UK-based biotech firm announces further £2.3m in funding

Both Doehler Group and Alianza Team have supported with investment, alongside Agronomics and SEED Innovations Ltd which participated in the latest funding round.

Clean Food Group expects to complete a Series A funding in 2024, by which time it should have validated the technology platform it’s looking to commercially scale-up and its near-term revenue. The business will raise funds at Series A to support the build out of a commercial scale manufacturing facility.

Clean Food Group's technology platform is the result of eight years of research led by Professor Chris Chuck, technical lead at the Clean Food Group. The proprietary technology platform uses proven, scalable yeast strains and fermentation technology, and employs food waste as its food source to deliver sustainable alternatives to traditional oil and fat ingredients.  

The recent agreement with Doehler will see the company’s fermentation process rapidly scaled up to commercial level and enable the manufacture of product batches required for regulatory approval for food and cosmetic applications. The process is said to be advancing well, with a successful fermentation run at 1,000 litres recently completed.

Clean Food Group has also been strengthening its operational team, appointing Dr James Mercer as its head of manufacturing and scale-up, as well as a new head of product in Andrea Cattaruzza.

Dr Mercer will be responsible for the scale-up of the company’s technology and brings over 25 years of experience in industrial fermentation and scale-up of alternative proteins, having previously held senior operational roles at Quorn, Croda and DuPont. While Cattaruzza brings 30 years of experience from Mars Global Chocolate, most recently as director of science. He will drive Clean Food Group’s product strategy, developing high performance, sustainable ingredients for commercial partners. 

“We are delighted with the rapid progress the business has made in the past year. The successful conclusion of this current funding round validates the important strides our business is taking in solving critical sustainability and supply chain challenges facing our food and cosmetic manufacturer customers. We are now in a great position to validate our technology at a commercial scale, advance our regulatory pathways and develop our growing list of commercial partners in advance of our Series A next year,”​ said Clean Food Group co-founder and CEO Alex Neves.