zymolysis to create an brute - free bollock whitened alternative called Bioalbumen .
Maija Itkonen , co - founder and CEO of Onego Bio ( pronounced on - eh - go ) , spun off the companionship with preciseness fermentation expert Christopher Landowski from VTT ( Technical Research Centre of Finland ) in 2022 .
Itkonen told TechCrunch that the fellowship ’s patent fungal fermentation technology process enables it to produce 120 Gram per cubic decimetre in 250,000 - liter agitation vessels . At this content , Onego Bio is tightlipped to reaching competitive price point to traditional ways of pass water ballock proteins , she added .
Onego Bio claims Bioalbumen is “ bioidentical ” to albumen , which is the major protein in volaille testis blank . It also contain all essential aminic battery-acid and is high protein : 90 g per 100 g of egg white . In add-on , the fellowship can produce it with a 90 % smaller environmental footprint compared to bollock from chicken .
The troupe direct Bioalbumen to have a clean , indifferent tone that can be used to supplant egg in a smorgasbord of solid food , baked goods , collation and sauce . Onego Bio plans to sell Bioalbumen to companies that would then make the food merchandise .
“ What we do is unlike from , for example , the systems other companies are working on , ” Itkonen suppose . “ The microorganism grows a little bit slower , but the productivity is much , much gamey . So it generates a bigger yield , and the product is simple in that it does n’t take specialized equipment . It all come back to price because for really compete with animal products , it needs to be at the same damage . ”
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The company will launch first in North America . Itkonen expects Onego Bio to get ego - substantiate GRAS ( Generally Recognized as Safe ) status for Bioalbumen this yr and a no objections missive from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025 . It will then watch that up with elaboration in Europe , South America and Asia .
In preparation for this , Onego Bio lately secured $ 40 million in Series A financial support to get Bioalbumen to market and increase fabrication capabilities . stock will go to mature the U.S. commercial-grade team and will partner with co - manufacturer while nail down its own manufactory . The fellowship is nearing a individual Onego full - scale manufacturing social unit that gasconade a 2 million liter fermentation capacity , which would in effect substitute an egg farm with 6 million laying hen , Itkonen articulate .
Nipponese - Nordic venture Washington firm NordicNinja lead the investment funds with participation from fairness investors Tesi and EIT Food , exist investor Agronomics , Maki.vc , Holdix and Turret and a chemical group of strategic partners .
The stave also includes a $ 10 million non - dilutive funding from Business Finland , a public formation under the Finnish government that supports innovation to accelerate systemic change to help solve major global challenge . Itkonen tout that Onego Bio ’s Series A funding is “ one of the largest A - rounds in the Nordics , ” and convey the company ’s full funding to $ 56 million .
Tomosaku Sohara , managing mate of NordicNinja , aver in a statement : “ Onego Bio is taking all the right steps to commercialize in platter time … with a clear path to industrialization , go - to - market and gainfulness . In less than two years , Onego is already working with major global food companies and is staged to disrupt the $ 330 billion egg market and create system grade modification , speed the green transition . ”
high egg prices yield demand for alternatives
