New Wave Biotech joins Big Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund Cohort

New Wave Biotech, a bioprocess optimisation software company has joined the accelerator programme of Big Idea Ventures, the global provider of early-stage alternative protein and food technology investments, run out of the firm’s Paris office.

As part of joining the program, New Wave Biotech receives pre-seed funding from Big Idea Ventures and becomes one of the first investments made through the venture capital’s newly launched New Protein Fund II.

Almost one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, making the development and commercialisation of alternative proteins essential to mitigate the negative climate impacts. Yet more than 90% of synthetic biology (synbio) technologies created to develop alternative proteins fail because they can’t be scaled.

New Wave Biotech’s bioprocess optimisation software helps alternative proteins and other synbio products get to market quicker, cheaper and more sustainably. Their software automatically optimises bioprocesses to accelerate R&D, reduce production costs and improve process sustainability.

New Wave Biotech’s Software works by running virtual experiments on billions of process options with computational modelling and AI to predict their outputs. By doing this it has the ability to recommend the best process options by comparing the output, cost & sustainability of each alternative.

This leads to:

  • Development of a cheaper product with lower cost optimised production
  • Quicker and lower cost R&D with less experiments & expert input needed
  • Reduced risk with unviable processes eliminated earlier

Zoe Law, CEO & Co-Founder commented: "We are thrilled to be part of the BIV accelerator, following in the footsteps of so many pioneering alt protein founders innovating to combat climate change. Not only is this investment from BIV a huge validation of our work, it also provides us with the network and resources to accelerate our growth, supporting us in our mission to help alt protein companies scale quickly, cheaply and sustainably."

Big Idea Ventures, which launched its New Protein Fund II in May, also invested in 9 other companies as part of this Fund’s first Paris and New York cohorts. The company has now made over 110 early-stage investments in the alternative protein and ingredient industry, making it the world’s most active investor in FoodTech.