A circular fungi-based high-protein feed solution for aquaculture

ended

By 2050 the global demand for food will have increased by as much as 70% driven by the growing population & massive exodus from poverty. Food production is not a sustainable industry even today. Rapid income growth means increasing demand for meat & fish, which puts additional pressure on the food industry. Aquaculture (fish farming) has seen one of the steepest production increases in the last decades, as the global fish catch has peaked. This growth, in turn, drives the growth of the fish feed production—its global production grew by extra 161m tons in 2016 & projected to reach 1bn tons by 2020. Farmed fish require protein-rich feed as well. The most widely used sources today of protein are fishmeal, soybeans or dried brewers’ yeast. However, their protein content is low (~40%) & they are neither sustainable nor scalable. We have developed & patented purely biological circular process to grow filamentous fungi of various strains using residual waste streams from food, agriculture, pulp & paper as well as other industries. Our 1st result is Promyc—a sustainable & cost-effective replacement to protein from fishmeal & soybean for aquaculture feed formulations. It is rich in protein & vegan; it is produced via a fully sustainable, scalable, cost-efficient process. It is also safe—the fungal strains we use are benign & have the GRAS status of the US FDA. We are supported by major Swedish food innovation companies such as Oatly (SE) & other food producers. Our solution area is listed under 10 technologies that could combat climate change by the MIT Technology Review. Given sufficient financial capital & successful upscaling, we expect to be profitable in 2023, reaching ~€19m in revenues by 2024 & employing 62 FTEs.