CULT Food Science Corp said it has completed a strategic investment in Jellatech Inc., the world’s first cell-based collagen and gelatin ingredient company.
Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jellatech was founded in 2020 by Stephanie Michelsen, who has been included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2022.
CULT said other prominent investors in Jellatech include Ryan Bethencourt’s Sustainable Food Ventures as well as Big Idea Ventures, which operates a dedicated fund and accelerator for plant-based protein products.
READ: CULT Food Science starts trading on CSE; issues updates on its portfolio company MeliBio Inc
Contrary to traditional collagen and gelatin production processes, which are primarily a by-product of animal slaughter, Jellatech leverages a proprietary cellular agriculture process as a novel method to manufacture sustainable, high-quality substitutes for collagen and gelatin.
In addition to food-based applications, CULT said Jellatech is also exploring the use of animal-free collagen and gelatin in areas including but not limited to cosmetics, personal care, and medication.
“We are very excited to welcome CULT Food Science onboard and to have their support as we continue to scale and grow,” said Jellatch CEO Michelsen in a statement.
“We will work together to explore potential synergies between our scientific teams and other possible collaborations. This is an enormously exciting time for us at Jellatech and we are proud to have a new partner in CULT Food Science who believes in our mission to make animal-free collagen a reality.”
Lejjy Gafour, president of CULT, added: “We are pleased to make a strategic investment into Jellatech, as there is a large need for vegan, animal-free collagen currently going unmet. As Jellatech’s alternatives to collagen and gelatin are not derived from animals, substantially similar versions of certain food products normally containing these ingredients, such as marshmallows and broth, could also be made for people who cannot consume the traditional version of these products for dietary, religious or other reasons. We are incredibly excited about our strategic funding of Jellatech and we see enormous opportunities in the commercialization of animal-free collagen and gelatin globally."
Recent corporate milestones achieved by Jellatech include the following:
- Completion of its dedicated lab and corporate campus in Raleigh
- Establishment of an immortalized, collagen-producing cell line in-house
- Achieved proof-of-concept of the entire process of animal-free, cell-based collagen production from synthesis to purification
CULT noted that collagen and gelatin are a rapidly growing opportunity set, though currently there are no vegan or animal-free approaches to producing high-quality collagen. Accordingly, Jellatech is focused on creating pure, consistent, animal-free products with a lower cost to the environment than traditional and antiquated animal-based substitutes.
Gelatin and collagen are common inputs across food and pharmaceutical production chains and present a potentially highly lucrative business case as no lab-grown analogues are presently commercially available. As collagen and gelatin are by-products of meat production and animal slaughter, CULT said the ability to produce these ingredients in a laboratory setting could provide producers and consumers with the opportunity to reduce their environmental footprints.
In other company news, CULT announced the resignation of Matthew Roma from its board of directors. The company thanked him for his contributions and wished him well in his future endeavors.
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