US-based bio-tech company Jellatech has announced a $3.5 million oversubscribed seed round to enable the scale-up of its cutting-edge protein manufacturing platform.

Earlier this year the company announced the addition of bio-identical human collagen to its portfolio, in addition to its bovine and porcine collagen. This fundraise is set to propel Jellatech forward in its mission to commercialise animal-free proteins for applications in food and beverage, healthcare, personal care and biomedical research.

Jellatech develops innovative, bio-identical animal proteins that are produced more sustainably, ethically and reliably than their animal-based counterparts. The company's breakthrough technology has shown the potential of its first protein, collagen, to disrupt the global collagen market and significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional collagen production.

The funds from the round will be used to advance Jellatech's R&D efforts, scale up its cellular agriculture processes, expand its “world-class” team of scientists and engineers, and accelerate the commercialisation of its innovative proteins. Furthermore, Jellatech plans to establish key strategic partnerships to maximise its global reach and impact.

The round was led by Nordic-based byFounders, which shares Jellatech's vision for transforming multiple industries through innovative planet-friendly solutions. Other participating investors included Milano Investment Partners, Joyful VC, Siddhi Capital and Blustein.

Stephanie Michelsen, founder and CEO of Jellatech, said: “We are very excited to bring in new and existing investors, support and capital to realise the mission of our company. We have demonstrated the success of our first proteins and now it is time to scale it up and push our technology and capabilities even further.”

Magnus Hambleton, investor at byFounders, commented: “Jellatech’s technology unlocks a fundamentally new branch of the tech tree of our species: creating complex proteins from scratch, at scale, without having to ‘mine’ animal bodies. Jellatech sustainably and ethically produces large, complex proteins at scale starting with collagen. The impact that this can have is going to be enormous.”

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