ICL Invests €2.75 Million in Sustainable Startup Arkeon
ICL Group Ltd
ICL Planet Startup Hub, an innovation and investment platform by ICL, a global speciality minerals company, has invested €2.75 million in Arkeon GmbH. This investment is likely to support the growth and development of Arkeon's business.
The investment will help Arkeon's innovative and sustainable one-step fermentation bioprocess. This process makes completely customisable protein ingredients by capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and turning it into the 20 proteinogenic amino acids necessary for human nutrition. The resulting alternative proteins are carbon-negative and clean-label functional ingredients.
Arkeon's patented process uses archaea, a highly resilient single-celled microorganism, to convert carbon dioxide into protein without the use of genetic engineering. The process is sustainable as it uses carbon dioxide as a feedstock and is regenerative as it uses the natural processes of the microorganism.
“I dedicated much of the past decade to exploring new and sustainable biotechnological methods of alternative protein production,” said Gregor Tegl, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Arkeon. “Our team has harnessed proficiencies in microbiology and gas fermentation to create an entirely new regenerative food-production system. ICL’s support and partnership will be instrumental in helping us scale our archaea-derived protein production capabilities.”
“Arkeon has achieved a major breakthrough by finding a way to nourish people and revitalise our ecosystems at the same time,” said Hadar Sutovsky, vice president of External Innovation at ICL and general manager of ICL Planet. “Arkeon’s dedication to developing a renewable and easy-to-use protein is completely in-line with our organisation’s commitment to creating impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food markets.”
"Arkeon is a young company, but it has new and sustainable technology that can be used to make the next generation of products with alternative proteins. They also fully align with ICL Food Specialties growth strategy of pursuing new frontiers in unique and functional alternative proteins,” added Rado Sporka, vice president of the Food Specialties Commercial Business for ICL. “As an established corporation, we can offer our advanced infrastructure, extensive experience, and accrued insights, plus market and regulatory related support. We look forward to working with this promising start-up to unlock a whole new food category based on Arkeon’s unique protein discovery, which is not dependent on land and requires minimal use of water, providing it with a limited ecological footprint.”
Source: BUSINESS WIRE
