SOUTH AFRICA – De Novo Foodlabs has received a US$700,000 (11 million rands) non-dilutive grant from the South African government to propel research into developing nutritious, animal-free proteins through cutting-edge precision fermentation technology in the company.
The company rebranded from De Novo Dairy to De Novo Foodlab and is set to move its headquarters to London in Q4 2023, a relocation to allow the company to strengthen its partnerships with leading food and beverage companies, research institutions, and investors.
In Latin, de novo means ‘from the new’. The term is also used in biology to describe ‘some biological process or entity that has begun again or from new or from the beginning’.
It produces nutrition requirements from rare proteins to isolated peptides and can do it anywhere without the need for animal agriculture.
The start-up is a pioneering biotech start-up revolutionizing the field of nutrition, with its mission being to sustainably nutrify the planet.
It also aims to create a more sustainable and brighter global future by tapping into its wealth of knowledge and state-of-the-art facilities.
Through a joint mission, De Novo has joined forces with leading South African universities to reshape the future of food by revolutionizing the food production landscape, one step at a time, and creating nutritional solutions to elevate human health in the next generations.
De Novo seeks to be the first on the African continent to use its precision fermentation-based dairy proteins and combine them with vegan fats and sugars to make everything from cheese to yogurt.
The company has worked on a personalized nutrition product containing cultivated dairy proteins expressed through the company’s uniquely designed yeast strain.
Africa’s only precision fermentation specialist is edging closer to releasing its debut product, which will feature cultivated dairy proteins.
While there is no set launch date yet, the company is hoping to release it sometime in 2023. The dairy alternative sector is forecast to more than double its value over a decade, with its valuation of more than US$9bn in 2021 set to rise to over US$20bn by 2029, according to Data Bridge Market Research.
Both emerging and well-established food industry players, including Nestlé and Royal DSM, are in a race to take a bigger pie of the market.
The global personalized nutrition market is becoming increasingly lucrative as more health-conscious consumers seek targeted nutrition advice and services to help them achieve a lasting diet
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