Nature's Fynd is a company that develops microbe-based proteins for meat substitutes. Founded in 2012, and based in Chicago, the company has been funded by a series of federal agencies in the United States since 2013 and began taking venture capital financing backed by the likes of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Al Gore and Richard Branson in 2019. As of 2020, the company aims to serve a range of consumer and industrial applications with its protein production platform, including microbial manufacturing needs as well as other space travel uses for NASA. Its protein products are fungus-based rather than plant- or animal-based.
Company and product history
In 2009, co-founder and CSO Mark Kozubal was on a NASA-funded extreme environments study of life that uncovered the "Fy" protein derived from a microbe in Yellowstone National Park's geothermal springs in the Yellowstone Supervolcano. The purpose of the NASA-funded study was to prepare to send a space probe to search for life on other planets. While still a postdoctoral researcher in February 2012, Kozubal determined that the acidophilic fungus, originally dubbed MK7, that he found could be converted into a lipid that could be converted into biodiesel. The company was founded on November 13, 2012 as Sustainable Bioproducts LLC. Sustainable Bioproducts partnered with Montana State University in 2013 to understand the marketplace fit of MK7, and it has a profit-sharing agreement with Yellowstone in exchange for the right to harvest from its land. It has been funded by SBIR grants from numerous federal agencies: National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jonas and Kozubal originally teamed up on an effort to use "Fy" to develop a more efficient biofuel but pivoted to food. At one point the company was focused on converting biological waste. CEO and co-founder Thomas Jonas now describes Fy as a “resilient, thrifty little bugger,” when discussing its potential as a protein source. On February 4, 2019, Sustainable Bioproducts announced a $33-million Series A funding round led by Silicon Valley venture firm 1955 Capital. The round was backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion fund led by Bill Gates with additional backing from Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Richard Branson as well as ADM Ventures, the venture arm of Archer Daniels Midland; Danone Manifesto Ventures, the venture arm of Danone; Lauder Partners; and the Liebelson family office. At the time of its Series A, the 22-employee company was based out of the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and believed itself to be two years from commercialization of its solid, liquid or powder products. The company uses a fermentation process on microbes sourced in Yellowstone National Park that can survive extreme environments. Its competitors in the lab-grown meat space include Memphis Meats, Geltor, Perfect Day and Finless Foods. In March 2020, Sustainable Bioproducts rebranded as Nature's Fynd and closed an $80-million Series B round that enabled it to move into a plant in the Back of the Yards neighborhood near the old Union Stock Yard to produce its geothermal springs-sourced microbe-based product, which has a more efficient production rate and more complete protein than its competitors, and that will join kombucha in the newly evolving fermented consumables category to leverage the consumer appeal of the "found in nature" designation. The Series B round was done to capitalize on the hot market for funding alternative protein and protein sources. At the time of the Series B round, which was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Al Gore's Generation Investment Management LLP, Nature's Fynd employed 50 people in the new Chicago production center and research & development office in Bozeman, Montana. The company expected to have 100 employees by the end of 2020. The Chicago production facility was built out with the aim of producing branded consumer products such as animal-free cream cheese, chicken nuggets, beef sliders, pork dumplings and chocolate mousse. Meanwhile, the GRAS application was underway and as were product labeling efforts regarding the microbial fermented protein that is fungus-based rather than animal- or plant-based.
Eleanore Eckstrom, director of product design, was previously a food scientist at Kraft Heinz.
Science
MK7 was originally known as a fungus that consumed algae, produced a lipid byproduct and upon drying it exuded oil. "Fy", which is short for Fusarium str. yellowstonensis, contains a complete protein that is believed to have potential use in meatless burgers, dairy substitutes and protein powders. Unlike many alternative proteins, it is itself a food rather than a protein additive to complement other processed ingredients. Sometimes called Fusarium Spp, the branching network of mycelial filaments forms a proteinaceous facsimile of meat without so much as a bioreactor in open trays with basic post processing. The process uses propagation of extremophiles rather than bioengineering, resulting in an end product that is mostly protein with fibers, and oils as well as micronutrients vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron and calcium rather than a substance from which to gather a protein extract. The fermentation is fueled by starches and simple sugars. The fungus-based protein process is far more efficient than either plant-based or animal-based proteins with a season-agnostic biomass doubling time that is measured in hours and is not resource-intensive. Since the process takes 3.5 days, a single baking sheet can produce the equivalent of 30 chickens per year. Thus, the microbial manufacturing has potential to serve untapped opportunity in the developing world and solve significant supply problem for countries like China, and in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The company is working with NASA to develop a bioreactor that will employ the Fy microbe in space travel.
