Molecular agricultural startup, Bright Biotech grabs $3.2 million in an oversubscribed funding round

Bright Biotech, a molecular agricultural startup based in Manchester, has raised $3.2 million in an oversubscribed funding round. The investment round was spearheaded by FoodLabs and includes renowned impact investors such as Big Idea Ventures, CPT Capital, the FoodHack syndicate, and business angels. CPT Capital also backed Hoxton Farms.

With the funding, Bright Biotech will expand its group of renowned scientists, scale its manufacturing operations, and advance its research and development for a novel genetic engineering technique to produce growth factors. The business is introducing its ground-breaking technology to the sector, bringing the world one step closer to savoring the meat of the future.

Mohammad El Hajj, co-founder and CEO of Bright Biotech, said, “We are pleased to have won such renowned and like-minded investors supporting our vision for a more sustainable food system. “With the additional money and our expanding group of knowledgeable scientists and production specialists, we are prepared for quick commercialization. We are thrilled to be working with our partners and investors to bring the first products made from our powerful, incredibly scalable, and sustainable technology to market in 2023 because it is so timely for the cultivated meat industry.

According to Christian Guba, Senior Associate at FoodLabs, “Bright Biotech’s strategy to harnessing chloroplasts for producing growth factors in plants can be a game changer for the cultured meat sector and will be a crucial enabler to reach price parity.” In addition to their extensive knowledge, Muhammad and his team astounded us with a velocity and progress rarely seen in reaching the market. We are thrilled to help them develop a world champion.

As the global economy and population continue to expand, the demand for animal proteins is rising. Cultivated meat offers a solution. Factory farming of animals is cruel and unsustainable. Science has made it possible for meat from crops to be biologically identical to meat from animals.

Industrializing meat production will undo the harm done to humans, animals, and the environment while preserving our enjoyment of tasty, wholesome meat. A $116 billion global business will be addressed by industrialized farm-raised beef thanks to Bright Biotech.

Bright is a group of five varied individuals from various nations and backgrounds that was founded by Mohammad El Hajj and Anil Day (a university supervisor), previous employers, and business mentors Tariq Ali, Farid Khan, and Rania Deranieh (a specialist in cell culture) in Manchester in 2019.

Bright Biotech can produce far more grown meat for a low price. To lessen their unsustainable dependency on animal husbandry, price parity for meat produced domestically can directly impact this goal. No other competing system, it is claimed, has ever reported such a high yield with such high scalability. Bright Biotech’s plants are bioreactors that require light, water, and CO2 to generate proteins.