Zurich, 29 March 2022 – Blue Horizon, a pure play impact investor in the future of food, today announces its Seed investment in Core Biogenesis who use plants as biofactories to scale the production of high-value bioproducts like growth factors. 

Blue Horizon invested in Core Biogenesis, a French startup focusing on the production of growth factors for applications in both cell therapy and cultivated meat. Core Biogenesis’ plant-based production platform has delivered several functional growth factors to date and provides unique cost-efficiency at large scale. 

Functional, cost-efficient growth factors are key to unlocking mass production and commercialization of both cell therapies and cultivated meat. In both sectors, growth factors today constitute a major proportion of the cost of growth media, the nutrient solution cells are grown in. Furthermore, both sectors are projecting significant growth in the coming years, which will require larger amounts of growth factors than the current industry can supply. Lowering growth factor costs while increasing availability is thus pivotal to innovation in both pharma and food. 

The current funding round will enable Core Biogenesis to expand the team that scales up production in a new facility in Strasbourg, France, while further developing their proprietary platform. 

Friederike Grosse-Holz, Director at Blue Horizon, said: “The highly scalable and cost-effective production approach of Core Biogenesis can help unlock commercialization of both cell therapies and cultivated meat, enabling outstanding positive impact on humans, animals, and the planet. We are proud and excited to join Alexandre and his team on this exciting journey.” 

Alexandre Reeber, CEO of Core Biogenesis, said: “We are thrilled to be joined by Blue Horizon to help us accelerate the commercialization of our Bioproduction technology. With our shared mission to help make cell-based products profitable and mainstream for the benefits of human health and planetary health, we are fully aligned with the values and interests of Friederike and her team at Blue Horizon.” 

To date, Blue Horizon has invested in 60+ companies with a focus on protein alternatives and food tech. Some of the firm’s recent investments include plant-based meat start-ups like Planted, Mosa Meat, which is developing tissue engineering technologies to mass produce affordable, cultured meat and AgBiome, the leader in developing innovative products from the Earth’s microbial communities. 

Blue Horizon announces Seed investment in Core Biogenesis (PDF)