Motif moves to next round

Motif FoodWorks, a US-based food ingredient developer spun out of biotech producer Ginkgo Bioworks – itself a spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology –, raised $27.5m yesterday in a funding round led by growth equity firm General Atlantic.
CPT Capital, the venture capital arm of Jeremy Coller’s family office, also contributed to the round, which was disclosed alongside the company’s rebranding from Motif Ingredients.
Motif supplies food producers with meat-free ingredients made up of fermented microbes that have been bioengineered using Gingko’s platform to achieve a specific taste. It aims to limit the greenhouse gas output of the food industry by encouraging the production of more foods that do not require livestock.
The cash will help Motif broaden and speed up its development pipeline as it looks to form academic collaborations in a number of molecular food science areas. It also plans to deepen its research and development program and hire additional scientists and regulatory experts.
The funding comes in the wake of a $90m series A round backed by food and transport conglomerate Louis Dreyfus, dairy cooperative Fonterra, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Viking Global Investors in February 2019.
Peter Lafer, a vice-president at General Atlantic focused on healthcare and life sciences investments, has taken an observer position on Motif’s board of directors.
Motif CEO Jon McIntyre said: “Since launching the company we have seen an incredible response from the industry; it is clear that the movement towards animal-free is no passing fad. Food leaders know that to get it right, however, there can be no compromise between taste and values.
“Our team of experienced scientists and passionate food lovers are working relentlessly to ensure our products – as well as our brand – deliver on that exciting and critical challenge.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.