With planet-friendly protein, Farmless wants to dramatically improve animal agriculture

Dutch startup Farmless announced today that it has raised a €1.2 million pre-seed equity round in an undisclosed valuation to bring proteins created without the need for traditional farming to our table. The climate crisis means that developing alternative food sources to protect our planet and feed its growing population efficiently and sustainably has never been more challenging. Farmless’s founder and CEO, Adnan Oner, believes that Farmless’ novel approach to protein production will make a positive difference in what we eat and produce.

Speaking exclusively to TechCrunch, “A couple of years ago I thought about how to make a bigger impact with my next startup. “I realized that there are very few people who make food production incredibly land and resource efficient. Efficient food production is critical if we are to reverse centuries of agricultural expansion and regenerate the world in my lifetime.

Previously, there were very few non-animal-based protein options, but Farmless recognizes that its fermentation approach is onto something very different. The production process is not based on sugar but on liquid feed made with CO₂, hydrogen and renewable energy. This means that not only does it require five hundred percent of the land compared to animal protein production, but it also requires 10 to 25 times less land than other forms of plant protein.

“With our fermentation platform, we aim to dramatically advance animal agriculture and produce low-cost proteins on a planetary scale,” said Ohner. “We believe this technology has the potential to end factory farming, regenerate our planet and sequester massive amounts of carbon.”

Farm Albus raised a pre-seed round of 1.2 million euros from co-leaders Revent, Nucleus Capital and Possible Ventures with the participation of HackCapital, Sustainable Food Ventures, Voyagers Climate-Tech Fund, TET Ventures and Angels Jenny Saft in the Atomico Angel Program. Ron Shigeta, Martin Weber, Rick Bernstein, Nadine Geyser, Joy Facher, Michelle Tarauneh, Alexander Hoffman, and Christian Steibner.

Farmless group. Image Credits: Farmless

Oner talked TechCrunch through the short- and long-term opportunities this funding has opened up.

“This round we were able to find microbes that taste and act like animal proteins, set up a lab and build a dedicated team of fermentation and food scientists,” said Oner. “We are currently developing the first product prototype of a high-functioning amino acid complete protein.”

As well as setting these standards necessary for building a business, the funding will help Farmless expand and push the limits of what can be done with processed proteins.

“We’re also pushing the boundaries of our brewing process performance,” says Onner. “The next steps are to move to larger fermentation vessels, build our supply chain, get regulatory approval for our first product and bring it to market with the right partners.”

In the long term, Farmless has high hopes for the protein alternative.

“The farm-free fermentation platform can create a whole new spectrum of food, producing proteins, carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins and minerals from scratch,” said Onner. “We’re building a new connection between food and electricity, which means growing microbes selected for their nutritional properties and growing on renewable energy-based feedstocks.”

From a farming perspective, it has the potential to bring about earth-changing developments in the next 10 years.

“If all goes to plan, we’ll bring fermentation to the mainstream in the next decade,” said Onner. Our ultimate goal is to free food production from animals and farmland, so we can reclaim vast land to regenerate our planet, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and free animals from the food system.

While the flow from Farmless and its investors has been positive, Oner explained, there may be some regulatory hurdles on the way to fermentable proteins.

“In the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the novel recipe has two levels; one is the food safety department, which is very good,” said Oner. It’s a process.”

Due to regulatory restrictions, Farmless may have some issues producing a protein alternative that people actually want to eat.

“Public tasting of flat-based products is not currently allowed in the Netherlands under any circumstances,” Oner said, adding that “getting customer feedback is a more complicated process before it goes into the regulatory process.”

There are potential funding hurdles for Farmless, and indeed other infrastructure-dependent companies.

“Typical venture capital seeks a high return on investment, which is not consistent with infrastructure projects,” Onner said. “These bridges should be filled with project financing, ideally with government support to promote the transition to a sustainable and affordable food system, such as renewables and electric vehicles.”

Although this and other technologies are difficult to pursue, Farmless recognizes the importance of developing a viable alternative to animal protein. And if it’s not too farm-friendly, oh, that’s even better.

“Animal agriculture is the same as the fossil fuel industry,” Ohner said. “It causes many bad things: loss of biodiversity (>90% of tropical deforestation), CO₂ Emissions, disease, increasing antibiotic resistance, pesticide use, freshwater depletion, soil erosion, algae blooms – the list goes on.

Oner and the Farmless Group are delighted to have the support of investors who share their sense of urgency and potential.

“We are proud to have the support of this major climate technology investor who shares our radical mission,” said Oner. “They are as passionate as we are about finding a safe way to produce low-cost proteins on a planetary scale, end factory farming, and regenerate our planet.”