Scaleup Bio accelerates opportunities for global food-tech start-ups

ScaleUp Bio, a new, Singapore precision fermentation solutions provider – a joint venture company of ADM and Temasek’s Nurasa – is positioning itself to emerge as a key enabler toward unlocking innovation for global food-tech start-ups needing dedicated food-grade precision fermentation laboratory facilities and more.

ScaleUp Bio will open two dedicated food-grade precision fermentation facilities in Singapore during 2023. These new facilities will be the first of their kind in Singapore open to promising start-ups from anywhere in the world needing research and development assistance.

“Addressing urgent food security and supply issues driven by climate change and exacerbated by traditional food production sources – and in line with emerging consumer demands for more sustainably developed alternative proteins and other foods – has been a real challenge due to a lack of dedicated food-grade laboratory facilities, business guidance and market assistance for start-ups,” explained Francisco Codoñer, ScaleUp Bio CEO.

“This has been because most CDMOs around the world cater first and foremost to pharmaceutical or biofuel industry needs. Which means start-ups and other early-stage firms often must resort to expensive and unpredictable laboratory capacities, often in an environment that was not meant for food. Building their own pilot facilities on the other hand would set up a high capital threshold out of the gate. We have designed ScaleUp Bio’s entire business model specifically to empower these young companies with the facilities, capabilities, and resources they have long needed to scale and succeed in today’s marketplace.”

ScaleUp Bio’s first facility opening in the first half of 2023 will be a joint laboratory developed under a new, multi-year partnership with the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)’s Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), enabling delivery of tailored start-up infrastructure and service offerings. This facility, designed especially for research and development for start-ups and emerging food tech companies, will be able to support up to 100 litres of fermentation and downstream processing capacity, with analysis, testing and process optimization capabilities. It will be located at Nurasa’s Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC) at Biopolis, a research and development hub in central Singapore.

The second facility – also scheduled for commercial launch during the second half of 2023 – will offer close to 2,300m2 of space where start-ups and early-stage food tech companies from around the world can access up to 10,000 liters of fermentation and associated downstream processing capacity, with experts on-hand to continue the process optimization and scale-up journey.

This facility will also serve as ScaleUp Bio’s headquarters and will be located at LOGOS Food21, in Tuas, an emerging food manufacturing zone in the western part of Singapore.

Beyond physical laboratory facilities and technical expertise, ScaleUp Bio also offers food tech startups a comprehensive array of opportunities from its extensive business ecosystem.

“We understand the challenges faced by young firms seeking to navigate the complex regulations, cultures, and tastes across Asia. Thus, it makes perfect sense for us to launch our global offering from Singapore. From here, we can offer smart market entry to fast-growing Asian populations hungry for alternative sustainable food sources from one of the world’s great innovation centers,” Codoñer emphasized.