Motif FoodWorks, a US-based food ingredient developer spun off by microbe engineering services provider Ginkgo Bioworks, received $226m yesterday in a series B round backed by food and transport conglomerate Louis Dreyfus.
The Teachers’ Innovation Platform formed by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board co-led the round with unnamed funds and accounts managed by investment management firm BlackRock.
AiiM Partners, Wittington Ventures, Rethink Food, Rage Capital, Rellevant Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CPT Capital, General Atlantic and Viking Global Investors filled out the round’s participants.
Motif is working on plant-based food ingredients created through precision fermentation and advancements in material science. It was spun off by Gingko Bioworks, itself a spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 2019 and since also licensed research from University of Guelph and margarine producer Coasun.
The company will look to increase its research and development capabilities, scale and commercialise its technologies, bolster headcount and expand its facilities using the series B proceeds.
Motif has now raised $345m in funding altogether, it said, including $27.5m secured in a round led by General Atlantic, with participation from CPT Capital, in August 2019.
Louis Dreyfus was among the investors in Motif’s $90m series A round in February 2019, when dairy cooperative Fonterra, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Viking Global Investors also injected cash.
Ginkgo Bioworks itself agreed a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp last month in a deal valuing the MIT spinout at $15bn.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
