Jellatech raises $3.5 million to scale production of its animal-free collagen
Biotech company Jellatech has secured $3.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round, helping it scale its protein manufacturing platform and accelerate production of its animal-free collagen.
The North Carolina-based start-up successfully produced a bio-identical human collagen earlier this year to add to its portfolio of animal-free bovine and porcine collagen. The company produced its first sample of cell-based collagen in July 2022.
Jellatech plans to use the money to fund the company’s research and development, improve its cellular agriculture processes, and build its team of scientists and engineers. This will help it achieve its goal of commercialising animal-free proteins for use in food and drink applications, as well as healthcare, personal care, and biomedical research.
The company will also work towards building “key strategic partnerships” to help it achieve global reach.
The Jellatech team
Jellatech’s animal-free collagen sample
Left: The Jellatech team
Right: Jellatech’s animal-free collagen sample
Danish early-stage venture fund byFounders led the seed round, with other investors including Joyful VC – a venture fund investing in alternative protein which launched in June – Siddhi Capital, Blustein, and Milano Investment Partners, among others.
Stephanie Michelsen, Founder & CEO of Jellatech commented on the news: “We are very excited to bring in new and existing investors, support and capital to realize the mission of our company. We have demonstrated the success of our first proteins and now it is time to scale it up and push our technology and capabilities even further”.
Magnus Hambleton, Investor at byFounders, added: “Jellatech’s technology unlocks a fundamentally new branch of the tech tree of our species: creating complex proteins from scratch, at scale, without having to ‘mine’ animal bodies. Jellatech sustainably and ethically produces large, complex proteins at scale starting with collagen. The impact that this can have is going to be enormous.”
